I've been working on something to potentially improve notifications for people who will use iPhones that will use [Haveno](https://haveno.com), here is a detailed plan and working implementation for a Matrix Python bot that behaves as a regular user. This bot will log in using real credentials, monitor a specific room, and store chat messages efficiently, including metadata such as the sender, timestamp, and content, would could then be relayed both ways as a sort of 'matrix cli bot'.

Key Objectives

  1. Real User Credentials: The bot will log in using a real Matrix username and password, ensuring it appears as a regular user.
  2. Room-Specific Monitoring: It will listen only to messages in a specified room.
  3. Efficient Data Storage: Messages will be stored with metadata (sender, timestamp, content) in a structured format.
  4. Stealth Operation: The bot will not exhibit any behavior that identifies it as a bot.

Implementation Details

Tools and Libraries

  • Matrix SDK: Use the matrix-nio library for interacting with the Matrix protocol (matrix-nio GitHub).
  • Python: The bot will be implemented in Python due to its simplicity and extensive library support (Python.org).
  • Storage: Use SQLite for efficient and scalable message storage.

Setup Instructions

  1. Set up a Matrix account (if you don't already have one) and note the username, password, and homeserver URL.

Install the required library:

pip install matrix-nio[sync]

Code Implementation

Here is the complete Python code for the bot:

import asyncio
import sqlite3
from nio import AsyncClient, RoomMessageText, LoginResponse

# Configuration
HOMESERVER = "https://matrix.org"  # Replace with your homeserver URL
USERNAME = "your_username"         # Replace with your Matrix username
PASSWORD = "your_password"         # Replace with your Matrix password
ROOM_ID = "!your_room_id:matrix.org"  # Replace with the target room ID

# Initialize SQLite database
def init_db():
    conn = sqlite3.connect("chat_data.db")
    cursor = conn.cursor()
    cursor.execute("""
        CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS messages (
            id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
            sender TEXT,
            timestamp INTEGER,
            content TEXT
        )
    """)
    conn.commit()
    conn.close()

# Save message to the database
def save_message(sender, timestamp, content):
    conn = sqlite3.connect("chat_data.db")
    cursor = conn.cursor()
    cursor.execute("""
        INSERT INTO messages (sender, timestamp, content)
        VALUES (?, ?, ?)
    """, (sender, timestamp, content))
    conn.commit()
    conn.close()

# Main bot logic
async def main():
    # Initialize Matrix client
    client = AsyncClient(HOMESERVER)

    # Log in as a real user
    login_response = await client.login(USERNAME, PASSWORD)
    if isinstance(login_response, LoginResponse):
        print(f"Logged in as {USERNAME}")
    else:
        print(f"Failed to log in: {login_response}")
        return

    # Join the target room
    await client.join(ROOM_ID)
    print(f"Joined room: {ROOM_ID}")

    # Callback for handling new messages
    async def message_callback(room, event):
        if isinstance(event, RoomMessageText):
            print(f"New message from {event.sender}: {event.body}")
            # Save the message to the database
            save_message(event.sender, event.server_timestamp, event.body)

    # Register the callback
    client.add_event_callback(message_callback, RoomMessageText)

    # Sync loop to listen for events
    await client.sync_forever(timeout=30000)

# Initialize the database
init_db()

# Run the bot
asyncio.get_event_loop().run_until_complete(main())

How It Works

  1. Login: The bot logs in using the provided username and password.
  2. Room Monitoring: It joins the specified room and listens for new messages.
  3. Message Handling:
    • When a new message is detected, the bot extracts the sender, timestamp, and content.
    • The message is saved to an SQLite database for efficient storage and retrieval.
  4. Stealth Mode: The bot does not send messages or perform actions that would reveal its automated nature.

Database Structure

The SQLite database (chat_data.db) contains a single table, messages, with the following fields:

  • id: Auto-incrementing primary key.
  • sender: The Matrix ID of the message sender.
  • timestamp: The server timestamp of the message.
  • content: The text content of the message.

Best Practices

  1. Security:
    • Store credentials securely (e.g., use environment variables or encrypted files).
    • Use HTTPS for all communication with the Matrix server.
  2. Scalability:
    • For large-scale deployments, consider using a more robust database like PostgreSQL.
    • Implement message archiving to manage storage.
  3. Error Handling:
    • Add error handling for network issues, login failures, and database operations.

Conclusion

This implementation fulfills out requirements by creating a Matrix Python bot that operates as a regular user, monitors a specific room, and stores chat messages efficiently. By leveraging the Matrix protocol and Python's capabilities, this solution is secure, scalable, and adaptable to future needs and integrations with Haveno also!