Matrix Queue Processor (matrix_queue_proc)

This is a quickly-thrown-together script which will:

• retrieve unread text messages in a Matrix room
• execute a script of your choice for each one
  • mark (✅ reaction) or redact those messages on success (0); or
  • reply with the process's exit code on failure.
• exit once all those messages are processed.
  • (it is currently intended for occasional usage rather than continuous usage, but continuous usage may appear in the future.)

Use cases

• archiving (youtube-dl, archivebox, etc...)
  • e.g. using the 'Share' function on a mobile phone to enqueue links

Usage

python3 mxqueueproc.py <room ID> <command to run>

If you prefer messages to be redacted rather than ✅-reacted, use

MXQP_REDACT=1 python3 mxqueueproc.py <room ID> <command to run>

e.g.

python3 mxqueueproc.py !some_room_id:example.com youtube-dl

Installation and set-up

• Set up a Python 3 virtual environment python3 -m venv path/to/venv
• Activate it! . path/to/env/activate
• Install requirements pip install -r requirements.txt
• Activate this venv again whenever you wish to run mxqueueproc.

On first run, Matrix Queue Processor will guide you through a login.

You will need:

• your homeserver URL (e.g. https://matrix.org)
• your username (e.g. reivilibre)
• your password (e.g. nottellingYOUofcourse)

For more advanced commands

For more complicated commands, it may be worthwhile (or even required) to create e.g. a bash script

#!/bin/bash
set -eu
task=$1

do_something --serious-business --wow=very $1

(set -eu makes undefined variables and command errors cause failure, so that the bot will report it to you.)

Don't forget to mark it as executable.