context-mod/docs/operatorConfiguration.md

The Operator configuration refers to configuration used configure to the actual application/bot. This is different from the Subreddit configuration that is defined in each Subreddit's wiki and determines the rules/actions for activities the Bot runs on.

Table of Contents

• Minimum Required Configuration
• Defining Configuration
• CLI Usage
• Examples
  • Minimum Config
  • Using Config Overrides
• Cache Configuration

Minimum Required Configuration

property	Server And Web	Server Only	Web/Bot-Auth Only
clientId	✔️	✔️	✔️
clientSecret	✔️	✔️	✔️
redirectUri	✔️	❌	✔️
refreshToken	✔️	✔️	❌
accessToken	✔️	✔️	❌

Refer to the Bot Authentication guide to retrieve credentials.

Defining Configuration

CM can be configured using any or all of the approaches below. Note that at each level ALL configuration values are optional but the "required configuration" mentioned above must be available when all levels are combined.

Any values defined at a lower-listed level of configuration will override any values from a higher-listed configuration.

• ENV -- Environment variables loaded from an .env file (path may be specified with --file cli argument)
• ENV -- Any already existing environment variables (exported on command line/terminal profile/etc.)
• FILE -- Values specified in a JSON configuration file using the structure in the schema
• ARG -- Values specified as CLI arguments to the program (see ClI Usage below)

Note: When reading the schema if the variable is available at a level of configuration other than FILE it will be noted with the same symbol as above. The value shown is the default.

• To load a JSON configuration (for FILE) from the command line use the -c cli argument EX: node src/index.js -c /path/to/JSON/config.json
• To load a JSON configuration (for FILE) using an environmental variable use OPERATOR_CONFIG EX: OPERATOR_CONFIG=/path/to/JSON/config.json

See the Operator Config Schema here

Defining Multiple Bots or CM Instances

One ContextMod instance can

• Run multiple bots (multiple reddit accounts -- each as a bot)
• Connect to many other, independent, ContextMod instances

However, the default configuration (using ENV/ARG) assumes your intention is to run one bot (one reddit account) on one CM instance without these additional features. This is to make this mode of operation easier for users with this intention.

To take advantage of this additional features you must use a FILE configuration. Learn about how this works and how to configure this scenario in the Architecture Documentation.

CLI Usage

Running CM from the command line is accomplished with the following command:

node src/index.js run

Run node src/index.js run help to get a list of available command line options (denoted by ARG above):

Usage: index [options] [command]

Options:
  -h, --help                                   display help for command

Commands:
  run [options] [interface]                    Monitor new activities from configured subreddits.
  check [options] <activityIdentifier> [type]  Run check(s) on a specific activity
  unmoderated [options] <subreddits...>        Run checks on all unmoderated activity in the modqueue
  help [command]                               display help for command


Options:
  -c, --operatorConfig <path>   An absolute path to a JSON file to load all parameters from (default: process.env.OPERATOR_CONFIG)
  -i, --clientId <id>           Client ID for your Reddit application (default: process.env.CLIENT_ID)
  -e, --clientSecret <secret>   Client Secret for your Reddit application (default: process.env.CLIENT_SECRET)
  -a, --accessToken <token>     Access token retrieved from authenticating an account with your Reddit Application (default: process.env.ACCESS_TOKEN)
  -r, --refreshToken <token>    Refresh token retrieved from authenticating an account with your Reddit Application (default: process.env.REFRESH_TOKEN)
  -u, --redirectUri <uri>       Redirect URI for your Reddit application (default: process.env.REDIRECT_URI)
  -t, --sessionSecret <secret>  Secret use to encrypt session id/data (default: process.env.SESSION_SECRET || a random string)
  -s, --subreddits <list...>    List of subreddits to run on. Bot will run on all subs it has access to if not defined (default: process.env.SUBREDDITS)
  -d, --logDir [dir]            Absolute path to directory to store rotated logs in. Leaving undefined disables rotating logs (default: process.env.LOG_DIR)
  -l, --logLevel <level>        Minimum level to log at (default: process.env.LOG_LEVEL || verbose)
  -w, --wikiConfig <path>       Relative url to contextbot wiki page EX https://reddit.com/r/subreddit/wiki/<path> (default: process.env.WIKI_CONFIG || 'botconfig/contextbot')
  --snooDebug                   Set Snoowrap to debug. If undefined will be on if logLevel='debug' (default: process.env.SNOO_DEBUG)
  --authorTTL <s>               Set the TTL (seconds) for the Author Activities shared cache (default: process.env.AUTHOR_TTL || 60)
  --heartbeat <s>               Interval, in seconds, between heartbeat checks. (default: process.env.HEARTBEAT || 300)
  --softLimit <limit>           When API limit remaining (600/10min) is lower than this subreddits will have SLOW MODE enabled (default: process.env.SOFT_LIMIT || 250)
  --hardLimit <limit>           When API limit remaining (600/10min) is lower than this all subreddit polling will be paused until api limit reset (default: process.env.SOFT_LIMIT || 250)
  --dryRun                      Set all subreddits in dry run mode, overriding configurations (default: process.env.DRYRUN || false)
  --proxy <proxyEndpoint>       Proxy Snoowrap requests through this endpoint (default: process.env.PROXY)
  --operator <name...>          Username(s) of the reddit user(s) operating this application, used for displaying OP level info/actions in UI (default: process.env.OPERATOR)
  --operatorDisplay <name>      An optional name to display who is operating this application in the UI (default: process.env.OPERATOR_DISPLAY || Anonymous)
  -p, --port <port>             Port for web server to listen on (default: process.env.PORT || 8085)
  -q, --shareMod                If enabled then all subreddits using the default settings to poll "unmoderated" or "modqueue" will retrieve results from a shared request to /r/mod (default: process.env.SHARE_MOD || false)
  -h, --help                    display help for command

