%28docs%29/getting-started/page.mdx

---
title: Getting Started - SudoBot
short_name: Getting Started
---

import Callout from "@/components/Alerts/Callout";

# Getting Started

This guide will help you get started with SudoBot. You will learn how to build the bot from source, configure and run it on your own server, so that it does exactly what you want.

<Callout type="info">
    If you don't want to set the bot up yourself and want a pre-hosted solution
    for free, you can contact
    [@rakinar2](https://discord.com/users/774553653394538506) at Discord.
</Callout>

## Prerequisites

Before you start, you need to have the following installed on your system:

- A Discord API Application token (bot token). Go to the [Discord Developer Portal](https://discord.com/developers/applications) to create a new application, and get the token.
- A [PostgreSQL](https://www.postgresql.org/) database server. You can use a local server or use a cloud service like [Supabase](https://supabase.com/).

Additionally, you can also set these up if you want to use them:

-   Cat and dog API Token, for fetching cat and dog images using `cat` and `dog` commands, the tokens can be obtained at [thecatapi.com](https://thecatapi.com) and [thedogapi.com](https://thedogapi.com).
-   Pixabay API Token to use the `pixabay` command. See [Pixabay's API Docs](https://pixabay.com/api/docs/) for more information.
-   A Discord Webhook URL for sending error reports.
- [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/) (v21 or higher) or [Bun](https://bun.sh) (v1.1.12 or higher). These will be installed automatically if you don't install them, during the build process.
- [Git](https://git-scm.com/) (optional; to clone the repository)

Lastly, we expect you to have a very basic understanding of how to use a terminal or command prompt, and how to run commands.

## Installation

To install SudoBot, you need to clone the [git](https://git-scm.com) repository or checkout the [svn](https://subversion.apache.org/) repository first, if you have git installed. Run the following command in your terminal:

```bash
git clone https://github.com/onesoft-sudo/sudobot
```

You can also checkout the [svn](https://subversion.apache.org/) repository:

```bash
svn checkout https://svn.onesoftnet.eu.org/svn/sudobot sudobot
```

If you don't have git or svn installed, you can download the repository as a zipball/tarball from the [GitHub Releases Page](https://github.com/onesoft-sudo/sudobot/releases/latest).
Then, extract the downloaded file to a directory of your choice.

Next, navigate to the directory where you have cloned the repository using Git, or extracted the zipball/tarball, by running the following command in your terminal:

```bash
cd sudobot
```

### Building SudoBot for Node.js

Now, to build the project, we'll use [BlazeBuild](https://github.com/onesoft-sudo/sudobot/tree/main/blazebuild), which is a blazingly fast build tool, for TypeScript and JavaScript projects.
To use BlazeBuild, you don't need to install anything including BlazeBuild itself, as it will be installed and set-up automatically during the build process.
BlazeBuild will also make sure to install any missing SDKs or tools required for building the project.

The repository already contains the BlazeBuild wrapper (blazew). To build the project, run the following command in your terminal:

```bash
./blazew build
```

This will build, compile and package the project into a `build` directory in the project root, which contains the compiled JavaScript files.
Depending on your system, the build process may take a few seconds to a few minutes to complete.
We recommend using a system with at least 8GB of RAM and 2 CPU cores for faster build times.

If you don't have enough memory, this command might fail with heap allocation errors. If that happens, or if you don't want to build it yourself, don't worry. You can download prebuilt versions for every release. The builds are tested on Node.js **v21**, however they should also work with **v20**.
You might see that only Linux and macOS (darwin) releases are available. This doesn't mean you cannot run the bot on Windows systems - only the native bindings are platform dependent. You don't need to worry about that in most cases and the bot will just work fine.
You can download the prebuilt versions in the GitHub releases page: https://github.com/onesoft-sudo/sudobot/releases/latest

As always if you ever encounter errors with commands or you see something is not working as you expect, you can join our [Discord Server](https://discord.gg/892GWhTzgs) and ask for help!

