Transmission Discord Bot

A self-hosted python Discord.py bot for controlling an instance of Transmission, the bittorrent client, from a private Discord server. Using the transmissionrpc python library, this bot is built on kkrypt0nn's bot template and adapted from leighmacdonald's transmission scripts.

Features overview

• Interact via text channels or DMs
• Add transfers
• Modify existing transfers
• Check transfer status (with optional realtime updating of output)
• Notification system for transfer state changes
• Pretty output and highly configurable
• Easy setup
• t/help for usage information

Example images

• Various images of TransmissionBot interaction through DM (light mode images) and in-channel (dark mode images)
• Going left to right, top to bottom for light mode images
  • Adding new transfers from torrent file (can also add magnet links or a url to a torrent file)
  • Listing transfers (with filtering, sorting, regex searching by name and tracker, etc.)
  • Modifying transfers
    • All transfers for pause/resume
    • Or by transfer name (with filtering etc.) for pause/resume/remove/remove-delete/verify, with confirmation for removal
  • Notifications via DM (can opt-in to notificaitons for any transfers, and users get notifications for transfers they added)
  • Transfer summary, followed up by listing running tranfers via reaction click
• Dark mode images
  • Mostly the same stuff but with commands send in-channel
  • Note that reactions are removed when no longer necessary to keep the channel clean
  • In-channel notifications for a variety of (customizable) transfer state changes
  • Second dark mode image: list tranfers by name regex search, followed up by summary of listed transfers via reaction click

Install

1. Get Transmission and setup its web interface
2. Install python 3, transmissionrpc, pytz, and discord.py
3. Clone this repository using git clone https://github.com/twilsonco/TransmissionBot

Configure

1. Setup your new bot on Discord:
   1. Sign up for a Discord developer account
   2. Go to the developer portal, click New Application, pick a name and click Create
      • Note the CLIENT ID
   3. Click on Bot under SETTINGS and then click Add Bot
   4. Fill out information for the bot and uncheck the PUBLIC BOT toggle
      • Note the bot TOKEN
2. Invite the bot to your server
   1. Go to https://discordapp.com/api/oauth2/authorize?client_id=<client_id>&scope=bot&permissions=<permissions>
      • replace <client_id> with the CLIENT ID from above
      • replace <permissions> with the minimum permissions 93248(for read/send/manage messages, embed links, read message history, and add rections) or administrator permissions 9 to keep things simple
   2. Invite the bot to your server
3. Configure config.json file starting with config-sample.json
   • All values with ids are referring to Discord IDs, which are 18-digit numbers you can find by following these instructions
   • Values that MUST be configured: bot_token, listen_channel_ids if you want to use in-channel, notification_channel_id if you wish to use in-channel notifications, owner_user_ids at least with your Discord user id, tsclient with information pointing to your Transmission remote gui, whitelist_user_ids at least with your Discord user id and any other Discord users you wish to be able to use the bot.
   • After first run, a config.json file will be created in the same directory as bot.py. This file should then be used to make any configuration changes, and the definition of CONFIG in bot.py should be commented out or removed.
4. Configure logging in bot.py
   • Pick a location for the logfile on line 124; default is the same directory where bot.py resides
   • Optionally disable logging by setting the log level to logging.CRITICAL which isn't used anywhere
5. Run with python3 /path/to/TransmissionBot/bot.py and enjoy!

Detailed features

Interact via text channels or DMs

• Use commands with t/ prefix in text channel or via DM
• Via DM only, use commands without prefix (e.g. summary or s rather than t/summary or t/s)
• Why use DMs vs in-channel?
  • Use DMs for user privacy or to keep the in-channel usage clean
  • Use in-channel when privacy isn't an issue, or if you wish to take advantage of auto-updating output
  • Note: you can configure the bot to only respond to DMs or in-channel commands, so it can be a fully DM-based method of controlling Transmission if you wish

Add transfers

• Simply drag a .torrent file into the channel on discord and it will be added and started
• Alternatively, enter a transfer magnet link or an address to a .torrent file using t/add MAGNET_OR_URL

Modify existing transfers

• t/modify to pause, resume, verify, remove, or remove and delete one or more transfers
• Specify transfers using sequence of ids (e.g. 1,3,5-8), searching transfer names with regular expressions, or filtering by transfer properties (e.g. downloading, finished, etc.)
  • Limit number of matches using -N option
• Option to protext transfers using private trackers from removal
• t/help modify for more info

