James Price
d16c025753
Two YouTube regressions stacked up:
- yt-dlp 2026.3.17 hit "HTTP Error 403: Forbidden" on the actual media
download. Bumping to 2026.6.9 fixes the data-download 403, but its EJS
n-sig challenge solver now requires Node >= 22, and Debian 13 only ships
Node 20 ("node-20.x (unsupported)" -> only image formats resolve). bot.py
now points --js-runtimes at a standalone /opt/node22 via the new
JS_RUNTIME constant.
- With a cookies.txt present, yt-dlp skips the cookieless android_vr/android
clients (whose URLs work) and falls back to the `tv` client, whose media
URLs 403. New _cookie_args(url) withholds cookies for YouTube hosts only,
while still sending them to Instagram/TikTok/X.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
75 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
75 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
# signal-bot
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A Signal group-chat bot that grabs videos from links people post (X/Twitter,
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Instagram, YouTube, TikTok) and posts them back into the chat, plus a couple of
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toys for messing with the last video.
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## What it does
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- **Auto-download** — watches every group message for a supported link and
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replies with the video. Powered by [yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp).
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Videos over 100 MB are auto re-encoded with ffmpeg to fit.
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- **`/speed [n]`** — re-posts the last video sped up `n`× (default 2×), pitch-shifted
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like tape. e.g. `/speed 4`, `/speed 0.5`.
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- **`/rev`** — re-posts the last video reversed (audio too).
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- **`/cookies`** (DM, admins only) — paste exported `.instagram.com` cookie lines
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to refresh Instagram auth without touching the server.
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Supported links: `x.com` / `twitter.com` (and `fxtwitter`/`vxtwitter`/`fixupx`
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wrappers), `instagram.com/reel|p`, `youtube.com` / `youtu.be` / Shorts, and TikTok.
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## How it's wired
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```
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Signal ──► signal-cli-rest-api (json-rpc, :8080) ──► bot.py (signalbot lib)
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[docker-compose.yml] [systemd service]
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│
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yt-dlp + ffmpeg + cookies.txt
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```
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- `bot.py` connects to a [signal-cli-rest-api](https://github.com/bbernhard/signal-cli-rest-api)
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daemon over a websocket in `json-rpc` mode.
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- `docker-compose.yml` runs that daemon; the linked-account data lives in a
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`./signal-cli-data` volume (gitignored — it holds private keys).
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- `signal-bot.service.example` is the systemd unit that runs `bot.py`.
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## Setup
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1. **Run signal-cli-rest-api and link it as a device** to your Signal account:
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```
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docker compose up -d
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```
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Then link via the QR at `http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1/qrcodelink?device_name=bot`
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(scan from Signal → Settings → Linked devices). Keep signal-cli up to date —
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an out-of-date signal-cli silently stops receiving messages when Signal
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changes its server protocol (`getServerGuid must not be null` in the logs);
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`docker compose pull && docker compose up -d` fixes it.
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2. **Python env:**
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```
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python3 -m venv venv
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venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt
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```
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YouTube also needs **Node >= 22** on PATH (for `yt-dlp-ejs`'s challenge
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solver). If your distro only ships an older Node, install a standalone Node 22+
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and point `bot.py`'s `_NODE22` at it. Note: YouTube cookies are deliberately
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withheld (`_cookie_args`) — sending account cookies forces yt-dlp onto a player
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client whose media URLs 403; cookieless YouTube requests work.
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3. **Cookies:** copy `cookies.txt.example` to `cookies.txt` and fill in real
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exported cookies for the sites you want auth'd. (gitignored)
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4. **Service:** copy `signal-bot.service.example` to `signal-bot.service`, set
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your user / phone number / paths, install it:
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```
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sudo cp signal-bot.service /etc/systemd/system/
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sudo systemctl enable --now signal-bot
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```
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## Notes
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- The bot only acts in **group** chats (except `/cookies`, which is DM-only).
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- Reply-targeting (e.g. "speed up *this* video") was intentionally dropped:
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Signal Desktop strips quote metadata from synced transcripts, so `/speed` and
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`/rev` always act on the last video seen in the group.
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