matrix-docker-ansible-deploy/docs/configuring-playbook-bridge-appservice-discord.md

Setting up Appservice Discord bridging (optional)

Note: bridging to Discord can also happen via the mx-puppet-discord and mautrix-discord bridges supported by the playbook.

• For using as a Bot we are recommend the Appservice Discord bridge (the one being discussed here), because it supports plumbing.
• For personal use we recommend the mautrix-discord bridge, because it is the most fully-featured and stable of the 3 Discord bridges supported by the playbook.

The playbook can install and configure matrix-appservice-discord for you.

See the project's documentation to learn what it does and why it might be useful to you.

Prerequisites

Create a Discord Application here. Then retrieve Client ID, and create a bot from the Bot tab and retrieve the Bot token.

Adjusting the playbook configuration

To enable the bridge, add the following configuration to your inventory/host_vars/matrix.example.com/vars.yml file:

matrix_appservice_discord_enabled: true
matrix_appservice_discord_client_id: "YOUR DISCORD APP CLIENT ID"
matrix_appservice_discord_bot_token: "YOUR DISCORD APP BOT TOKEN"

# As of Synapse 1.90.0, uncomment to enable the backwards compatibility (https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/latest/upgrade#upgrading-to-v1900) that this bridge needs.
# Note: This deprecated method is considered insecure.
#
# matrix_synapse_configuration_extension_yaml: |
#   use_appservice_legacy_authorization: true

Installing

After configuring the playbook, run it with playbook tags as below:

ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=setup-all,ensure-matrix-users-created,start

Notes:

• The ensure-matrix-users-created playbook tag makes the playbook automatically create the bot's user account.

• The shortcut commands with the just program are also available: just install-all or just setup-all

  just install-all is useful for maintaining your setup quickly (2x-5x faster than just setup-all) when its components remain unchanged. If you adjust your vars.yml to remove other components, you'd need to run just setup-all, or these components will still remain installed.

Self-Service Bridging (Manual)

Self-service bridging allows you to bridge specific and existing Matrix rooms to specific Discord rooms. To enable it, add the following configuration to your inventory/host_vars/matrix.example.com/vars.yml file:

matrix_appservice_discord_bridge_enableSelfServiceBridging: true

Note: If self-service bridging is not enabled, !discord help commands will return no results.

Usage

Once self-service is enabled, start a chat with @_discord_bot:example.com and say !discord help bridge.

Then, follow the instructions in the help output message.

If the bot is not already in the Discord server, follow the provided invite link. This may require you to be a administrator of the Discord server.

On the Discord side, you can say !matrix help to get a list of available commands to manage the bridge and Matrix users.

Note: Encrypted Matrix rooms are not supported as of writing.

Portal Bridging (Automatic)

Through portal bridging, Matrix rooms will automatically be created by the bot and bridged to the relevant Discord room. This is done by simply joining a room with a specific name pattern (#_discord_<guildID>_<channelID>).

All Matrix rooms created this way are listed publicly by default, and you will not have admin permissions to change this. To get more control, make yourself a room Administrator. You can then unlist the room from the directory and change the join rules.

To disable portal bridging, add the following configuration to your inventory/host_vars/matrix.example.com/vars.yml file:

matrix_appservice_discord_bridge_disablePortalBridging: true

Usage

To get started with Portal Bridging:

1. To invite the bot to Discord, retrieve the invite link from the {{ matrix_appservice_discord_config_path }}/invite_link file on the server (this defaults to /matrix/appservice-discord/config/invite_link). You need to peek at the file on the server via SSH, etc., because it's not available via HTTP(S).
2. Room addresses follow this syntax: #_discord_<guildID>_<channelID>. You can easily find the guild and channel IDs by logging into Discord in a browser and opening the desired channel. The URL will have this format: discord.com/channels/<guildID>/<channelID>.
3. Once you have figured out the appropriate room address, you can join by doing /join #_discord_<guildID>_<channelID> in your Matrix client.

Getting Administrator access in a portal bridged room

By default, you won't have Administrator access in rooms created by the bridge.

To adjust room access privileges or do various other things (change the room name subsequently, etc.), you'd wish to become an Administrator.

There's the Discord bridge's guide for setting privileges on bridge managed rooms. To do the same with our container setup, run the following command on the server:

docker exec -it matrix-appservice-discord \
/bin/sh -c 'cp /cfg/registration.yaml /tmp/discord-registration.yaml && cd /tmp && node /build/tools/adminme.js -c /cfg/config.yaml -m "!qporfwt:example.com" -u "@alice:example.com" -p 100'