The marketplace is the Library category of asterobot.net, where players share packages. You browse it on the website, then paste a file's link or ID into Asteroboard, and Asterobot downloads the package into your library, with the packages it depends on.
Asterobot downloads files with your asterobot.net account, so it must be signed in first. See Sign in with asterobot.net.
1. Find a package on asterobot.net
- Open https://asterobot.net/files/category/10-library/. The download forms in Asteroboard also have a Browse packages on asterobot.net link that opens it.
- Open the page of the file you're interested in. Read what it does and who published it before you go further: Trusting a package explains what a package can do with your bot.
- Copy the page's address from your browser, for example
https://asterobot.net/files/file/6-testscript5/. The number at the start of the last part,6here, is the file's ID. Either one works.
The marketplace describes the website side.
2. Preview it
- In the sidebar, open Library Manager and click Download package. The Download a package from asterobot.net dialog opens.
- Paste the address or the ID in File ID or URL. Asteroboard accepts a number alone, or an address that contains
/file/followed by the number and a hyphen, like the one above. - Click Preview.
Asteroboard asks asterobot.net what the file is and shows it on a card. Nothing is downloaded yet, and a preview doesn't count as a download for the author.
| On the card | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| The title | The file's title on asterobot.net. |
| Official or Community | Whether asterobot.net marks the file as official. See What is a package. |
| Author | The publisher part of the package's name: the author's name in lowercase with hyphens, or asterobot for an official file. |
| Will install as | The exact name and version the package will have in your library, such as @some-author:auto-harvest@1.2.0. |
A line can appear under the card:
- "This version is already in your library": that exact name and version is installed. There's nothing to download, so you can close the dialog.
You don't have permission to download this file.in red: Install stays greyed out. Who can download a file is decided on its page on asterobot.net, and your account isn't allowed to download this one.
To try another link, click Change, then paste the new one.
3. Install
Click Install.
Asterobot downloads the file and installs it, then downloads every package it depends on that isn't in your library yet. When everything is in, the dialog closes and Package installed appears. The package has its own row in Library Manager, and so does each dependency that was downloaded with it.
The installation happens inside Asterobot. Closing the dialog or Asteroboard while it runs doesn't stop it.
Next, give the package to a bot: Run a package.
Install from a package picker
When you're choosing a package for a bot, you don't have to leave for Library Manager. The package picker has a Download one button next to its list in three places: the Behavior / Script tab of Add a bot, the Load a behavior selection dialog, and Bot configuration on a bot's Settings tab.
- Click Download one. A small form opens under the list, saying it "Downloads it into your library, then selects it here."
- Paste the address or the ID in File ID or URL and click Preview. The same card appears.
- Click Install. When the package is already in your library, the button reads Use it instead, and selects the installed copy without downloading anything.
The form closes and the package is selected in the picker. Cancel closes the form and leaves the selection as it was.
What can go wrong
| Message | Where | What to do |
|---|---|---|
Not a valid file ID or asterobot.net file URL. |
Under the field | The text is neither a number nor the address of a file page. Copy the address of the file's own page, not of the category. Preview stays greyed out until it's fixed. |
File not found, or you don't have permission to view it. |
Under the field, after Preview | The file doesn't exist, your account can't see it, or Asterobot couldn't ask asterobot.net, for example because it isn't signed in. Check the address, then the account button at the bottom of the sidebar. |
You don't have permission to download this file. |
Under the card | Your account isn't allowed to download this file. The file's page on asterobot.net decides who is. |
| Couldn't install the package | Notification | The download or the installation failed. The notification gives no reason. It happens when Asterobot can't find the package's index.js in the file, when the file has more than one attachment, when it's larger than 32 MiB, when asterobot.net refuses the download, or when one of its dependencies can't be installed. |
When a dependency is what failed, the package itself may already be in your library without it, and it won't start. Try the installation again later, or remove the package.
Package errors covers problems with packages you've already installed.
Where to go next
- Run a package
- The tutorial Run a marketplace package goes from the website to a running bot.