nc_bot_webhooks/INSTALL.md

nc_bot_webhooks — Installation Guide

Prerequisites

• Nextcloud 33 with the Talk app enabled
• PHP 8.1+
• Access to the Nextcloud server (SSH or direct file access)

Step 1: Enable the talk-bot user

The app posts messages as a dedicated bot user using the Talk Chat API (Basic auth). You must create this user and generate an app password.

Create the bot user (via occ):

cd /path/to/nextcloud
php occ user:add --password-from-env talk-bot
# You'll be prompted to set a password interactively, or:
export OC_PASS="your-bot-password-here"
php occ user:add --password-from-env talk-bot

Make the bot user an admin

The bot must have admin privileges to list all Talk rooms. Grant admin access:

1. Go to Settings → Users
2. Find talk-bot and click it
3. Check Admin under "Settings"
4. Save

Generate an app password for the bot:

1. Log in to Nextcloud as admin
2. Go to Settings → talk-bot → Devices & sessions
3. Click Add device and give it a name (e.g., "nc_bot_webhooks")
4. Copy the generated device password — you'll need this in Step 3

Step 2: Install the app

Option A: From the web UI (recommended)

1. ZIP only the nc_bot_webhooks directory (not the parent folder):

cd /path/to/nc_bot_webhooks
zip -r ../nc_bot_webhooks.zip .

2. Upload via web UI:
   • Go to Apps → Apps management (or Administration → Apps)
   • Click Upload app (or Download and enable → upload the ZIP)
   • Select nc_bot_webhooks.zip
   • The app will install and enable automatically

Option B: From the command line

cd /path/to/nextcloud/apps
git clone https://github.com/Mr-Newlove/nc_bot_webhooks.git
# or copy the directory manually:
# cp -r /path/to/nc_bot_webhooks /path/to/nextcloud/apps/nc_bot_webhooks

Enable the app:

cd /path/to/nextcloud
php occ app:enable nc_bot_webhooks

Step 3: Configure the app

1. Log in to Nextcloud as admin
2. Go to Settings → Admin → nc_bot_webhooks
3. Bot App Password — Paste the device password you generated in Step 1
4. Default Sender Name — Set the name that appears as the message sender (default: "Webhook Bot")
5. Image Retention — Set how many days to keep uploaded images (default: 90)
6. Room Selection — Click Fetch Rooms to list available Talk rooms
7. Check the rooms you want to accept webhooks for
8. For each room, click + Generate Auth Token to create a webhook URL
9. Click Save Configuration

Step 4: Set up the webhook URL

1. For Discord: go to Channel Settings → Integrations → Webhooks, create a new webhook, and set the Webhook URL to:

https://your-nextcloud-server/apps/nc_bot_webhooks/discord-webhook/<room-token>/<auth-token>

Replace <room-token> and <auth-token> with the values shown in the Nextcloud admin settings for the selected room.

4. Save the webhook in Discord

Step 5: Verify

Send a test message through the Discord webhook. You should see it appear in the corresponding Nextcloud Talk room with the configured sender name.

Test with curl:

curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"content":"Test message from nc_bot_webhooks","username":"CI Bot"}' \
  https://your-nextcloud-server/apps/nc_bot_webhooks/discord-webhook/<room-token>/<auth-token>

Apprise webhook

For Apprise integrations, use the /apprise-webhook/ endpoint with the same room-token and auth-token:

https://your-nextcloud-server/apps/nc_bot_webhooks/apprise-webhook/<room-token>/notify/<auth-token>

Note: the notify segment is required — Apprise's apprises:// URL scheme inserts it in the path.

Apprise sends a different JSON format (title, body, type, attachments) — the app maps these to the same Talk message format.

Troubleshooting

• "talk-bot user not found" — The talk-bot user doesn't exist. Re-run Step 1.
• "Bot password not configured" — You haven't entered the bot password in the admin settings, or it was cleared. Re-enter it in Step 3.
• Messages not appearing — Check the Nextcloud log (data/nextcloud.log or Settings → Admin → Logging) for errors from the nc_bot_webhooks app.
• Image upload fails — Verify the bot user has file storage quota and the nc_bot_webhooks-images folder can be created.

Security Notes

• Each room has its own auth token — treat them like passwords
• The webhook endpoint is public (no auth required) but validates the auth token from the URL path
• Admin settings endpoints (/save-config, /rooms) require admin login
• Images are stored in the bot user's files and purged after the retention period
• Debug endpoint disabled by default — see below
• Known limitations (to be fixed in a future release):
  • Auth tokens generated from the settings UI use client-side generation; for higher security, regenerate them via the server API
  • The webhook endpoint has no rate limiting — consider placing it behind a reverse proxy rate limiter if exposing to untrusted sources

Debug endpoint

The /apps/nc_bot_webhooks/debug endpoint exposes internal configuration, database schema, and bot credentials. It is disabled by default.

# Check status
php occ nc_bot_webhooks:debug:status

# Enable (WARNING: exposes sensitive data)
php occ nc_bot_webhooks:debug:enable

# Disable (default)
php occ nc_bot_webhooks:debug:disable

# Toggle current state
php occ nc_bot_webhooks:debug:toggle

After troubleshooting, disable it immediately:

php occ nc_bot_webhooks:debug:disable