How to Install Errbot on NixOS

Errbot is a chatbot software that allows users to perform automated tasks, answer questions, and receive notifications via chat platforms. In this guide, you will learn how to install Errbot on NixOS, the Linux distribution.

Prerequisites

  • A NixOS installation with root access.
  • An existing chat platform such as Slack or Telegram.

Step 1: Install Errbot

The first step towards installing Errbot is to install it from the official repositories using the nix-env command. Open a terminal and run the following command.

sudo nix-env -iA nixpkgs.errbot

This command will install Errbot and its dependencies in your NixOS system.

Step 2: Configure Errbot

Before you can use Errbot, it needs to be configured with the chat platform you want to use. For this tutorial, we will configure Errbot with a Slack workspace.

  1. First, create a new bot on Slack by following these instructions.

  2. Next, create a file named config.py in the ~/.err directory on your NixOS system.

nano ~/.err/config.py
  1. Copy and paste the following code in the config.py file, changing the values for SLACK_API_TOKEN, SLACK_BOT_TOKEN, and BOT_ADMINS to the ones provided by Slack.
BACKEND = 'Slack'
BOT_DATA_DIR = '/home/user/.err/data'
BOT_EXTRA_PLUGIN_DIR = '/home/user/.err/plugins'
BOT_LOG_FILE = '/home/user/.err/errbot.log'
BOT_LOG_LEVEL = 'WARNING'
BOT_PREFIX = '!'
BOT_ADMINS = ('@user',)
CHATROOM_PRESENCE = ()
BOT_IDENTITY = {
    'token': 'SLACK_BOT_TOKEN',
    'api_token': 'SLACK_API_TOKEN',
    'username': None,
    'password': None
}
  1. Save and close the file.

Step 3: Run Errbot

Now that Errbot is installed and configured, you can start it by running the following command in your terminal.

errbot

Errbot should now connect to your Slack workspace and be ready to use.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured Errbot on NixOS. You can now use it to automate tasks, answer questions, and receive notifications via chat platforms.