Customizing Cop13 IRC Bot with Plugins and Scripts

Customizing Cop13 IRC Bot with Plugins and ScriptsThe Cop13 IRC Bot is a lightweight, configurable chatbot designed for traditional IRC networks and self-hosted communities. While its default feature set—auto-ops, channel protection, basic logging, and simple command handling—covers many common needs, true power comes from customization. This article walks through the principles, architecture, common plugin types, development patterns, deployment strategies, and best practices for extending the Cop13 IRC Bot using plugins and scripts.

Why customize Cop13?

• Tailor bot behavior to your community’s needs. Default rules and responses may not match your channel culture or moderation policy.
• Add integrations. Connect IRC to external services: issue trackers, CI builds, chat bridges, or notification systems.
• Automate repetitive tasks. Moderation actions, welcome messages, scheduled announcements, and stats reporting.
• Experiment safely. Plugins isolate features so you can test, enable, or disable functionality without touching core code.

Architecture overview

Cop13 typically follows a modular architecture that separates core event handling from optional extensions:

• Core: manages connection to IRC servers, channel/state management, rate-limiting, basic security, and a plugin manager.
• Plugin API: provides hooks for inbound events (PRIVMSG, JOIN, PART, MODE, etc.), timers, command registration, configuration access, and logging.
• Plugins: implement features using the API. They can be scripts (e.g., Python, JavaScript, Lua) or compiled modules depending on the bot’s implementation.
• Persistence: optional databases or flat files for storing configuration, user data, or logs.
• CLI / Admin interface: local or in-channel commands for enabling/disabling plugins, reloading config, and inspecting state.

Plugin types and examples

• Moderation plugins
  • Auto-kick or mute on blacklist matches.
  • Flood protection that adapts based on recent activity.
  • Nick/host-based bans synced across networks.
• Utility plugins
  • URL title fetcher: expand pasted links to show page titles.
  • URL shortener/unshortener.
  • Message logger with rotation and search capabilities.
• Social plugins
  • Welcome messages and onboarding flows for new users.
  • Birthday/anniversary reminders.
  • Trivia or game plugins (e.g., hangman, trivia, dice).
• Integrations
  • GitHub/GitLab webhook listener to announce pushes, PRs, or issues.
  • CI/CD hooks to post build and test results.
  • RSS/Atom feed notifier.
  • Bridging to Matrix/Discord/Telegram via gateway services.
• Administrative
  • Command permission systems (roles, ACLs).
  • Audit trail and command logging.
  • Scheduled tasks and cron-like jobs.

Plugin development patterns

1. Hook-based handlers

   • Register callbacks for events: on_message, on_join, on_part, on_mode, on_notice.
   • Keep handlers small and focused; delegate to helper modules when logic grows.

2. Command registration

   • Provide a decorator or registration function to bind text commands (e.g., !help, !stats).
   • Support aliases, argument parsing, and permissions checks.

3. Configurable behavior

   • Expose plugin configuration via a YAML/JSON/TOML file or via in-channel admin commands.
   • Default sensible values; validate config at load time.

4. Timers and background jobs

   • Use scheduled callbacks for periodic tasks (announce messages, poll APIs).
   • Ensure timers are cancellable to allow clean shutdown and reload.

5. Error handling and isolation

   • Catch and log exceptions inside plugin handlers so one plugin cannot crash the whole bot.
   • Run untrusted scripts in a sandboxed environment when possible (e.g., separate process, restricted runtime).

6. State persistence

   • Use lightweight local databases (SQLite) or key-value stores (Redis) for state that must survive restarts.
   • For ephemeral state, keep in-memory caches with clear eviction policies.

Example: Simple plugin (pseudocode)

Below is a conceptual example showing common elements: registration, config reading, command handling, and persistence. Adjust syntax to Cop13’s actual plugin API and host language.

# Example for a Python-based plugin system from cop13 import plugin, schedule, db @plugin.register(name="url_title", config_defaults={"enabled": True, "max_len": 120}) class URLTitlePlugin:     def __init__(self, bot, config):         self.bot = bot         self.cfg = config         self.db = db.open("url_titles.sqlite")         schedule.every(24).hours.do(self.rotate_logs)     @plugin.on_event("privmsg")     def on_privmsg(self, user, channel, text):         if not self.cfg.enabled:             return         urls = extract_urls(text)         for u in urls:             title = fetch_title(u)             if title:                 title = title.strip()                 if len(title) > self.cfg.max_len:                     title = title[: self.cfg.max_len - 3] + "..."                 self.bot.say(channel, f"Title: {title}")                 self.db.save({"url": u, "title": title, "who": user, "time": now()})     def rotate_logs(self):         # implement rotation/cleanup         pass 

Security considerations

• Validate and sanitize any external data the plugin processes (URLs, JSON payloads).
• Rate-limit outbound requests and replies to prevent the bot being used for spam or to cause flooding penalties.
• Prefer read-only API keys where possible; store secrets encrypted or in environment variables.
• If allowing third-party scripts, run them in isolated processes or containers with strict resource limits.
• Implement permission checks for administrative commands to avoid privilege escalation.

Testing and debugging

• Unit test plugin logic where possible (parsing, API interaction, permission checks).
• Provide a dry-run mode for plugins that simulate actions without sending IRC messages.
• Add verbose/debug logging that can be toggled at runtime to trace event flow.
• Use a test IRC network (Dockerized ircd or public testnet) to try interactions before deploying widely.

Deployment and lifecycle

• Hot-reload support: allow enabling/disabling and reloading plugins without restarting the entire bot.
• Graceful shutdown: ensure timers and background jobs stop, connections close cleanly, and state is flushed to disk.
• Versioning: track plugin versions and migrations for persistent storage changes.
• Backup: regularly back up configuration and important data stores.

Governance and community practices

• Maintain a curated plugin registry with metadata: author, version, compatibility, security notes.
• Encourage code reviews and minimal test coverage for community-submitted plugins.
• Provide sample templates and CLI scaffolding to lower the barrier for new plugin authors.

Conclusion

Customizing Cop13 with plugins and scripts unlocks powerful workflows, automations, and integrations tailored to your IRC community. Follow modular design, secure coding, and good deployment practices: register clear hooks, validate inputs, isolate risky code, and make configuration transparent. Start small—add one plugin at a time—then iterate based on how your channel responds.

If you want, I can: generate a starter plugin template in a specific language (Python/JS/Lua), draft a config schema for a particular plugin idea, or review a plugin you’re working on.