GroupMe Bot

This is a bot for GroupMe which performs several functions:

• Dad jokes: Responds "Hi ___, I'm dad!" whenever a user sends a message in the format "I'm ____".
  • This was getting annoying, so the chance of the bot sending this response can be adjusted with the command "!dadness <number between 0 and 1>".
• Factorials: Responds with the evaluated factorial (using the Wolfram Alpha API) whenever a user sends a message containing a number followed by one or more exclamation marks.
• Alexa: Responds with a link to the requested YouTube video (using the YouTube API) whenever a user sends a message in the format "Alexa, play ___".
• More to come...

Running the Bot

GroupMe bots work by defining a callback URL, which GroupMe POSTs data to each time a message is sent in the group. So, this bot should be hosted on a server associated with a domain name or a static IP address. Once you have the server set up, follow these steps:

1. Install dependencies
   • Node.js v4 or higher
   • NPM
   • MongoDB
2. Install Node.js dependencies
   • Enter npm install in the bot's main directory.
3. Configuration
   • Copy config.js.example to config.js.
   • Enter your API keys and other info.
4. Run bot
   • Enter node index.js to start the bot.
   • You can use PM2 to start the bot on reboots and keep it running.
5. Nginx reverse proxy (optional)
   • If you don't want to open the port the bot is running on, you can use Nginx to proxy it to port 80.
   • This guide explains the process well.

Usage

To add the bot to your own group chat, follow these steps:

1. Go to the GroupMe bot dashboard and click Create Bot.
2. Enter the group and the bot name, and click Submit.
3. Copy the Bot ID of the newly created bot.
4. Click Edit on the bot and enter the callback url in the following format: <your server domain name or IP>?bot_id=<your Bot ID>
5. Click Submit and the bot should now be working.