Self-Hosting Guide

This guide will walk you through the process of self-hosting the Community Signal Moderation Bot.

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose
• A registered domain name (optional, but recommended for production)
• A phone number for the bot

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/Community-Signal-Moderation-Bot.git
cd Community-Signal-Moderation-Bot

2. Configure Environment Variables

Copy the .env.example file to .env:

cp .env.example .env

Now, open the .env file and fill in the required environment variables. Refer to the compose.yml file for a complete list of environment variables.

Important: You must set the BOT_NUMBER and SIGNAL_CLI_CONFIG_PATH variables.

Optional Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
COMMUNITY_DOMAINS	Comma-separated list of community domains to skip in auto-scraper. URLs from these domains won’t be auto-archived or processed.	irregularpedia.org,irregularchat.com,irregular.chat,forum.irregularchat.com
MINIO_ENDPOINT	Internal MinIO API endpoint	-
MINIO_ACCESS_KEY	MinIO access key	-
MINIO_SECRET_KEY	MinIO secret key	-
MINIO_BUCKET	MinIO bucket name	irregularchat
MINIO_PUBLIC_URL	Public URL for presigned links	-
SHLINK_API_URL	Shlink URL shortener API endpoint	-
SHLINK_API_KEY	Shlink API key	-
SHLINK_PUBLIC_URL	Public base URL for shortened links	-

Example COMMUNITY_DOMAINS configuration:

COMMUNITY_DOMAINS=irregularpedia.org,irregularchat.com,irregular.chat,forum.irregularchat.com,s3.irregular.chat,outline.irregularchat.com,wiki.irregularchat.com

3. Register with signal-cli

Before you can use the bot, you need to register its phone number with Signal. You can do this using the signal-cli command-line tool.

First, build the signal-cli container:

docker compose build signal-cli

Then, run the registration command:

docker compose run signal-cli register --voice --number <YOUR_BOT_NUMBER>

Replace <YOUR_BOT_NUMBER> with the phone number you want to use for the bot. You will be prompted to enter the verification code you receive on your phone.

4. Deploy the Bot

Once you have registered the bot, you can deploy the entire stack using the deploy.sh script:

./deploy.sh

This will start all the services defined in the compose.yml file, including the bot, the database, and the Redis cache.

5. Verify the Installation

You can check the logs of the bot to make sure it is running correctly:

docker compose logs -f signal-bot

You should see a message indicating that the bot has connected to the Signal network.

You can now start sending messages to the bot’s phone number.