ash

a minimal [matrix] message watcher and link extractor

Bot commands (bot.json)

You can configure HTTP-backed bot commands in bot.json. Example commands included:

• /bot joke — uses icanhazdadjoke (returns the joke field)
• /bot catfact — uses catfact.ninja (returns the fact field)
• /bot summary — fetches daily link summaries from linkstash API

Add or change commands in bot.json and set BOT_CONFIG_PATH in config.json if you place it elsewhere. The bot will prefix responses using BOT_REPLY_LABEL in config.json (defaults to [BOT]\n).

Room-specific bot configuration

Bot commands are enabled per room via the allowedCommands array in config.json:

• "allowedCommands": [] — Enable bot with all commands allowed
• "allowedCommands": ["summary", "joke"] — Enable bot with only specific commands
• Omit allowedCommands — Bot disabled in that room

This allows fine-grained control over which commands are available in each room.

pairs nicely with lava

lava is a web clipping tool that can run as a server or daemon to automatically populate your Obsidian clippings directory with fresh parsed md from URLs.

Setup

1. Install Go 1.25+ and SQLite.
2. Clone the repo.
3. Copy config.json and edit with your Matrix credentials.
4. Run make to build and run.

Structure

• ash.go: Main application logic
• db/: Database schema files
• data/: Runtime data (SQLite, exports)
• internal/: Internal packages (config, db, matrix)

Configuration

Edit config.json:

• MATRIX_HOMESERVER: Your Matrix server URL
• MATRIX_USER: Your Matrix user ID
• MATRIX_PASSWORD: Password
• MATRIX_RECOVERY_KEY: For E2EE verification
• MATRIX_ROOM_ID: Array of rooms to watch, each with:
  • id: Room ID
  • comment: Human-readable name
  • hook: Optional webhook URL for link processing
  • key: Webhook auth key
  • sendUser/sendTopic: Whether to include user/topic in webhooks
  • allowedCommands: Array of allowed bot commands (empty = all, omit = disabled)
• BOT_REPLY_LABEL: Bot response prefix (default: [BOT]\n)
• LINKSTASH_URL: Base URL for linkstash service (used in summary bot)
• MATRIX_DEVICE_NAME: Device name
• DEBUG: Enable debug logging

Usage

• make: Build and run
• make build: Build only
• make clean: Clean build artifacts

Links are exported to data/links.json.