LoopBot

Changelog

Version 1.1

• Support native Discord attachments for submissions (all file types).
• Fallback search for recent attachments when not replying or providing a link.
• Passive and !submit flows now add vote reactions (⬆️/⬇️) and auto-thread submissions.
• Store original message IDs (orig_message_id) to enable reply-based !vote on both user and bot messages.
• Added !postrules admin command to publish community guidelines from community_guidelines.md.

Deployment on Railway.app

To keep LoopBot running 24/7 on Railway's free tier, you can use the included Procfile:

worker: python bot.py

Steps:

1. Create a new service on Railway and connect your GitHub repository.
2. Railway will detect the included Dockerfile and build using it.
3. In the Railway dashboard, add your environment variables:

   • DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN (required)

   • OPENAI_API_KEY (required for AI prompts)

   • SPOTIFY_CLIENT_ID and SPOTIFY_CLIENT_SECRET (required for !music command)

   • SPOTIFY_MARKET (required; a 2-letter country code, e.g. US, to fetch that market's Top 10)

   • Optional tracing control: OPENAI_AGENTS_DISABLE_TRACING=1 to disable built-in OpenAI Agents tracing

   • Prerequisite: jq must be installed in your environment (or Docker image) for helper script JSON parsing

   • (Optional) RUN_SCHEDULE, DAILY_BANNER_URL, etc.

4. Persisting the SQLite database:
   • Railway containers are ephemeral, so mount a Persistent Volume at /data.
   • In the Railway Dashboard, add a Volume and set its Mount Path to /data.
   • LoopBot now auto-detects /data (or RAILWAY_PERSISTENT_DIR/DATA_DIR) to store rankings.db. Your DB file will live at /data/rankings.db and survive restarts.
   • Restoring a backup: If you have an existing rankings.db locally, commit it to your repo at the project root before deploying. On first run, the bot will copy that file into the volume so your previous points and leaderboard are preserved.
   • Important: The bot now requires one of:
     1. A mounted volume at /data (via RAILWAY_PERSISTENT_DIR/DATA_DIR).
     2. An explicit DB_PATH env var pointing to a writable path.
     3. A committed rankings.db at the repo root (for ephemeral fallback). If none are available, the bot will exit with an error.
5. Deploy – LoopBot will stay online continuously.

Railway SSH & File Transfer

Railway SSH differs significantly from traditional SSH implementations. Understanding how it works helps explain its capabilities and limitations.

Railway SSH does not use the standard SSH protocol (sshd). Instead, it establishes connections via a custom protocol built on top of websockets.

This approach provides several advantages:

• No need to configure SSH daemons in your containers.
• Secure communication through Railway's existing authentication.
• Works with any container that has a shell available.

This approach is secure by design:

• No SSH daemon exposed publicly on your containers.
• All communication goes through Railway's authenticated infrastructure.
• Services remain isolated from direct internet access.
• Uses Railway's existing security and access control mechanisms.

Limitations and Workarounds

Understanding Railway SSH's limitations helps you plan appropriate workflows and implement effective workarounds for tasks that aren't directly supported.

File Transfer Limitations

Railway SSH does not support traditional file transfer methods:

• No SCP (Secure Copy Protocol) support for copying files between local and remote systems.
• No sFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) functionality for file management.
• No direct file download/upload capabilities through the SSH connection.

File transfer workarounds

Connect volume to file explorer service: Deploy a simple file browser service that mounts the same volume as your main application. This provides web-based access to your files for download and upload operations.

Use CURL for file uploads: From within the SSH session, upload files to external services:

# Upload file to a temporary file sharing service
curl -X POST -F "file=@database_dump.sql" https://file.io/

# Upload to cloud storage (example with AWS S3)
aws s3 cp database_dump.sql s3://your-bucket/backups/

# Upload via HTTP to your own endpoint
curl -X POST -F "[email protected]" https://your-app.com/admin/upload

Crypto price tracker

LoopBot can now post Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana prices on a schedule.

• To enable: set a volume or DB_PATH as above and redeploy.
• Posts go to channel ID 1401992445251817472 on the hour, every hour by default.
• To adjust interval (in hours), set CRYPTO_INTERVAL_HOURS in your env.

Spotify OAuth & Redirect URI Requirements

Spotify now enforces stricter redirect URI validation as of November 2:

• HTTPS is required for all redirect URIs, except when using a loopback address.
• For loopback URIs, use the explicit IPv4 or IPv6 form:
  • http://127.0.0.1:<PORT>
  • http://[::1]:<PORT>
• The hostname localhost is not allowed as a redirect URI.