Check transfer status

List one or more transfers with pertinent information

• t/list
• Specify transfers using sequence of ids¹, searching transfer names with regular expressions, or filtering by transfer properties (e.g. downloading, finished, etc.)
• Click 🔄 reaction to update output in realtime (in-channel only, not through DM)
• t/help list for more info

Print transfer summary

• t/summary
• Includes overall transfer rates, amount of data transferred (based on current set of transfers), transfer counts for different states (e.g. downloading, finished, etc.), and list of highest seed-ratio transfers (configurable)
• Click 🔄 reaction to update output in realtime (in-channel only, not through DM)
• Use other reactions to print filtered lists of transfers
• Print symbol t/legend

Notification system for transfer state changes

• Print notifications regarding transfer state changes in a text channel and through DMs
• Users are notified through DM about transfers they added
• Can opt in to DM notifications for other transfers by reacting with 🔔 to t/list message or in-channel notifications
• Opt out of DM notifications
  • Opt out of individual DM notifications by reacting with 🔕 to t/list message or either in-channel or DM notifications
  • Users opt out of all DM notifications using t/notifications through DM
  • Owners can disable in-channel notifications using t/notifications in a listened channel
• Customize what state changes are included in the configuration

Pretty output and highly configurable

• Output automatically formatted for display on desktop or mobile discord clients (in-channel only, not through DM)
• Use of Embeds and unicode symbols where appropriate.
• Remove reactions from messages when no longer necessary for prettier scroll-back (in-channel only, not through DM)
• Configure user access using whitelist, blacklist and owner list
  • Control whether whitelisted users are able to remove and/or delete transfers (with optional override specifically for transfers added by the user)
• Protect transfers using private trackers from removal
• Set realtime update and notification frequency
• Set realtime update timeout
• Listen for commands on all or only specified text channels
• Toggle in-channel or DM interaction separately, or the notification system entirely
• Set which transfer state changes are reported in notifications with separate settings for in-channel notifications, notifications sent to users that added transfers, and users that opt into DM notifications
• Toggle dry-run to control whether transfer modifications are actually carried out

t/help for usage information

• Print help for some commands using t/help COMMAND_NAME (e.g. t/help list)

Easy setup

0. Setup bot on Discord developer portal
1. Clone repository git clone https://github.com/twilsonco/TransmissionBot
2. Configure CONFIG in bot.py to your liking
3. Run bot python3 /path/to/bot.py
   • Bot will create config.json, after which you can remove or comment the definition of CONFIG in bot.py to make future updates easier