### Building SudoBot for Bun

If you'd like to use Bun instead of Node.js to run SudoBot, then you don't need to build the bot because Bun supports TypeScript natively. Just skip to the next part and follow the commands and instructions specifically for Bun.

## Configuration

After building the project, you need to configure the bot to run on your server.
You'll need to configure the following:

- The environment variables
- The configuration files

### Environment Variables

The bot uses environment variables for storing secret credentials like your bot's token. You can set these in a `.env` file in the project root.

Create a new file named `.env` in the project root, and add the following environment variables:

```bash
# Your bot's token from the Discord Developer Portal.
TOKEN=your-bot-token

# Client ID of your bot from the Discord Developer Portal.
CLIENT_ID=your-bot-client-id

# Client Secret of your bot from the Discord Developer Portal.
CLIENT_SECRET=your-bot-client-secret

# The ID of the guild where you want to register the commands,
# during development mode, and where the bot will send error reports.
# The bot will also search for emojis in this guild.
HOME_GUILD_ID=your-home-guild-id

# Your PostgreSQL database connection URL.
# Sometimes your database provider might provide a connection URL 
# exactly in this format. Otherwise if they give you the details
# separately, you can format it to look like this.
DB_URL=postgresql://username:password@hostname:port/database

# JWT Secret for generating JWT tokens.
# On systems with openssl installed, you can generate a random 
# secret using the following command:
#
#    openssl rand -base64 32
#
# Replace `your-jwt-secret` with the generated secret.
JWT_SECRET=your-jwt-secret

# Optionally, you can uncomment the following to turn on debug mode 
# to see more detailed logs, and enable certain development features.

# NODE_ENV=development
```

There are a lot of other environment variables that you can set, but these are the most important ones. You can check out all the environment variables in the [environment variable schema file](https://github.com/onesoft-sudo/sudobot/blob/main/src/main/typescript/schemas/EnvironmentVariableSchema.ts).

### Configuration Files

The bot uses configuration files for storing settings like the bot's prefix, the system administrator IDs, and more.
Some of these settings are guild-wide, and some are global.
The guild-wide configuration file is `config.json`, and the global system-level configuration file is `system.json`.
The files are located at `config/` in the project root. These configuration files don't contain any specific setting, they are just a starting point for you to configure the bot.
You can edit these files to your liking.

To see all the possible configuration options, please refer to these schema files:

- [Guild Configuration Schema](https://github.com/onesoft-sudo/sudobot/blob/main/src/main/typescript/schemas/GuildConfigSchema.ts)
- [System Configuration Schema](https://github.com/onesoft-sudo/sudobot/blob/main/src/main/typescript/schemas/SystemConfigSchema.ts)

## Setting up the Database

The bot uses a PostgreSQL database to store data like guild settings, user settings, and more.

To set up the database, make sure you've set the `DB_URL` environment variable in the `.env` file.
Then, run the following command in your terminal to run the database migrations:

```bash
./blazew migrate
```

This will create the required tables in the database.

## Running the Bot

After configuring the bot, you can run it using the following command:

```bash
./blazew run
```

By default, BlazeBuild will use [Bun](https://bun.sh) to run the bot. If you want to use Node.js instead, you can run the following command:

```bash
./blazew run --node
```

This will start the bot, and you should see the bot online in your Discord server. 
Congratulations! You have successfully set up a custom instance of SudoBot on your server 🎉

## Next steps

### Registering application commands

The bot uses [Discord's Application Commands](https://discord.com/developers/docs/interactions/application-commands) for slash commands and context menus.
To register the application commands to the Discord API, you can run the following command:

```bash
./blazew run -- -u
```

If you have debug mode enabled and have `HOME_GUILD_ID` set in the `.env` file, the bot will register the commands in the development guild.
If you don't have debug mode enabled, the bot will register the commands globally.

