Help:Toolforge/My first Pywikibot tool
Caution: This page may contain inaccuracies. It is currently being edited and redesigned for better readability. For further information, please see T134495.
 | This page is related to https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Toolforge/Pywikibot. These pages will be combined for simpler documentation |
Pywikibot is a Python library which automates work on MediaWiki sites. Use this guide to create your own tool based on Pywikibot and host it on the Toolforge hosting enviornment.
Request access to Toolforge
Before creating your tool, you need to create a Wikimedia developer account and request access Toolforge:
- Create a Wikimedia developer account from the Toolforge admin console. This account is used for most developer activities including editing this wiki, accessing code repositories, and accessing the bug tracking system. Take note of your LDAP username and your UNIX shell username:
- LDAP username: used to log into this wiki, Gerrit, and the Toolforge admin console.
- UNIX shell username: used when you interact with servers using ssh and when using git with Gerrit.
- Fill out an access request to join the Toolforge project. You will receive a reply on your Wikitech talk page.
Accessing Toolforge for the first time
Once your request to access Toolforge is approved, you can set up ssh access to Toolforge severs:
Generate a new SSH key for your account
- From a Linux terminal, you can generate a new ssh key using the
ssh-keygencommand:ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "your_email@youremail.com"
Select a passphrase for your ssh key and press Enter. The command will create two files in your
~/.sshdirectory:~/.ssh/id_rsa : identification (private) key ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub : public key
- Add your public key to your Wikimedia developer account in the SSH Keys page of the Toolforge admin console. Copy the contents of
~/.ssh/id_rsa.pubinto the New SSH Key field and click Add SSH key.
Log into Toolforge with ssh
After you add your public key to your Wikimedia developer account, you can use your private key to log into the Toolforge servers. From a Linux command line, use ssh to log in with your UNIX shell username:
ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa <unix shell username>@login.toolforge.org
Create your Pywikibot Tool account
In addition to your own Toolforge account, you also need to create a Tool acoount for your Pywikibot tool.
- Navigate to the Create Tool Account page in the Toolforge admin console.
- Enter a Unique Tool Name for your tool account.
Do not prefix your tool name withtools.as this prefix will cause errors.
Note: If you only recently received access to the tools project, you may get an error about appropriate credentials. Log out and back in to fix the issue.
Within a minute or two, Toolforge creates the Tool account and grants you access. If you were logged in through ssh when you created the Tool account, you must log off and log in again
Access your Pywikibot tool
After you create your Pywikibot's tool account, you can log into your tool project with SSH.
$ ssh <unix shell username>@login.toolforge.org
From the command line, switch to your tool account:
become <toolname>
You should see the command prompt change to:
tools.<toolname>@tools-bastion:~$
Now, you can install Pywikibot.
Install Pywikibot
- Main article: Help:Toolforge/Pywikibot#Installation and setup
Choose a license
Pywikibot comes with an MIT LICENSE file. Make sure to choose a license for your tool early on. Also see Help:Toolforge/Developing successful tools#Pick a license
Communication and support
Support and administration of the WMCS resources is provided by the Wikimedia Foundation Cloud Services team and Wikimedia Movement volunteers. Please reach out with questions and join the conversation:
- Chat in real time in the IRC channel #wikimedia-cloud connect, the bridged Telegram group, or the bridged Mattermost channel
- Discuss via email after you subscribed to the cloud@ mailing list