Translator Bot

This bot translates messages automatically for users who don't speek english.

How does it work?

It uses LibreTranslate API self-hosting API to detect the language of the message. It bases it off of a confidence variable to determine the language. This is can be run on a server (which is what I'm using).

How to run the code

1. Prerequisites

• Node.js and npm: Ensure Node.js and npm are installed on your system. You can download them from nodejs.org.

2. Clone the GitHub Repository

• Clone the repository to machine:

  git clone https://github.com/JayNightmare/Translator-Discord-Bot.git
  cd Translator-Discord-Bot

3. Install Dependencies

• Navigate to the project directory and install the required npm packages:

  npm init -y
  npm install discord.js axios dotenv

4. Create a Discord Bot

• Go to the Discord Developer Portal.

• Create a new application and add a bot to it.

• Go to Bot tab and enable Public Bot and Message Content Intent

• Copy the bot token in the Bot tab

• Generate an invite link in the Installation tab. Make sure to enable Guide Install

5. Configure Environment Variables

• Create a .env file in the directory:

  BOT_TOKEN=your-discord-bot-token
  API_URL=http://your-linode-ip:5000/translate

• Replace your-discord-bot-token with the token from the Discord Developer Portal.
• Replace http://your-linode-ip:5000/translate with the API endpoint of your LibreTranslate instance or y.

6. Set Up and Run the LibreTranslate API

• If you haven't already, set up LibreTranslate on a server (e.g., Linode) and ensure it's running.
• If self-hosting, ensure your server is properly configured to handle requests.

7. Run the Bot

• Start the bot using the following command:

  node index.js

• The bot should log in to your server and start listening for messages.

8. Test the Bot

• Send messages in different languages in your Discord server to see if the bot translates them and displays the corresponding flag and language.

9. Deploy and Maintain

• Once you have your code running smoothly on your own machine, transfer it to your server. To run the bot, use PM2.

Here’s a guide to install it on your server:

1. Create a Linode Server:

   • Deploy a new Linode instance with a Linux distribution like Debian 12 or Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. I'm using the $5 shared CPU server which is more than enough to run this bot.

2. Install Dependencies:

   • SSH into your Linode server and install the necessary dependencies, including Docker.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install docker.io

3. Run LibreTranslate:
   • Pull the LibreTranslate Docker image and run it.

sudo docker run -d -p 5000:5000 libretranslate/libretranslate

4. Access the API:
   • The API will be accessible at http://your-linode-ip:5000/translate.

To test to see if the API is working, you can run a CURL line:

 curl -X POST http://your-linode-ip:5000/translate -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"q": "Hola", "source": "es", "target": "en"}'

Heres a guide to install PM2 on your server/local machine:

1. Install PM2 Globally

sudo npm install -g pm2

2. Optional - Create a PM2 Account

• To monitor the bot on the server, type the command:

  pm2 login

• This will open the PM2 website where you can create an account
• Connect to the monitor bucket if you have one, if not just type none
• To link your pm2 account type the command:

  pm2 link <secret_key> <public_key>

3. Start the Bot with PM2

• Navigate to your bot's directory and start it with PM2:

  pm2 start index.js --name "discord-bot" --monitor

• --monitor add the bot to the monitor list which can be seen on the pm2 site.
• type pm2 monit to see a GUI of the Process List and the bot logs.

4. Auto-Start on Server Reboot

• Set up PM2 to start on server boot:

  pm2 startup
  pm2 save

5. Monitoring and Logs

• View logs:

  pm2 logs discord-bot-name

• Monitor running processes:

  pm2 list