If you want to force the bot to register the commands globally, you can run the following command:

```bash
./blazew run -- -u -g
```

To clear the registered commands, you can run the following command:

```bash
./blazew run -- -c
```

Once again, if you have debug mode enabled, the bot will clear the commands in the development guild. Otherwise, it will clear the commands globally.
To force the bot to clear the commands globally, you can run the following command:

```bash
./blazew run -- -c -g
```

## Emojis

The bot uses some custom emojis and it will try to find those emojis in the Home Guild (The main server, which is configured in `HOME_GUILD_ID` environment variable).

The emojis are freely available for download at the [download server](https://www.onesoftnet.eu.org/downloads/sudo/emojis/). The bot uses some other emojis as well, if you want you can download them from [emoji.gg](https://emoji.gg).

If you don't add these emojis, the bot may send messages that look unformatted or broken.

## Help & Support

In case if you're facing issues, feel free to open an issue at [GitHub](https://github.com/onesoft-sudo/sudobot/issues). Or you can contact the Author of the bot in the following ways:

-   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
-   Discord: [@rakinar2](https://discord.com/users/774553653394538506)
-   Discord Servers: [Official OSN Server](https://discord.gg/JJDy9SHzGv)

Give the repository a star to show your support! We'll be really thankful if you do.
1	rakinar2	575	---
2			title: Getting Started - SudoBot
3			short_name: Getting Started
4			---
5
6			import Callout from "@/components/Alerts/Callout";
7
8			# Getting Started
9
10			This guide will help you get started with SudoBot. You will learn how to build the bot from source, configure and run it on your own server, so that it does exactly what you want.
11
12			<Callout type="info">
13			If you don't want to set the bot up yourself and want a pre-hosted solution
14			for free, you can contact
15			[@rakinar2](https://discord.com/users/774553653394538506) at Discord.
16			</Callout>
17
18			## Prerequisites
19
20			Before you start, you need to have the following installed on your system:
21
22			- A Discord API Application token (bot token). Go to the [Discord Developer Portal](https://discord.com/developers/applications) to create a new application, and get the token.
23			- A [PostgreSQL](https://www.postgresql.org/) database server. You can use a local server or use a cloud service like [Supabase](https://supabase.com/).
24
25			Additionally, you can also set these up if you want to use them:
26
27			- Cat and dog API Token, for fetching cat and dog images using `cat` and `dog` commands, the tokens can be obtained at [thecatapi.com](https://thecatapi.com) and [thedogapi.com](https://thedogapi.com).
28			- Pixabay API Token to use the `pixabay` command. See [Pixabay's API Docs](https://pixabay.com/api/docs/) for more information.
29			- A Discord Webhook URL for sending error reports.
30			- [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/) (v21 or higher) or [Bun](https://bun.sh) (v1.1.12 or higher). These will be installed automatically if you don't install them, during the build process.
31			- [Git](https://git-scm.com/) (optional; to clone the repository)
32
33			Lastly, we expect you to have a very basic understanding of how to use a terminal or command prompt, and how to run commands.
34
35			## Installation
36
37	rakinar2	580	To install SudoBot, you need to clone the [git](https://git-scm.com) repository or checkout the [svn](https://subversion.apache.org/) repository first, if you have git installed. Run the following command in your terminal:
38	rakinar2	575
39			```bash
40			git clone https://github.com/onesoft-sudo/sudobot
41			```
42
43	rakinar2	580	You can also checkout the [svn](https://subversion.apache.org/) repository:
44
45			```bash
46			svn checkout https://svn.onesoftnet.eu.org/svn/sudobot sudobot
47			```
48
49			If you don't have git or svn installed, you can download the repository as a zipball/tarball from the [GitHub Releases Page](https://github.com/onesoft-sudo/sudobot/releases/latest).
50	rakinar2	575	Then, extract the downloaded file to a directory of your choice.
51
52			Next, navigate to the directory where you have cloned the repository using Git, or extracted the zipball/tarball, by running the following command in your terminal:
53
54			```bash
