Using Asterobot means using three things that work together: Asterobot, the program on your computer; Asteroboard, the web interface you control it from; and asterobot.net, the website. Knowing which part does what makes the rest of this guide easier to follow, and it tells you what keeps running when you close a window.
- Asteroboard, in your browser → Asterobot, on your computer (127.0.0.1:8080)
- Your Dofus client, in MITM mode → Asterobot, on your computer
- Asterobot, on your computer → asterobot.net
- Asterobot, on your computer → Ankama's servers
Asterobot
Asterobot is the program you download and run. Everything happens inside it: your bots and their connections to Dofus, the Ankama accounts you store, the game versions it downloads from Ankama, the packages in your library and the scripts they run. It keeps your settings in a file called config.toml, and the rest of its data in folders of your user profile, not next to the program itself. Files and folders lists them.
While it runs, Asterobot waits for Asteroboard on an address of your computer: 127.0.0.1:8080 by default. That address only accepts connections from the computer Asterobot runs on. Open it in a browser and you land on Asteroboard, already set up to talk to this Asterobot.
Asterobot has no window of its own. On Windows it runs in a terminal window, and on macOS and Linux you start it from a terminal. As long as that terminal is open, Asterobot is running. First launch shows how to start and stop it.
Asteroboard
Asteroboard is the web interface at https://asteroboard.asterobot.net. The page itself comes from that address, but everything it shows comes from your Asterobot: your browser connects straight to Asterobot's address, and Asteroboard displays what Asterobot reports and sends it what you click. It's the same Asteroboard for everybody. It knows which Asterobot is yours because the address is saved in your browser, on the Preferences page under Server URL.
That address and your interface preferences (language, colors, layout) are the only things Asteroboard keeps for itself. They're saved in the browser you use, so another browser or another device starts with the defaults.
You can install Asteroboard as an app from your browser. Once it has loaded, it keeps working without an internet connection, as long as it can still reach your Asterobot. It also updates itself: while it's open, it checks for a new version every 30 minutes and offers to switch when you're ready. Tour of Asteroboard covers all of this.
What closing Asteroboard stops
Nothing in Asterobot. When you close the tab or the app, your bots stay connected, their packages keep running and downloads carry on. Open Asteroboard again and it shows things as they are now, and a bot's console starts with the last 200 lines Asterobot kept for it.
A few things only lived in the page, and they go away with it:
- The messages a bot's Traffic panel had captured, with the chat lines the bot's console showed from them. Which messages the bot follows is saved with the bot and stays as it was.
- The inventory on a bot's Inventory tab, until the character enters the game again.
- The lines on Server > Console.
- The Extract data after downloading choice of a game download that hasn't finished. The download itself continues, but its extraction won't start on its own. You can start it later from Game Manager.
- The music playing from the Game page.
What stopping Asterobot stops
Everything. When Asterobot stops, every bot disconnects, including a bot that relays the game you're playing, so your game is disconnected too. Running scripts stop, and so does any download in progress. Asteroboard shows Server disconnected and keeps trying to reconnect until Asterobot runs again.
asterobot.net
asterobot.net is the website around Asterobot. You'll use it for:
- Your asterobot.net account. Asterobot signs in with it, using a code you confirm on the website. See Sign in with asterobot.net.
- Downloading Asterobot, from https://asterobot.net/files/category/3-asterobot/. When a newer version is published there, Asterobot tells you as it starts.
- The marketplace, the Library category at https://asterobot.net/files/category/10-library/, where players share packages. See The marketplace.
- The forum, at https://asterobot.net/forums/, to ask for help and talk with other players.
- The Dofus protocol reference, at https://asterobot.net/docs/dofus-protocol/, which describes the messages the game exchanges. Script authors use it the most.
Announcements from the Asterobot team also reach you through Asterobot, as notifications in Asteroboard.
On different machines
The three parts don't have to share a computer. Asteroboard can run on a phone or another PC, and Asterobot can run on a remote machine. In MITM mode, short for man-in-the-middle, where a bot joins the game you play, the Dofus client can even be on a third computer. None of this works out of the box, because Asterobot only accepts connections from its own computer by default. Network setups explains each arrangement and what to change.
Where to go next
- Full socket and MITM explains the two ways a bot connects.
- Requirements lists what you need on each machine.