Hubot

Note: v10.0.4 accidentally contains the removal of CoffeeScript; v10.0.5 puts it back in Note: v11 removes CoffeeScript and converts this codebase to ESM

Hubot is a framework to build chat bots, modeled after GitHub's Campfire bot of the same name, hubot. He's pretty cool. He's extendable with scripts and can work on many different chat services.

This repository provides a library that's distributed by npm that you use for building your own bots. See the documentation for details on getting up and running with your very own robot friend.

In most cases, you'll probably never have to hack on this repo directly if you are building your own bot. But if you do, check out CONTRIBUTING.md

Create your own Hubot instance

This will create a directory called myhubot in the current working directory.

npx hubot --create myhubot --adapter @hubot-friends/hubot-slack
npx hubot --create myhubot --adapter @hubot-friends/hubot-discord
npx hubot --create myhubot --adapter @hubot-friends/hubot-ms-teams
npx hubot --create myhubot --adapter @hubot-friends/hubot-irc

Review scripts/example.mjs. Create more scripts in the scripts folder.

Command bus (robot.commands)

Hubot includes a deterministic command subsystem for slash-style commands. It is safe by default and does not interfere with legacy hear and respond listeners.

Basic Command Registration

export default (robot) => {
    robot.commands.register({
        id: 'tickets.create',
        description: 'Create a ticket',
        aliases: ['ticket new', 'new ticket'],
        args: {
            title: { type: 'string', required: true },
            priority: { type: 'enum', values: ['low', 'medium', 'high'], default: 'medium' }
        },
        sideEffects: ['creates external ticket'],
        handler: async (ctx) => {
            return `Created ticket: ${ctx.args.title}`
        }
    })
}

Invoke with addressing the bot:

• @hubot tickets.create --title "VPN down" --priority high
• @hubot tickets.create title:"VPN down" priority:high

Commands that declare side effects will require confirmation before execution.

The user is asked to confirm. They do so like so:

@hubot yes
@hubot no
@hubot cancel

Aliases are for discovery and search only. They do not execute commands or create proposals. They are intent utterances.

Built-in Help Command

Hubot automatically registers a help command that provides command discovery and documentation:

@hubot help                          # List all commands
@hubot help tickets                  # Filter commands by prefix
@hubot help search "create ticket"   # Search by keyword, alias, description, or example

Search for Commands

const results = robot.commands.search('ticket new')
// [{ id: 'tickets.create', score: 100, matchedOn: 'alias' }, ...]

Custom Type Resolvers

Extend validation with custom argument types:

export default (robot) => {
    // Register custom type resolver
    robot.commands.registerTypeResolver('project_id', async (value, schema, context) => {
        if (!value.startsWith('PRJ-')) {
            throw new Error('must start with PRJ-')
        }
        return value.toUpperCase()
    })

    // Use it in a command
    robot.commands.register({
        id: 'projects.deploy',
        description: 'Deploy a project',
        args: {
            projectId: { type: 'project_id', required: true }
        },
        handler: async (ctx) => {
            return `Deploying ${ctx.args.projectId}`
        }
    })
}

Configuration Options

When creating a CommandBus instance, you can configure:

• prefix - Command prefix (default: '')
• proposalTTL - Timeout for pending confirmations in milliseconds (default: 300000 = 5 minutes)
• logPath - Path to NDJSON event log file (default: .data/commands-events.ndjson)
• disableLogging - Disable event logging to disk (default: true - logging is disabled by default)
• permissionProvider - Custom permission checking handler (optional)

Permissions

Control who can execute commands using room-based and role-based permissions.

Room-Based Permissions

Restrict command execution to specific chat rooms:

robot.commands.register({
    id: 'sensitive.action',
    description: 'Admin-only action',
    permissions: {
        rooms: ['#admin', '#ops']  // Only allowed in these rooms
    },
    handler: async (ctx) => {
        return 'Action executed!'
    }
})

Users in other rooms get: Permission denied: command not allowed in this room

Role-Based Permissions

Restrict command execution to users with specific roles:

robot.commands.register({
    id: 'deploy.production',
    description: 'Deploy to production',
    permissions: {
        roles: ['admin', 'devops']  // Only users with these roles
    },
    handler: async (ctx) => {
        return 'Deploying...'
    }
})

To enable role checking, provide a permissionProvider when creating CommandBus:

const commandBus = new CommandBus(robot, {
    permissionProvider: {
        hasRole: async (user, requiredRoles, context) => {
            // Custom logic to check if user has any of the required roles
            const userRoles = await fetchUserRoles(user.id)
            return requiredRoles.some(role => userRoles.includes(role))
        }
    }
})

Without a permission provider, role-based permissions are ignored (allow by default). Room-based permissions are always enforced.

License

See the LICENSE file for license rights and limitations (MIT).

Hubot History

Say hello to Hubot

Cartoon with Hubot

The Most Important Startup's Hardest Worker Isn't a Person

The Story of Hubot

Hubot by Hubotics

Automating Inefficiencies

Getting Started with Hubot