utility-bot

Utility Bot

A Discord bot designed to streamline the support process on the official NestJS Discord server.

We've developed this bot to improve your interaction with other users. With pre-written, perfectly formatted Markdown content delivered through slick slash commands, you can respond to everyday situations quickly. No more tedious explanations, no more typing out the same thing over and over again.

Commands

Configuration

cp .env.example .env

The following environment variables are required, and the rest of the configuration is located in config.yml.

• DISCORD_APP_ID
• DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN
• DISCORD_GUILD_ID

How we handle incoming Discord updates

The utility bot application listens for incoming Discord updates, such as message creations, interactions, and bot events. It then processes these updates accordingly, performing actions such as setting bot status, handling slash commands, moderating messages, and more.

flowchart TD
%% classes
    classDef orange stroke: #f96
    classDef green stroke: #0f0
    classDef cyan stroke: #0ff
%% start point
    discordUpdate["Discord Update"]:::cyan
    discordUpdate -->|" Event "| utilityBotApp("Utility-Bot Application")
    utilityBotApp --> eventType{"What's the event type?"}
    eventType -->|" Ready "| setStatus["Set Bot status to:\n\nListening to slash-commands!"]
    setStatus --> finish["Finish"]
    eventType -->|" Interaction Create "| eventInteractionCreate{"What is the type of interaction?"}
    eventInteractionCreate -->|" Application Command Autocomplete "| applicationCommandAutoComplete["Slash command autocomplete flow"]:::orange
    eventInteractionCreate -->|" Application Command "| checkRateLimit("Check ratelimit policy")
    checkRateLimit --> isStaticCommand{"Is static command?"}
    isStaticCommand -->|" Yes "| handleStaticCommand{"Handle static command\n(hardcoded)"}
    handleStaticCommand -->|" /solved "| solvedCommandFlow["Solved cmd flow"]:::orange
    handleStaticCommand -->|" /archive "| archiveCommandFlow["Archive cmd flow"]:::orange
    handleStaticCommand -->|" /dont-ping-mods "| dontPingModsFlow["Don't ping mods cmd flow"]:::orange
    handleStaticCommand -->|" /google-it "| googleItFlow["Google it cmd flow"]:::orange
    handleStaticCommand -->|" /reference "| referenceFlow["Reference cmd flow"]:::orange
    isStaticCommand -->|" No "| handleDynamicCommand("Handle dynamic command\n(config.yml)"):::green
    eventType -->|Message Create| isBotMessage{"Is the message from a bot?"}
    isBotMessage -->|" No "| AutoModFlow["Auto-moderation feature flow"]:::orange
    isBotMessage -->|" Yes "| Finish["Finish"]

Auto-moderation feature flow

We have noticed that a small number of members in our community have had their Discord accounts taken over due to clicking on harmful links. Attackers who gain access to these accounts often use them to send harmful links to multiple channels. To prevent this, we have added an auto-moderation feature to our utility bot. This feature will detect and instantly ban any accounts that are sending harmful links, protecting our community members from clicking on them. Even though the bot's primary function is to send pre-written responses through slash-commands, we believe this additional feature will be invaluable in keeping our community safe.

flowchart TD
%% classes
    classDef orange stroke: #f96
    classDef green stroke: #0f0
    classDef startPoint stroke: #0ff, font-size: 20pt
    classDef red stroke: #f00
%% start point
    start["Start point"]:::startPoint
    start ===> shouldTrackChannelID{"Should moderate the current\nchannel ID?\n(we only track text channels)"}
%% channels to track
    shouldTrackChannelID <-.-> channelsToTrack
    shouldTrackChannelID -->|" No "| finish-2["Finish"]
    shouldTrackChannelID -->|" Yes "| isUserModerator{"Is message author\na moderator?"}
%% is moderator?
    isUserModerator <-.-> moderators
    isUserModerator -->|" Yes "| finish-1["Finish"]
    isUserModerator -->|" No "| isUserInDeniedList
%% denied list
    deniedList <-.-> isUserInDeniedList{"Is message author\nin the denied list?"}
    isUserInDeniedList -->|" No "| storeTheirMessage("Store their message")
    isUserInDeniedList -->|" Yes "| take-action-secondary
    addUserToDeniedList("Add message author to the denied list") --> deniedList
%% Messages
    storeTheirMessage <-.-> messages
    storeTheirMessage -->|"Once the message\nis stored"| hasExceededMessageLimits
    hasExceededMessageLimits{"Has the message author\nexceeded the channel limit\nwithin the\nspecified time frame?"}
    hasExceededMessageLimits -->|" Yes "| take-action-primary-hub
    hasExceededMessageLimits -->|" No "| finish-4["Finish"]
%% take action hub
    take-action-primary-hub(("."))
    take-action-primary-hub --> getUserPreviousMessage("Get message author previous messages")
    take-action-primary-hub --> addUserToDeniedList
    getUserPreviousMessage <-.-> messages
    getUserPreviousMessage --> deleteTheirMessages
%% data stores
    moderators[("\nModerator IDs")]
    channelsToTrack[("\nChannel IDs\nto moderate")]
    messages[("\nDiscord messages (temporary)\n\nmap[UserID]map[ChannelID]Message")]
    deniedList[("\nDenied users IDs\n\n(temporary)")]

