mastodon-welcome-bot/README.md

Mastodon Welcome Bot

This is a Mastodon bot that sends out a welcome toot (DM) to new users, brought to you by jawns.club.

Because Mastodon's API doesn't currently have a route for getting an array of accounts in an instance, this bot queries the followers of an account and pages through for any have been created in the last x days (see configuration below). This means that you'll want ACCOUNT_ID to be an account that is auto-followed by all new users.

Installation/Development

Requires:

• python3
• pip

Steps with Docker

1. git clone https://git.lattuga.net/ekardnam/mastodon-welcome-bot
2. cd mastodon-welcome-bot
3. cp .env.dist .env
4. Fill in the env vars as required in the .env file (see definitions below)
5. docker build . -t mastodon-welcome-message
6. Run the app with docker run -d mastodon-welcome-bot

Steps without Docker

1. git clone https://git.lattuga.net/ekardnam/mastodon-welcome-bot
2. cd mastodon-welcome-bot
3. virtualenv .venv
4. source .venv/bin/activate
5. pip install -r requirements.txt
6. cp .env.dist .env
7. Fill in the env vars as required in the .env file (see definitions below)
8. python3 run.py

Environment Variables

The application uses the following environment variables.

name	required	default	description
ACCESS_TOKEN	yes	n/a	the access token for the Mastodon account that you want the toots to come from
DAYS_SINCE	no	1	how many days back of new users you want to go
INSTANCE_BASE_URL	yes	n/a	the base url of the Mastodon instance you want to run this for (ex: "https://jawns.club")
TOOT_TEMPLATE	yes	n/a	the template of the toot that you want to send out. Jinja2 syntax is used here and you can use any of the Account variables
DEBUG	no	false	boolean (either "true" or "false") for debug mode. If true, won't actually send out the toots, will just print the message for each to stdout
ACCOUNT_ID	yes	n/a	the account ID that you want to pull followers from

Example Welcome Toot Template

This can be copy/pasted into the TOOT_TEMPLATE environment variable. Note that \n\ndenotes a line break, as the entire var must remain on one line. Total characters cannot exceed 500, including those line breaks.

@{{ username }} Hi, and welcome to jawns.club!\n\nHere are a few handy tips:\n\n- This is a great (non-technical) intro to the Mastodon platform: https://bit.ly/2zk8t8c\n\n- Our "local" timeline is the real magic of jawns.club: https://bit.ly/2PDYyl3\n\n- Some less obvious ways to find people: https://bit.ly/2MMN2Xz\n\n- Install a free mobile app! Many people like Tootdon (iOS and Android).\n\n- Asking questions is okay and encouraged! We (@mods) are here to help.\n\nEnjoy :)