55			cd sudobot
56			```
57
58	rakinar2	599	### Building SudoBot for Node.js
59
60	rakinar2	575	Now, to build the project, we'll use [BlazeBuild](https://github.com/onesoft-sudo/sudobot/tree/main/blazebuild), which is a blazingly fast build tool, for TypeScript and JavaScript projects.
61			To use BlazeBuild, you don't need to install anything including BlazeBuild itself, as it will be installed and set-up automatically during the build process.
62			BlazeBuild will also make sure to install any missing SDKs or tools required for building the project.
63
64			The repository already contains the BlazeBuild wrapper (blazew). To build the project, run the following command in your terminal:
65
66			```bash
67			./blazew build
68			```
69
70			This will build, compile and package the project into a `build` directory in the project root, which contains the compiled JavaScript files.
71			Depending on your system, the build process may take a few seconds to a few minutes to complete.
72			We recommend using a system with at least 8GB of RAM and 2 CPU cores for faster build times.
73
74	rakinar2	599	If you don't have enough memory, this command might fail with heap allocation errors. If that happens, or if you don't want to build it yourself, don't worry. You can download prebuilt versions for every release. The builds are tested on Node.js v21, however they should also work with v20.
75	rakinar2	575	You might see that only Linux and macOS (darwin) releases are available. This doesn't mean you cannot run the bot on Windows systems - only the native bindings are platform dependent. You don't need to worry about that in most cases and the bot will just work fine.
76			You can download the prebuilt versions in the GitHub releases page: https://github.com/onesoft-sudo/sudobot/releases/latest
77
78			As always if you ever encounter errors with commands or you see something is not working as you expect, you can join our [Discord Server](https://discord.gg/892GWhTzgs) and ask for help!
79
80	rakinar2	599	### Building SudoBot for Bun
81
82			If you'd like to use Bun instead of Node.js to run SudoBot, then you don't need to build the bot because Bun supports TypeScript natively. Just skip to the next part and follow the commands and instructions specifically for Bun.
83
84	rakinar2	575	## Configuration
85
86			After building the project, you need to configure the bot to run on your server.
87			You'll need to configure the following:
88
89			- The environment variables
90			- The configuration files
91
92			### Environment Variables
93
94			The bot uses environment variables for storing secret credentials like your bot's token. You can set these in a `.env` file in the project root.
95
96			Create a new file named `.env` in the project root, and add the following environment variables:
97
98			```bash
99			# Your bot's token from the Discord Developer Portal.
100			TOKEN=your-bot-token
101
102			# Client ID of your bot from the Discord Developer Portal.
103			CLIENT_ID=your-bot-client-id
104
105			# Client Secret of your bot from the Discord Developer Portal.
106			CLIENT_SECRET=your-bot-client-secret
107
108			# The ID of the guild where you want to register the commands,
109			# during development mode, and where the bot will send error reports.
110			# The bot will also search for emojis in this guild.
111			HOME_GUILD_ID=your-home-guild-id
112
113			# Your PostgreSQL database connection URL.
114			# Sometimes your database provider might provide a connection URL
115			# exactly in this format. Otherwise if they give you the details
116			# separately, you can format it to look like this.
117			DB_URL=postgresql://username:password@hostname:port/database
118
119			# JWT Secret for generating JWT tokens.
120			# On systems with openssl installed, you can generate a random
121			# secret using the following command:
122			#
123			# openssl rand -base64 32
124			#
125			# Replace `your-jwt-secret` with the generated secret.
126			JWT_SECRET=your-jwt-secret
127
128			# Optionally, you can uncomment the following to turn on debug mode
129			# to see more detailed logs, and enable certain development features.
130
131			# NODE_ENV=development
132			```
133
134			There are a lot of other environment variables that you can set, but these are the most important ones. You can check out all the environment variables in the [environment variable schema file](https://github.com/onesoft-sudo/sudobot/blob/main/src/main/typescript/schemas/EnvironmentVariableSchema.ts).
