BaseBot

A Discord bot base for Eris and Discord.js

What is this?

A bot base! It's got some basic setup, organization, and commands done to help get a bot dev going without worrying about too much setup. It was created mainly for personal use, but there's no reason others shouldn't be able to use it :)

Setup

Requirements

This bot base requires Node.js 12.0 or higher. You'll also want to get sqlite3 from somewhere- check here for pre-compiled binaries, or get it from your favorite package manager. If you're not running Linux, be sure to add it to your path!

Optional: You might also want to install pm2 for running the bot. This is a process manager that treats programs like daemons and runs them in the background

Environment Vars

After getting your requirements, the thing you need to set the bot up is a .env file that looks something like the following:

TOKEN=inserttokenthingiehere
PREFIX=bb!
OWNER=yourdiscordidhere

You can also rename .env.example to just .env and use that. Remember to replace the token with whatever your bot's token is, and set the prefix to be whatever you want the bot to respond to

Note: Your ID is the digits that Discord gives you when you right click or tap and hold on your profile and select "Copy ID." It is NOT your username#1234. This is a very common mistake!

Commands

Commands are the bulk of what a Discord bot is. These are functions that often execute differently depending on the context and content of a message. This BaseBot handles commands based on files

How do I add commands?

Adding commands is super easy. Just follow these steps:

1. Create a file for the command in /commands or /commands/[module name]. The name should be cmdname.js, where cmdname is the name of your command (eg: ping.js)

2. Set the file up to look something like this:

// NOTE: help, usage, and desc are FUNCTIONS. This is in case we want to add more
// 	to it later, like dynamically inserting the bot's prefix
module.exports = {
	help: ()=> "Ping the bot!", //A line stating what the bot does
	usage: ()=> [" - Returns a ping message"] //An array containing info on how to use the command
	desc: ()=> "This command's responses are randomized!", //Extra info, usually about args
	execute: async (bot, msg, args) => {
		//actual command code goes here
		let pings = ["Pong", "Pang", "Peng", "Pung"];
		return pings[Math.floor(Math.random()*pings.length)] + "!";
	},
	alias: ["pong"], //aliases for the command
	permissions: [], //what permissions are required to use the command. check the lib for these
	guildOnly: false, //should the comman only be used in guilds?
	subcommads: {} //for handling subcommands
}

3. That's it! Your command will be automatically added to the bot next time you restart it

How do I give a command subcommands?

Subcommands go in the same file as their parent command. To add a subcommand, add the line subcommands: {} somewhere in your module.exports object, and then put this underneath the main command:

module.exports.subcommands.cmdname = {
	//use the same format as the main command!
}

You can also set another variable to hold your module.exports in order to make subcommand adding easier

NOTE: Subcommands are only handled one level deep. Nesting subcommands isn't recommended- use switch statements or if else blocks in order to handle simulated subcommand nesting

What do subcommands inherit?

• The module that the main command is part of (cannot be overwritten)
• Any permissions that the main command requires (can be overwritten)
• The guildOnly status of the main command (can be overwritten)

Modules

Modules hold commands. They aren't required, however. If you want to make a bot without worrying about handling modules, go ahead and just stick all your commands in /commands without worrying about 'em

How do I add modules?

1. Create a folder named Module Name in /commands. Replace Module Name with the actual module name. OPTIONAL: Keep the proper casing in order to make things display nicely

2. Create a file called __mod.js in the folder you just added

3. Add something like this to that file:

module.exports = {
	color: "aaaaaa", //hex color for the embed. default is #aaaaaa (DON'T INCLUDE #)
	description: "A fun li'l module!", //description of the module
	alias: [] //array of aliases for the module, eg: "utils" for a module called "utilities"
}

4. You're done! To add commands to the module, just put them in the folder you made

Events

The current setup comes with a couple example events that you can edit as you see fit. These are the messageCreate event, the messageReactionAdd event, and the messageReactionRemove even. All events handled in /events are ones related to the Discord API, so don't put things meant for process.on in there!

How do I add events?

1. Make a file in /events. The name should correspond to the event you want it to handle, eg: message handles MESSAGE_CREATE events in Discord.js. Be sure to name it correctly based on the lib you're using- Eris uses messageCreate for message creation while D.js uses message. Other differences may also exist

2. Put something like this in your file:

//the args for the function are the normal args passed into the event
//  + an arg for the bot itself to be passed into the event
//  don't forget to add the bot arg!
module.exports = async (message, bot) => {
	console.log(message.content); //what you want your code to do
}

3. You're done! The bot will now handle whatever event you added

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Want to know how to make bots? Check these out!

Guide to Discord.js
An Idiot's Guide to Bot Making
AIG's Video Tutorials

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