Forum-based Support Bot

A self-hosted forum-based support Discord bot for communities.

How to Use

This bot has only one command to use, for auto closing the posts from forum channels.

• Make sure the forum post has tags that is required before posting.
• Add proper permission to the bot to avoid unexpected issues.

Commands

To close thread using prefix command.

!close

To close the thread and resolved by the username mentioned

!close @username

Configurations

Config File

{
    "resolution_tag_name": "Solved",
    "command_prefix": "!",
    "utc_offset": -8,
    "datasheet_init": "init",
    "datasheet_response": "response",
    "datasheet_resolve": "resolve",
    "mention_message": "Hello there! If you need help, please read the information in <#1074862134284005396> and post your questions or issues in the <#1029543258822553680> channel. Our team and community members are always ready to help you out. Thank you for building with us!"
}

Config Name	Description
resolution_tag_name	The name of the tag to mark the post resolved.
command_prefix	A prefix you want to use with close command to be recognized by the bot.
utc_offset	Time and date UTC offset for recording the data.
datasheet_init	Refers to the sheet name in your google spreadsheet. This should be the first sheet in the order.
datasheet_response	Refers to the sheet name in your google spreadsheet. This should be the second sheet in the order.
datasheet_resolve	Refers to the sheet name in your google spreadsheet. This should be the third sheet in the order.
mention_message	The message bot will send if the bot mentioned by the user, you can use use the channel ids to mention it within the bot message.

Environment Variables

DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN=<discord_bot_token>
DISCORD_SUPPORT_ROLE_ID=<role_id>,<role_id>
GOOGLE_PRIVATE_KEY=<private_key>
GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL=<service_email_account>
GOOGLE_SPREADSHEET_ID=<google_spreadsheet_id>

Google Sheets Setup

This bot uses Google Sheets to record support data. You'll need to set up a Google Service Account to authenticate with Google Sheets API.

Step 1: Create a Google Cloud Project and Service Account

1. Go to the Google Cloud Console
2. Create a new project or select an existing one
3. Enable the Google Sheets API:
   • Go to "APIs & Services" > "Library"
   • Search for "Google Sheets API" and enable it
4. Create a service account:
   • Go to "APIs & Services" > "Credentials"
   • Click "Create Credentials" > "Service account"
   • Fill in the service account details and create it
5. Generate a key for the service account:
   • Click on the created service account
   • Go to the "Keys" tab
   • Click "Add Key" > "Create new key"
   • Choose "JSON" format and download the key file

Step 2: Extract Credentials

From the downloaded JSON file, extract the following values:

• GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL: The client_email field
• GOOGLE_PRIVATE_KEY: The private_key field (keep the \n characters as they are)

Step 3: Configure Google Spreadsheet

1. Create a new Google Spreadsheet or use an existing one
2. Copy the spreadsheet ID from the URL (the long string between /d/ and /edit)
3. Share the spreadsheet with your service account email with "Editor" permissions
4. Create three sheets in your spreadsheet with the names specified in your config.json:
   • Sheet for datasheet_init (default: "init")
   • Sheet for datasheet_response (default: "response")
   • Sheet for datasheet_resolve (default: "resolve")

Step 4: Set Environment Variables

Set the GOOGLE_SPREADSHEET_ID to your spreadsheet ID from step 3.

Step 5: Configure Spreadsheet Structure

After creating your spreadsheet, you need to set up the proper structure for data collection:

Required Sheets

Create 3 sheets with these exact names (matching your config.json):

1. "init" - Main data sheet (tracks all forum posts)
2. "response" - First response tracking
3. "resolve" - Resolution tracking

Sheet Headers Setup

"init" Sheet (Row 1 Headers):

post_id | post_link | question | posted_by | posted | tags | responder | first_response | resolution_time | resolved_by

"response" Sheet (Row 1 Headers):

post_id | first_response | responder

"resolve" Sheet (Row 1 Headers):

post_id | resolution_time | resolved_by

Data Flow Overview

Sheet	When Data is Added	What Gets Recorded
init	New forum post created	Post details, tags, timestamps (formulas auto-link other data)
response	Support team first responds	Response time and responder username
resolve	!close command used	Resolution time and who resolved it

Column Details

"init" Sheet Columns:

Column	Field	Auto-Filled	Description
A	post_id	✅	Discord thread ID
B	post_link	✅	Direct link to Discord post
C	question	✅	Forum post title/question
D	posted_by	✅	Username who created the post
E	posted	✅	Creation timestamp (UTC-8)
F	tags	✅	Forum tags applied to post
G	responder	🔗	First responder (VLOOKUP formula)
H	first_response	🔗	First response time (VLOOKUP formula)
I	resolution_time	🔗	Resolution time (VLOOKUP formula)
J	resolved_by	🔗	Who resolved it (VLOOKUP formula)

"response" Sheet Columns:

Column	Field	Auto-Filled	Description
A	post_id	✅	Discord thread ID
B	first_response	✅	First response timestamp
C	responder	✅	Support team member username

"resolve" Sheet Columns:

Column	Field	Auto-Filled	Description
A	post_id	✅	Discord thread ID
B	resolution_time	✅	Resolution timestamp
C	resolved_by	✅	Who closed the post

Legend: ✅ = Automatically filled by bot | 🔗 = VLOOKUP formula links data from other sheets

Analytics Capabilities

Once set up, your spreadsheet will automatically track:

• Response Times - How quickly support team responds
• Resolution Times - How long issues take to resolve
• Team Performance - Individual support member metrics
• Popular Topics - Most common tags and question types
• Support Workflow - Complete timeline from post to resolution

The "init" sheet serves as your main dashboard with all data connected through formulas, giving you comprehensive support analytics in one view.

Note: For more detailed information about Google Sheets authentication, refer to the node-google-spreadsheet documentation.

Development

Install the packages

yarn install

Run the bot

yarn dev

📃 License

The Forum-based Support Discord Bot is licensed under GNU General Public License v3.

🍀 Sponsor

Love what I do? Send me some love or coffee!? 💖☕

Can't send love or coffees? 😥 Nominate me for a GitHub Star instead!

Note: Your support means a lot to me as it allows me to dedicate my time and energy to creating and maintaining open-source projects that benefit the community. Thank you for supporting my mission to make technology better, accessible, and inclusive for everyone.🙏😇

📝 Author

The Forum-based Support Bot (thirdweb support) is developed and maintained by Waren Gonzaga, with the help of awesome contributors.

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💻💖☕ by Waren Gonzaga | He is Awesome 🙏