Publish a Post

Publishing messages in Scuttlebot is very simple:

ssb-server publish --type {type} [...attributes]

sbot.publish({ type: type, ... }, cb)

The "post" type is a generic text-based message. Here's an example publish command:

ssb-server publish --type post --text "hello, world"

sbot.publish({ type: 'post', text: 'hello, world' }, cb)

Schema

The full schema of a post message is:

{
  type: 'post',
  text: String,
  channel: optional String,
  root: optional MsgLink,
  branch: optional MsgLink,
  recps: optional FeedLinks,
  mentions: optional Links
}

Posting to a Channel

To post to a channel, just include the name of the channel, without the #. For instance, to publish to '#patchwork-dev':

ssb-server publish --type post --text "hello, world" --channel patchwork-dev

sbot.publish({ type: 'post', text: 'hello, world', channel: 'patchwork-dev' }, cb)

Posting a Reply

Replies use the root and branch attributes of posts. The root should give the ID of the topmost post in the thread, whereas branch has the ID of the immediate parent. If replying to the topmost post, then root and branch will be equal.

Here's an example of replying to the topmost post:

ssb-server publish --type post --text "I agree!" --root %cfts5CAC/KIg1MNCbDXMVXPVhPsc4dRNWMXO2dNrN9Y=.sha256 --branch %cfts5CAC/KIg1MNCbDXMVXPVhPsc4dRNWMXO2dNrN9Y=.sha256

sbot.publish({ type: 'post', text: 'I agree!', root: '%cfts5CAC/KIg1MNCbDXMVXPVhPsc4dRNWMXO2dNrN9Y=.sha256', branch: '%cfts5CAC/KIg1MNCbDXMVXPVhPsc4dRNWMXO2dNrN9Y=.sha256' }, cb)

If the thread is in a channel, be sure to include the channel attribute as well.

Mentioning a User

The mentions attribute lets you explicitly reference other users, messages, or files. If a link is present in mentions, then it's usually because the name of the mentioned object is in the text of the post.

Here's an example of mentioning a user:

ssb-server publish --type post --text "hello, @paul" --mentions.0.name paul --mentions.0.link @hxGxqPrplLjRG2vtjQL87abX4QKqeLgCwQpS730nNwE=.ed25519

sbot.publish({ type: 'post', text: 'hello, @paul', mentions: [{ name: 'paul', link: '@hxGxqPrplLjRG2vtjQL87abX4QKqeLgCwQpS730nNwE=.ed25519' }] }, cb)

Setting Recipients

When a post is private, it will be encrypted. Because Scuttlebot's encrypted form doesn't include any metadata about who the message is encrypted to, you'll need to include the recipients list in the recps attribute.

Note, you should only use recps in encrypted messages. It's not really meant for public messages.

Publish a post