135
136			### Configuration Files
137
138			The bot uses configuration files for storing settings like the bot's prefix, the system administrator IDs, and more.
139			Some of these settings are guild-wide, and some are global.
140			The guild-wide configuration file is `config.json`, and the global system-level configuration file is `system.json`.
141			The files are located at `config/` in the project root. These configuration files don't contain any specific setting, they are just a starting point for you to configure the bot.
142			You can edit these files to your liking.
143
144			To see all the possible configuration options, please refer to these schema files:
145
146			- [Guild Configuration Schema](https://github.com/onesoft-sudo/sudobot/blob/main/src/main/typescript/schemas/GuildConfigSchema.ts)
147			- [System Configuration Schema](https://github.com/onesoft-sudo/sudobot/blob/main/src/main/typescript/schemas/SystemConfigSchema.ts)
148
149			## Setting up the Database
150
151			The bot uses a PostgreSQL database to store data like guild settings, user settings, and more.
152
153			To set up the database, make sure you've set the `DB_URL` environment variable in the `.env` file.
154			Then, run the following command in your terminal to run the database migrations:
155
156			```bash
157			./blazew migrate
158			```
159
160			This will create the required tables in the database.
161
162			## Running the Bot
163
164			After configuring the bot, you can run it using the following command:
165
166			```bash
167			./blazew run
168			```
169
170			By default, BlazeBuild will use [Bun](https://bun.sh) to run the bot. If you want to use Node.js instead, you can run the following command:
171
172			```bash
173	rakinar2	593	./blazew run --node
174	rakinar2	575	```
175
176			This will start the bot, and you should see the bot online in your Discord server.
177			Congratulations! You have successfully set up a custom instance of SudoBot on your server 🎉
178
179			## Next steps
180
181			### Registering application commands
182
183			The bot uses [Discord's Application Commands](https://discord.com/developers/docs/interactions/application-commands) for slash commands and context menus.
184			To register the application commands to the Discord API, you can run the following command:
185
186			```bash
187	rakinar2	593	./blazew run -- -u
188	rakinar2	575	```
189
190			If you have debug mode enabled and have `HOME_GUILD_ID` set in the `.env` file, the bot will register the commands in the development guild.
191			If you don't have debug mode enabled, the bot will register the commands globally.
192
193			If you want to force the bot to register the commands globally, you can run the following command:
194
195			```bash
196	rakinar2	593	./blazew run -- -u -g
197	rakinar2	575	```
198
199			To clear the registered commands, you can run the following command:
200
201			```bash
202	rakinar2	593	./blazew run -- -c
203	rakinar2	575	```
204
205			Once again, if you have debug mode enabled, the bot will clear the commands in the development guild. Otherwise, it will clear the commands globally.
206			To force the bot to clear the commands globally, you can run the following command:
207
208			```bash
209	rakinar2	593	./blazew run -- -c -g
210	rakinar2	575	```
211
212			## Emojis
213
214			The bot uses some custom emojis and it will try to find those emojis in the Home Guild (The main server, which is configured in `HOME_GUILD_ID` environment variable).
215
216			The emojis are freely available for download at the [download server](https://www.onesoftnet.eu.org/downloads/sudo/emojis/). The bot uses some other emojis as well, if you want you can download them from [emoji.gg](https://emoji.gg).
217
218			If you don't add these emojis, the bot may send messages that look unformatted or broken.
219
220			## Help & Support
221
222			In case if you're facing issues, feel free to open an issue at [GitHub](https://github.com/onesoft-sudo/sudobot/issues). Or you can contact the Author of the bot in the following ways:
223
224			- Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
225			- Discord: [@rakinar2](https://discord.com/users/774553653394538506)
226			- Discord Servers: [Official OSN Server](https://discord.gg/JJDy9SHzGv)
227
228			Give the repository a star to show your support! We'll be really thankful if you do.