Run as Systemd

This covers how Hex is setup to run as a systemd service.

1. Create a Hex user sudo useradd -r -s /bin/false hex
2. Download the latest Hex binary from https://hexbot.io/downloads/
3. Place the hex binary in /usr/local/bin
4. Create a directory for the Hex config sudo mkdir /etc/hex
5. Create a directory for the Hex rules sudo mkdir /etc/hex/rules
6. Create a directory for the Hex plugins sudo mkdir /etc/hex/plugins
7. Create a log file sudo touch /var/log/hex.log
8. Change ownership for the log file sudo chown hex:hex /var/log/hex.log
9. Create a Hex config file such as /etc/hex/config.json:

{
  "slack": true,
  "slack_token": "<INSERT YOUR SLACK TOKEN>",
  "log_file": "/var/log/hex.log",
  "rules_dir": "/etc/hex/rules",
  "plugins_dir": "/etc/hex/plugins"
}

10. Create a systemd service file /etc/systemd/system/hex.service:

[Unit]
Description=HexBot

[Service]
User=hex
Group=hex
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/hex /etc/hex/config.json
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

11. Register the service file sudo systemctl enable hex.service
12. Create your first Hex rule /etc/hex/rules/hello.json:

{
  "rule": "hello",
  "match": "@hex hello",
  "actions": [
    { "type": "hex-response", "command": "Hello ${hex.user}!" }
  ]
}

13. Change the ownership of all Hex configuration sudo chown -R hex:hex /etc/hex
14. Startup the Hex service sudo systemctl start hex
15. Check in Slack if the Hex bot shows and ask @hex hello and it should respond.