Example Configurations

Minimum Config

Below are examples of the minimum required config to run the application using all three config approaches independently.

Using FILE

{
  "bots": [
    {
      "credentials": {
        "clientId": "f4b4df1c7b2",
        "clientSecret": "34v5q1c56ub",
        "refreshToken": "34_f1w1v4",
        "accessToken": "p75_1c467b2"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Using ENV (.env)

CLIENT_ID=f4b4df1c7b2
CLIENT_SECRET=34v5q1c56ub
REFRESH_TOKEN=34_f1w1v4
ACCESS_TOKEN=p75_1c467b2

Using ARG

node src/index.js run --clientId=f4b4df1c7b2 --clientSecret=34v5q1c56ub --refreshToken=34_f1w1v4 --accessToken=p75_1c467b2

Using Config Overrides

An example of using multiple configuration levels together IE all are provided to the application:

FILE

{
  "logging": {
    "level": "debug"
  }
}

ENV (.env)

CLIENT_SECRET=34v5q1c56ub
REFRESH_TOKEN=34_f1w1v4
ACCESS_TOKEN=p75_1c467b2
SUBREDDITS=sub1,sub2,sub3
PORT=9008

ARG

node src/index.js run --subreddits=sub1 --clientId=34v5q1c56ub

When all three are used together they produce these variables at runtime for the application:

clientId: f4b4df1c7b2
clientSecret: 34v5q1c56ub
refreshToken: 34_f1w1v4
accessToken: accessToken
subreddits: sub1
port: 9008
log level: debug

Configuring Client for Many Instances

See the Architecture Docs for more information.

{
  "bots": [
    {
      "credentials": {
        "clientId": "f4b4df1c7b2",
        "clientSecret": "34v5q1c56ub",
        "refreshToken": "34_f1w1v4",
        "accessToken": "p75_1c467b2"
      }
    }
  ],
  "web": {
    "credentials": {
      "clientId": "f4b4df1c7b2",
      "clientSecret": "34v5q1c56ub",
      "redirectUri": "http://localhost:8085/callback"
    },
    "clients": [
      // server application running on this same CM instance
      {
        "host": "localhost:8095",
        "secret": "localSecret"
      },
      // a server application running somewhere else
      {
        // api endpoint and port
        "host": "mySecondContextMod.com:8095",
        "secret": "anotherSecret"
      }
    ]
  },
  "api": {
    "secret": "localSecret",
  }
}

Cache Configuration

CM implements two caching backend providers. By default all providers use memory:

• memory -- in-memory (non-persistent) backend
• redis -- Redis backend

Each provider object in configuration can be specified as:

• one of the above strings to use the defaults settings or
• an object with keys to override default settings

A caching object in the json configuration:

{
 "provider": {
   "store": "memory", // one of "memory" or "redis"
   "ttl": 60, // the default max age of a key in seconds
   "max": 500, // the maximum number of keys in the cache (for "memory" only)
   
   // the below properties only apply to 'redis' provider
   "host": 'localhost',
   "port": 6379,
   "auth_pass": null,
   "db": 0,
 }
}