config-sample.json contents

"# something" <— this is a comment

{
    "DM_compact_output_user_ids": [], "# users that will get compact output via DM (changed by t/compact command)"
    "blacklist_user_ids": [], "# discord users disallowed to use bot"
    "bot_prefix": "t/", "# bot command prefix"
    "bot_token": "BOT-TOKEN", "# bot token"
    "delete_command_message_private_torrent": true, "# deletes command message if that message contains one or more torrent files that use a private tracker"
    "delete_command_messages": false, "# delete command messages from users"
    "dryrun": false, "# if true, no changes are actually applied to transfers"
    "listen_DMs": true, "# listen for commands via DM to the bot"
    "listen_all_channels": false, "# if true, listen for commands in all text channels"
    "listen_channel_ids": [], "# channels in which to listen for commands"
    "logo_url": "https://iyanovich.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/transmission-logo.png", "# URL to logo that appears in some output"
    "notification_DM_opt_out_user_ids": [], "# DON'T MODIFY (used by bot to record users that have opted out of receiving DM notifications)"
    "notification_channel_id": 0, "# id of channel to which in-channel notificatations will be posted"
    "notification_enabled": true, "# if False, in-channel and DM notifications are disabled"
    "notification_enabled_in_channel": true, "# if False, in-channel notifications are disabled, but DM notifications will still work"
    "notification_freq": 300, "# number of seconds between checking transfers and posting notifications"
    "notification_states": { "# determines the types of transfer state changes that are reported in notifications..."
        "added_user": [ "# ...and DM notifications to users that added transfers"
            "removed",
            "error",
            "downloaded",
            "finished"
        ],
        "in_channel": [ "# ...for in-channel notifications, (this is the full list of potential state changes)"
            "new",
            "removed",
            "error",
            "downloaded",
            "finished"
        ],
        "notified_users": [ "# ...DM notifications for users that opted in to DM notifications for transfer(s)"
            "removed",
            "error",
            "downloaded",
            "stalled",
            "unstalled",
            "finished",
            "stopped",
            "started"
        ]
    },
    "owner_user_ids": [], "# discord users given full access"
    "private_transfer_protection_added_user_override": true, "# if true, the user that added a private transfer can remove it regardless of 'private_transfers_protected'"
    "private_transfer_protection_bot_owner_override": false, "# similar to 'private_transfer_protection_added_user_override', but allows bot owners to delete private transfers"
    "private_transfers_protected": true, "# prevent transfers on private trackers from being removed"
    "reaction_wait_timeout": 7200, "# seconds the bot should wait for a reaction to be clicked by a user"
    "repeat_cancel_verbose": true, "# if true, print message when auto-update is canceled for a message"
    "repeat_freq": 10, "# number of seconds between updating an auto-update message"
    "repeat_freq_DM_by_user_ids": {}, "# use t/repeatfreq to set autoupdate frequency over DM on a per-user basis"
    "repeat_timeout": 3600, "# number of seconds before an auto-update message times out"
    "repeat_timeout_DM_by_user_ids": {}, "# same but for autoupdate timeout"
    "repeat_timeout_verbose": true, "# if true, print message when auto-update message times out and stops updating"
    "summary_num_top_ratio": 0, "# number of top seed-ratio transfers to show at the bottom of the summary output"
    "tsclient": { "# information for transmission remote web gui"
        "host": "127.0.0.1",
        "password": "password",
        "port": 9091,
        "user": "admin"
    },
    "whitelist_added_user_remove_delete_override": true, "# if true, override both 'whitelist_user_can_remove' and 'whitelist_user_can_delete' allowing whitelisted users to remove and delete transfers they added"
    "whitelist_user_can_delete": false, "# if true, whitelisted users can remove and delete any transfer"
    "whitelist_user_can_remove": false, "# if true, whitelisted users can remove any transfer"
    "whitelist_user_ids": [] "# discord users allowed to use bot"
}

To-do (implemented)

• Comment and clean up code so people can read/trust it
• Command to print detailed information for transfer(s)
  • Complete connection information
  • Lists of transfer files, peers, trackers
• Add ability to verify transfer data
• When searching by name, update regex to include potential accented characters, eg pokemon would also match pokémon
• Specify number of transfers to show when using list or modify
• Combine the list and modify commands in the code, with a simple parameter to specify whether or not modification is allowed
• Currently, searching by name is done with case-insensitive regex. Update to that if a user includes upper case characters, case-sensitive search is performed
• Add recurring list option. Ie every five seconds replace list output with fresh output. This would be done by reacting to a "repeat" emoji to initiate repetition of the current search (also did this for summary)
• Add additional filtering options: stalled, error, non-zero up/down rate.
• Add shorthand for filtering options (downloading/seeding/stalled/paused become d/s/i/p etc., that's i for "idle" since s is for seeding)
• Add a top command that'sessentially a combination of the up/down rate filter and the repeating output features
• Ability to refine list output with filter or sort using reactions; ie click a filter or sort reaction which triggers another message with additional reactions to click to apply the extra filters or sort
• Ability to specify which files to include in download (we'll see about that; sounds clunky but maybe using file ID specifiers e.g. 1,3-5,8)
• Notifications for when a transfer finishes/stalls/errors
  • via DM to the user that added the transfer
  • or by posting to the channel from which a transfer was added
  • Let other users opt to receive notifications for transfers they didn't add
• Post-download file management (never going to happen...)
  • Compress files (encrypted) and make available for direct download from server via download link posted to channel or DM'd to user
• Use JSON config file so that updating is non-destructive
• Add set command so owners can edit configuration through Discord
• Add a toggle for minimalised output for better display on mobile devices. Toggle using t/compact as standalone command or by clicking a 📱 reaction. Store as global variable so all commands output can be affected.

Author(s)

• Tim Wilson

Thanks to:

• Rapptz
• kkrypt0nn
• leighmacdonald

License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 - see the LICENSE.md file for details