Be sure to register your redirect URIs accordingly in the Spotify Developer Dashboard under your app settings.

Tip: The bot now directly fetches the official Top Hits US playlist for a consistent Top 10 (override via SPOTIFY_TOP_HITS_PLAYLIST). Optionally, you can pass a market code (!music <market>) or set SPOTIFY_MARKET to annotate results, but the playlist itself remains the US Top Hits chart; the helper always requests without a market filter to avoid errors.

Note: The !music command uses Spotify's Client Credentials flow, which only supports read‑access to public playlists. Private or collaborative playlists will not be accessible and will result in empty track lists.

Automated Invite Emailer

You can auto-generate and send personalized Discord invite emails by using the provided invite_automation.py script, which calls the OpenAI API to draft email content and then sends messages via SMTP.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.7+
• openai Python package (pip install openai)

Setup

1. Prepare your recipients list by creating recipients.csv in the project root with headers name,email, for example:

   name,email
   Alice,[email protected]
   Bob,[email protected]
   

2. Provision OpenAI & email credentials by adding them to your local .env (git‑ignored):

   # OpenAI
   OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...your-key...
   
   # SparkPost SMTP (example)
   SMTP_HOST=smtp.sparkpostmail.com
   SMTP_PORT=587
   SMTP_USER=SMTP_Injection
   SMTP_PASS=YOUR_SPARKPOST_API_KEY
   EMAIL_FROM="Your Name <[email protected]>"
   
   # Discord invite
   INVITE_LINK=https://discord.gg/yourcode
   SERVER_NAME="LoopBot Creators’ Hub"
   
   # (Optional) override default email subject
   EMAIL_SUBJECT="Join LoopBot Creators’ Hub!"

3. Install the OpenAI client and dotenv loader:

   pip install openai python-dotenv openai-agents

Usage of Invite Automation

Run the script to generate & send invites. Tracing is enabled by default so you can monitor runs in the OpenAI Traces dashboard. To disable tracing for a single run:

export OPENAI_AGENTS_DISABLE_TRACING=1

python invite_automation.py

Every entry in recipients.csv will receive a personalized invite email.

Opt-In Double-Confirmation Web Form

You can also collect opt-in subscribers via a simple web subscription form powered by Flask.

1. Install Flask:

   pip install flask

2. Ensure your SMTP and invite settings are set (same env vars used by invite_automation.py), plus:

   Variable	Description
   BASE_URL	Public URL where optin.py is served

3. Run the opt-in app:

   python optin.py

4. After submitting your details, you’ll be redirected to a thank‑you page instructing you to check your email for a confirmation link. Once you click that link, you’ll receive a Discord invite and the lead‑magnet PDF as an email attachment.

Lead Magnet PDF

Place your free guide (the “lead magnet”) as lead_magnet.pdf in the static/ directory:

static/lead_magnet.pdf

After a user confirms, the download link BASE_URL/static/lead_magnet.pdf is included in the invite email.

Fetch Volume Metadata via GraphQL

You can retrieve your Railway volume configuration (ID, name, mount path) using the Public GraphQL API and our helper script.

1. Option A: If you have a Project Access Token, fetch your Project and Environment IDs via GraphQL:

   pip install python-dotenv requests
   python fetch_project_env.py

   Copy the printed PROJECT_ID and ENVIRONMENT_ID into your .env for step 2.

2. Add your credentials and identifiers to .env:

   RAILWAY_API_KEY=sk-...
   RAILWAY_PROJECT_ID=<your-project-id>
   RAILWAY_SERVICE_ID=<your-service-id>

3. Install dependencies (GraphQL helper uses requests and python-dotenv):

   pip install python-dotenv requests

4. Run the script to list your volumes (will call https://railway.app/graphql):

   python fetch_volume_metadata.py

This will output all volumes attached to your Loopbot service along with their mount paths.

Fetch Volume Metadata via GraphQL

You can retrieve your Railway volume configuration (ID, name, mount path) using the Public GraphQL API and our helper script.

1. Add your credentials and identifiers to .env:

   RAILWAY_API_KEY=sk-...
   RAILWAY_PROJECT_ID=<your-project-id>
   RAILWAY_SERVICE_ID=<your-service-id>

2. Install dependencies (GraphQL helper uses requests and python-dotenv):

   pip install python-dotenv requests

3. Run the script to list your volumes:

   python fetch_volume_metadata.py

This will output all volumes attached to your Loopbot service along with their mount paths.