BotKit by Fedify

Appearance

Self-hosted deployment ​

For complete control over your bot's environment, you can self-host it on your own server. This guide shows you how to deploy your BotKit bot using the Deno runtime on a Linux server with SSH access.

Prerequisites ​

  1. A Linux server with SSH access
  2. Domain name pointing to your server
  3. Deno installed on your server

Installation steps ​

  1. Install Deno:

    bash
    curl -fsSL https://deno.land/install.sh | sh

  2. Clone your bot repository:

    bash
    git clone https://github.com/yourusername/your-bot.git
cd your-bot

  3. Set up environment variables:

    bash
    echo 'export SERVER_NAME="your-domain.com"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Setting up HTTPS with Caddy ​

Caddy is recommended for handling HTTPS and reverse proxy. It automatically obtains and renews SSL/TLS certificates from Let's Encrypt without any manual configuration:

  1. Install Caddy:

    bash
    # Install required packages
sudo apt install -y debian-keyring debian-archive-keyring apt-transport-https

# Add Caddy repository
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/gpg.key' | \
  sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/caddy-stable-archive-keyring.gpg
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/debian.deb.txt' | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/caddy-stable.list

# Install Caddy
sudo apt update
sudo apt install caddy
    bash
    # Add Caddy repository
dnf install 'dnf-command(copr)'
dnf copr enable @caddy/caddy

# Install Caddy
dnf install caddy
    bash
    # Install from official repositories
sudo pacman -S caddy

    TIP

    For other installation methods or operating systems, see the official Caddy installation docs.

  2. Create a Caddyfile at /etc/caddy/Caddyfile:

    /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
    caddyfile
    your-domain.com {
    # Automatic HTTPS
    tls {
        # Email for Let's Encrypt notifications
        email your-email@example.com
    }
    
    # Proxy all requests to your bot
    reverse_proxy localhost:8000
    
    # Basic security headers
    header {
        # Enable HSTS
        Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000;"
        # Prevent clickjacking
        X-Frame-Options "DENY"
        # XSS protection
        X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff"
        X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block"
    }
}

    NOTE

    Make sure your domain's DNS A record points to your server's IP address before starting Caddy. Caddy will automatically obtain and manage SSL certificates from Let's Encrypt.

  3. Set proper ownership and permissions:

    bash
    sudo chown root:root /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
sudo chmod 644 /etc/caddy/Caddyfile

  4. Restart Caddy:

    bash
    sudo systemctl restart caddy

  5. Check Caddy's status:

    bash
    sudo systemctl status caddy
sudo journalctl -u caddy --follow

Creating a systemd service ​

The systemd is a system and service manager for Linux that starts and manages services. It is adopted by most modern Linux distributions including Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, and Arch Linux.

To run your bot as a systemd service:

  1. Create a dedicated user for your bot (recommended for security):

    bash
    sudo useradd -r -s /bin/false botkit

  2. Set up the bot's directory:

    bash
    sudo mkdir -p /opt/botkit
sudo chown botkit:botkit /opt/botkit

  3. Create a service file at /etc/systemd/system/botkit-bot.service:

    /etc/systemd/system/botkit-bot.service
    ini
    [Unit]
Description=BotKit Bot
After=network.target
Wants=caddy.service

[Service]
Type=simple
User=botkit
Group=botkit
Environment=SERVER_NAME=your-domain.com
# Add any other environment variables your bot needs
Environment=NODE_ENV=production

WorkingDirectory=/opt/botkit
# Make sure to use the full path to deno
ExecStart=/home/botkit/.deno/bin/deno run -A bot.ts

# Restart policy
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

# Security settings
NoNewPrivileges=true
ProtectSystem=strict
ProtectHome=true
PrivateTmp=true
PrivateDevices=true

# Resource limits
CPUQuota=80%
MemoryMax=1G

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

  4. Set proper permissions:

    bash
    sudo chown root:root /etc/systemd/system/botkit-bot.service
sudo chmod 644 /etc/systemd/system/botkit-bot.service

  5. Reload systemd, enable and start the service:

    bash
    # Reload systemd to recognize the new service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

# Enable service to start on boot
sudo systemctl enable botkit-bot

# Start the service
sudo systemctl start botkit-bot

  6. Verify the service is running:

    bash
    # Check service status
sudo systemctl status botkit-bot

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u botkit-bot -f

TIP

To update your bot:

  1. Copy new files to /opt/botkit
  2. Set proper ownership: sudo chown -R botkit:botkit /opt/botkit
  3. Restart the service: sudo systemctl restart botkit-bot

Monitoring logs ​

Monitor your bot's logs using systemd:

bash
sudo journalctl -u botkit-bot -f