Running Nodebot

In order to run Nodebot, you will need a working version of node.js

In the future, it may also be required to have a working version of npm in order to install dependencies (as of now the only dependency is included in the project as it is a fork of an existing npm module node-irc). It's probably best to set them both up at the same time. https://gist.github.com/579814

After you have node installed, simply:

• Update config.js with your settings
• [Optional] Add/Remove any plugins you want in lib/plugins/
• Run node run.js

#Plugins

The easiest way to control nodebot is to write a plugin. A plugin is an encapsulated command for the bot to respond to. At present, the only supported plugins are message responders, which respond to messages in irc that match a given pattern, and these plugins consists of at least three things:

1. name - The name of the plugin
2. regex - The regex applied to messages to capture and execute this command
3. callback - The code to execute for this command

I've included a few example plugins with this repository to give you an idea of the syntax for plugins. The simplest of which is as follows:

/**
 * Nodebot plugin to be friendly
 */
function Command() {
	this.name = "Salutations";
	this.regex = /hello/i;
	this.callback = function(from, to, message, bot) {
		bot.say(to, 'Hello to you too, ' + from);
	}
};

exports.Command = Command;

##Auto Load and Hot-Reloading As of now, plugins auto-load from the 'lib/plugins' folder without you needing to do anything. In the future auto-loading will be an option, as well as explicitly stating the plugins to use. Also, there is a config option livePlugins that, if true, will tell the bot to watch each plugin file and if it changes, hot-reload the plugin without killing your bot. Use this with caution, as it is prone to memory leaks if your plugin does a require of it's own or sets up some cyclical links.

#TODO

• Add Support for RPC and HTTP command plugins
• Add more plugins
• Add some basic plugin validation that ensures we get a String name, Regex regex, and Function callback
• Add built in list and man/help commands that list loaded plugins and that print help messages from plugins
• Add a concept of scope for plugins (public room, pm, nick mention, etc.)
• Implement strategy for handling subfolders inside of plugins directory (incase plugins are included as git submodules or something along those lines) and ignoring non .js files