    subgraph take-action-primary["Take action - primary"]
        deleteTheirMessages("Delete their message(s)"):::red
        banThem("Ban their account"):::red
        alertModerators("Alert moderators"):::red
        deleteTheirMessages --> banThem
        banThem --> alertModerators
        alertModerators --> finish-5["Finish"]
    end

    subgraph take-action-secondary["Take action - secondary (in case the primary fails)"]
        deleteTheirMessage("Delete their current message"):::orange
        banThemAgain("Ban their account"):::orange
        deleteTheirMessage --> banThemAgain
        banThemAgain --> finish-3["Finish"]
    end

Solved command flow

flowchart TD
%% classes
    classDef startPoint stroke: #0ff, font-size: 15pt
    classDef red stroke: #f00
%% start point
    start["Start point"]:::startPoint
    start --> validateChannelType{"Is the channel \na forum post?"}
    validateChannelType -->|" No "| finish-1["Respond with an error"]:::red
    validateChannelType -->|" Yes "| isTheChannelLocked{"Is the current forum\npost locked?"}
    isTheChannelLocked -->|" No "| hasPermissionToExecute{"Is the person who\nexecuted the command\nOP or a Mod?"}
    isTheChannelLocked -->|" Yes "| finish-2["Respond with an error"]:::red
    hasPermissionToExecute -->|" No "| finish-3["Respond with an error"]:::red
    hasPermissionToExecute -->|" Yes "| findTheSolvedTag("Find the 'solved' tag metadata\nin the current forum post")
    findTheSolvedTag --> isSolvedTagApplied{"Is solved tag\nalready assigned\nto this forum post?"}
    isSolvedTagApplied -->|" No "| appendTheSolvedTag("Append the solved tag\nto the forum post tags\n(in memory only!)")
    isSolvedTagApplied -->|" Yes "| sendCannedResponse("Send the canned response")
    appendTheSolvedTag --> validateTagsLength{"Is the length of tags\nlower than six?\n(Discord only allows\nfive tags per post)"}
    validateTagsLength -->|" No "| finish-4["Respond with an error"]:::red
    validateTagsLength -->|" Yes "| editThePost("Edit the forum post and assign the tags")
    editThePost --> sendCannedResponse
    sendCannedResponse --> editThePostAgain("Edit the forum post (again?) to\napply the 'auto archive duration'")
    editThePostAgain --> finish-5["Finish"]

Archive command flow

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Don't ping moderators command flow

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flowchart TD
%% classes
    classDef startPoint stroke: #0ff, font-size: 15pt
    classDef red stroke: #f00
%% start point
    start["Start point"]:::startPoint
    start --> sendTheCannedResponse("Send the canned response")
    sendTheCannedResponse --> isChannelForumPost{"Is the current channel\na forum post?"}
    isChannelForumPost -->|" No "| finish["Finish"]

    moderators[("\nModerator IDs")]

    removeMods <-.-> moderators
    
    isChannelForumPost -->|" Yes "| removeMods("Remove the moderators from the forum post,\nexcept the person who executed this command")
    removeMods --> finish

Google it command flow

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Reference command flow

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Slash command autocomplete flow

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Docker usage

# brings down the previous container
# builds and starts a new container
# prints the container logs
make docker-redeploy