Asterobot doesn't need a screen. It can run on a rented server, a Raspberry Pi in a cupboard or a PC in another house, while you use Asteroboard in your own browser. The examples use Linux, the usual system on servers, and the same ideas apply on Windows and macOS.
Install it
Asterobot is published for Linux on two kinds of processor: Asterobot_VERSION_linux_amd64.7z for Intel and AMD, and Asterobot_VERSION_linux_arm64.7z for ARM, such as a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 or an ARM server. Run uname -m on the machine to find out which one you need: x86_64 means amd64, and aarch64 means arm64.
On your own computer, download the archive from https://asterobot.net/files/category/3-asterobot/, then copy it to the machine, for example with
scp.On the machine, unpack it and make it executable:
7zz x Asterobot_VERSION_linux_amd64.7z chmod +x asterobot
Download Asterobot explains each step and how to check the download. Plan disk space for the game versions your bots will use: see Requirements.
Start it without a desktop
Start Asterobot from a terminal on the machine, such as an SSH session:
./asterobotIt runs as it would on a desktop computer, with two differences.
It can't open a browser. Asterobot tries to open Asteroboard as it starts, and the asterobot.net sign-in page when it needs you to sign in. On a machine without a desktop, it prints Failed to open frontend and Failed to open the web browser instead, and carries on. Neither one is a problem. Turn on server.skipOpenFrontend if you'd rather not see the first one.
You can't reach it yet. Asterobot listens on 127.0.0.1:8080, which only the machine itself can reach. Leave it that way and use an SSH tunnel.
Reach it through an SSH tunnel
An SSH tunnel carries one port of the remote machine over to your own computer, inside your SSH connection. Asterobot keeps listening on 127.0.0.1, nothing new is opened to the internet, and your browser talks to 127.0.0.1 on your own computer, which Asteroboard is allowed to reach without HTTPS.
On your own computer, open a terminal and run this, with your user name and the machine's address:
ssh -L 8080:127.0.0.1:8080 user@serverAny SSH client that can forward a port works too.
Leave that connection open. As long as it's open, port 8080 of your computer leads to Asterobot on the machine.
In your browser, open
http://127.0.0.1:8080. Asterobot sends you on to Asteroboard, which saves that address as its Server URL and shows Server connected.
When the SSH connection closes, Asteroboard shows Server disconnected. It keeps trying, and connects again by itself once the tunnel is back.
If Asterobot also runs on your own computer, port 8080 is already taken there. Put another port on the left side of the tunnel, and open that one:
ssh -L 9080:127.0.0.1:8080 user@serverThen open http://127.0.0.1:9080. A browser keeps one Server URL at a time, so to switch between your two Asterobots, open the address of the one you want.
Through a tunnel, Asterobot needs no password and no HTTPS: SSH already encrypts the connection, and only people who can sign in to the machine get through. Keep in mind that everyone with an account on that machine can reach 127.0.0.1:8080 too. If you turned server.tls or server.basicAuth on anyway, open https://127.0.0.1:8080 instead, and expect the certificate warning and the password prompt described in Asteroboard on another device. MITM mode needs both of them off.
Or open the port
Asterobot can also listen on the machine's public address, the way Asteroboard on another device sets it up on a home network: server.basicAuth with a password, server.tls on, server.listenAddress set to 0.0.0.0:8080, a restart, and the port allowed in the firewall. You then open https:// followed by the machine's address and :8080, from any device.
Caution
An open port on a server can be reached by anyone on the internet. Without a password, whoever finds it controls your Asterobot, your bots and your Ankama accounts. Never open the port without both server.basicAuth and server.tls, and limit it in the firewall to your own addresses if you can. See Security.
| SSH tunnel | Open port | |
|---|---|---|
| Open to the internet | Nothing more than SSH | Port 8080 |
| Who gets in | People who can sign in to the machine | Anyone with a password from server.basicAuth |
| Encryption | SSH | server.tls |
| Certificate warning | None | Once per browser |
| Devices | Those with an SSH client | Any browser |
| MITM mode | Keeps working | Stops working |
Sign in to asterobot.net
On its first start, Asterobot has to be signed in to asterobot.net. It prints the link in the terminal, on the line after Website sign-in required. Please visit this link to authorize access to your account; the app will continue automatically once authorized. You can open it in any of these ways:
- Copy the link from your SSH terminal into your browser.
- Once the tunnel is open, click the account button at the bottom of Asteroboard's sidebar. It reads Sign-in pending, and opens the same link.
- Turn on
website.showQRCodeon Server > Config, and scan the QR code the terminal shows with the next sign-in code.
Confirm on asterobot.net, and Asterobot carries on by itself. Sign in with asterobot.net explains the whole flow.
Sign in your Ankama accounts
Full socket bots on the machine sign in with Ankama accounts stored in that Asterobot.
- Manual sign-in works from wherever you use Asteroboard. Open Ankama sign-in opens Ankama's page in your own browser, and you paste the link back into Asteroboard. Nothing has to be installed on the machine. See Manual sign-in.
- Automatic sign-in starts a browser on the machine itself, so Chrome, Chromium or Edge must be installed there. It runs without a window by default, which works on a machine without a desktop. When Ankama asks for a person, you can't show that window on a server: sign in manually instead. See Automatic sign-in.
MITM mode works with a remote Asterobot too, but your Dofus client runs on your own computer, where Asterobot can't edit any file: see MITM across machines.
Keep it running
Asterobot stops when its terminal closes, and ending the SSH session you started it from closes that terminal. Two common ways keep it running:
- A terminal multiplexer, such as
tmuxorscreen. Start Asterobot inside it, detach, log out, and attach again later to read what it printed. - A system service, such as a systemd unit on Linux, so Asterobot starts with the machine. Asterobot doesn't come with a service file, so you write one that runs the
Asterobotprogram. Run it as the user you set Asterobot up with: Asterobot keeps its settings and data in folders of the user that runs it (Files and folders), and another user starts with none of them.
Without a terminal in front of you, read what Asterobot prints on Server > Console in Asteroboard. See Status and console.
Two more things matter on a machine you don't sit at:
- Shutdown server in Asteroboard stops Asterobot, and Asteroboard can't start it again. You'll need an SSH session, or a service set up to start it.
- When Asterobot starts again, after a reboot for instance, your bots come back disconnected, and nothing reconnects or plays on its own. Bring them online from Asteroboard. See Disconnect, delete and restart.
To update Asterobot, replace the program file, as Updating Asterobot explains.