UnpaidIntern

Our Discord bot that helps us with random things, now with Firestore database integration.

Features

• Query and display Firestore database collections and documents in Discord channels
• List all collections available in your Firestore database
• Retrieve specific documents by ID with formatted display
• Automatically format complex data structures into readable Discord embeds
• Export large datasets as JSON attachments
• Built with TypeScript for type safety and maintainability

Setup Instructions

Prerequisites

• Node.js v16 or higher
• pnpm package manager
• Discord bot token (from Discord Developer Portal)
• Firebase project with Firestore database
• Firebase service account credentials

Discord Bot Setup

1. Visit the Discord Developer Portal
2. Click "New Application" and name it
3. Go to the "Bot" tab and click "Add Bot"
4. Under "Privileged Gateway Intents", enable:
   • Server Members Intent
   • Message Content Intent
5. Copy your bot token (you'll need this for the .env file)
6. Navigate to the "OAuth2" > "URL Generator" section
7. Select scopes: bot and applications.commands
8. Select bot permissions:
   • Read Messages/View Channels
   • Send Messages
   • Embed Links
   • Attach Files
   • Read Message History
9. Use the generated URL to invite the bot to your server

Firebase Setup

1. Go to the Firebase Console
2. Create or select your project
3. Set up Firestore database if not already configured
4. Go to Project Settings > Service Accounts
5. Click "Generate new private key" to download your service account JSON
6. Rename this file to firebase-service-account.json and place it in the project root

Project Installation

1. Install dependencies:

   pnpm install

2. Create a .env file with the following variables:

   # Discord Bot Configuration
   DISCORD_TOKEN=your_discord_bot_token_here
   DISCORD_CLIENT_ID=your_discord_application_client_id_here
   
   # Firebase Configuration
   FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID=your_firebase_project_id
   
   # Optional configurations
   # FIREBASE_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH=./path/to/service-account.json
   # COMMAND_PREFIX=!
   

3. Build the project:

   pnpm build

4. Start the bot:

   pnpm start

Available Commands

Command	Description	Usage
!help	Display available commands	!help
!ping	Check if bot is responding	!ping
!collections	List all Firestore collections	!collections
!query	Retrieve documents from a collection	!query <collection> [limit=10]
!get	Get a specific document by ID	!get <collection> <documentId>

Development

For development with auto-reloading:

pnpm dev

Project Structure

src/
├── bot/            # Discord bot client setup
├── commands/       # Command handling logic
├── db/             # Firestore database connection
├── utils/          # Utility functions
├── config.ts       # Environment configuration
└── index.ts        # Application entry point

Adding New Commands

To create a new command:

1. Open src/commands/handler.ts
2. Define a new command object following the existing pattern:

   const newCommand: Command = {
     name: 'commandname',
     description: 'Description of what the command does',
     usage: 'commandname <required_arg> [optional_arg]',
     execute: async (message: Message, args: string[]): Promise<void> => {
       // Command implementation
     }
   };

3. Register the command by adding it to the registerCommand calls:

   registerCommand(newCommand);

Deployment

For production deployment:

1. Ensure all environment variables are properly set in your production environment
2. Build the TypeScript code:

   pnpm build

3. Start the production server:

   pnpm start

Using PM2 for Process Management

# Install PM2 globally
npm install -g pm2

# Start the bot with PM2
pm2 start dist/index.js --name "discord-firestore-bot"

# Configure PM2 to start on system boot
pm2 startup
pm2 save

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Bot doesn't respond to commands:

• Check if the bot is online in your Discord server
• Ensure you're using the correct command prefix (default is !)
• Verify the bot has proper permissions in the channel
• Check console logs for any errors

Firestore connection issues:

• Verify your firebase-service-account.json file is valid and has correct permissions
• Check that your Firebase project ID in .env matches the service account
• Ensure your Firestore database exists and is not in locked mode

TypeScript build errors:

• Run pnpm build to see detailed error messages
• Make sure all dependencies are installed: pnpm install

Logs

To enable verbose logging for debugging:

NODE_ENV=development pnpm dev

Getting Help

If you encounter issues not covered here, check:

• Discord.js documentation: https://discord.js.org/
• Firebase Admin SDK docs: https://firebase.google.com/docs/admin/setup