Getting started¶

Install¶

The supported install is the linux/amd64 release archive. phpbotscout is an internal tool that happens to be open source; it is not built for macOS or Windows.

From a release¶

Every release publishes the archive and a checksum file to the release store, and the releases page links both. Set version to the release you want:

$ version=vX.Y.Z
$ base=https://pkg.phpboyscout.uk/phpbotscout/$version
$ curl -fsSLO "$base/phpbotscout_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz"
$ curl -fsSLO "$base/checksums.txt"
$ sha256sum --check --ignore-missing checksums.txt
$ tar -xzf phpbotscout_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz phpbotscout
$ ./phpbotscout version

The checksum proves the archive arrived intact. It does not prove who built it: releases are not signed.

Runtime requirements¶

glibc 2.34 or newer, and nothing else. The binary links only the C library and the maths library that comes with it, so Debian 12, Ubuntu 22.04 and anything newer run it as it comes.

Building from source¶

From a checkout:

$ just build

which puts the binary in bin/. go install also works, and needs both build tags:

$ go install -tags sqlite_fts5,discord_novoice gitlab.com/phpboyscout/phpbotscout/cmd/phpbotscout@latest

Building needs Go 1.27.2 or newer and a C toolchain, because the SQLite driver is the native one, under cgo. The two tags follow from that:

• sqlite_fts5 compiles the driver with full-text search, which retrieval depends on.
• discord_novoice keeps the Discord adapter's voice support out of the build. It would otherwise come in with cgo and link libdave.so, which phpbotscout never calls and which would then be needed wherever the binary runs.

Leave either off and the build stops with an error naming it, such as undefined: phpbotscoutRequiresTheSqliteFTS5BuildTag. just build sets both for you.

@latest is the newest release. Releases up to v0.5.0 predate discord_novoice, ignore it, and link libdave.so whatever you pass.

Create a configuration file¶

Most commands refuse to run without one:

ERRO failed to load configuration: no config file found hints="Run 'phpbotscout init' to create a configuration."

Two ways to satisfy that:

$ phpbotscout init          # writes ~/.phpbotscout/config.yaml

or drop a .phpbotscout.yaml in the directory you are working in. Either is enough on its own. See where configuration is read from for which wins when both exist.

First run¶

$ phpbotscout --help

Fifteen commands, of which four are this tool's: serve, ask, index and review. The rest come from the framework; the command reference lists them all.

What you can actually do with it¶

Two things, and it is worth knowing which before you start:

• Answer a question from the indexed documentation, at the command line, with citations. Start with answer your first question from the docs.
• Run the daemon, which watches Discord channels, answers questions addressed to it, and keeps the index current. It posts only in a server that opts in, and does not moderate. See run the bot.

Everything else the bot is designed to do is not built yet. What phpbotscout does not do is the honest list.

What you will need¶