Help:Toolforge/Pywikibot
The Pywikibot framework is a Python library and collection of scripts to automate work on MediaWiki sites.
Prerequisites
To effectively use Pywikibot on Toolforge, you need:
- Access to a tool account on Toolforge. See Help:Toolforge/Quickstart to learn how to set it up and use. Note that to use Toolforge you need a beginner-level understanding of Linux terminal, SSH (see Internet Technologies/SSH), and Bash (see Bash Shell Scripting).
- Basic familiarity with Python and Pywikibot. You don't need to know how to program in Python but it helps to understand how to run Python scripts, and manage virtual environments and package dependencies. To learn Python, see Non-Programmer's Tutorial for Python 3 or The Python Tutorial in Python documentation. The latter has a section on virtual environments and packages. For information about Pywikibot, see Manual:Pywikibot.
Installation and setup
- Become your tool-account
MAINTAINER@tools-sgebastion-10:~$ become TOOLNAME
- Create a setup script (e.g.,
pwb_venv.sh
) that creates a virtual environment and installs dependencies.You need to install from git if you want to use the Pywikibot scripts.tools.TOOLNAME@tools-sgebastion-10:~$ touch $HOME/pwb_venv.sh tools.TOOLNAME@tools-sgebastion-10:~$ chmod ug+x $HOME/pwb_venv.sh # make the script executable
Pywikibot installation source | Example |
---|---|
PyPI | pwb_venv.sh #!/bin/bash
# clean-up directories if they already exist
rm -fdr pwbvenv
# create a virtual environment
python3 -m venv pwbvenv
# activate it
source pwbvenv/bin/activate
# install dependencies
pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
pip install pywikibot[mwoauth,mysql] # update as needed
pip install ... # any other dependencies here
|
git | pwb_venv.sh #!/bin/bash
# clean-up directories if they already exist
rm -fdr pwbvenv $HOME/pywikibot-core
# create a virtual environment
python3 -m venv pwbvenv
# activate it
source pwbvenv/bin/activate
# clone Pywikibot
git clone --recursive --branch stable "https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/pywikibot/core" $HOME/pywikibot-core
# install dependencies
pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
pip install $HOME/pywikibot-core[mwoauth,mysql] # update as needed
pip install ... # any other dependencies here
|
- Run the setup script using the jobs framework.
tools.TOOLNAME@tools-sgebastion-10:~$ toolforge-jobs run setup-venv --command $HOME/pwb_venv.sh --image python3.11 --wait INFO: job 'setup-venv' completed
- Configure Pywikibot
- Interactively:user-config.py and (optionally) user-password.py are generated by following the prompts.
tools.TOOLNAME@tools-sgebastion-10:~$ webservice python3.11 shell # start an interactive Kubernetes shell tools.TOOLNAME@shell-#########:~$ source pwbvenv/bin/activate # activate the virtual environment (pwbvenv) tools.TOOLNAME@shell-#########:~$ pwb generate_user_files # run the generate_user_files.py Pywikibot script
- Manually: See the manual on MediaWiki wiki: user-config.py, BotPasswords, and OAuth.
- Interactively:
- You may test the installation from an interactive shell.
tools.TOOLNAME@tools-sgebastion-10:~$ webservice python3.11 shell # start an interactive Kubernetes shell tools.TOOLNAME@shell-#########:~$ source pwbvenv/bin/activate # activate the virtual environment (pwbvenv) tools.TOOLNAME@shell-#########:~$ pwb version # run the version.py Pywikibot script Pywikibot: pywikibot/__init__.py (, -1 (unknown), 2023/01/21, 21:32:22, UNKNOWN) Release version: 8.0.0 setuptools version: 66.1.1 mwparserfromhell version: 0.6.4 wikitextparser version: n/a requests version: 2.28.2 cacerts: /data/project/TOOLNAME/pwbvenv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/certifi/cacert.pem certificate test: ok Python: 3.9.2 (default, Feb 28 2021, 17:03:44) [GCC 10.2.1 20210110] PYWIKIBOT_DIR: Not set PYWIKIBOT_DIR_PWB: /data/project/TOOLNAME/pwbvenv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/pywikibot/scripts PYWIKIBOT_NO_USER_CONFIG: Not set Config base dir: /data/project/TOOLNAME Usernames for family 'commons': commons: Example bot
Create jobs
- Main article: Help:Toolforge/Jobs framework
Example of running the Pywikibot version.py script once:
tools.TOOLNAME@tools-sgebastion-10:~$ toolforge-jobs run pywikibot-version --command "$HOME/pwbvenv/bin/pwb version" --image python3.11
Example of running your own script on a schedule:
tools.TOOLNAME@tools-sgebastion-10:~$ toolforge-jobs run my-cool-job --command "$HOME/pwbvenv/bin/python3 $HOME/my-cool-script.py" --image python3.11 --schedule "1 2 * * 3"
Additional parameters for the job could include, for example, additional memory allocation (--mem MEM
), job restart after being finished (--continuous
), etc.
OAuth
Pywikibot can use OAuth v1.0a as the method of authenticating with wikis. To configure this behavior for Wikimedia wikis, follow the instructions in Manual:Pywikibot/OAuth/Wikimedia.
![]() | When using OAuth as the authentication method, be sure to set the correct permissions on the user-config.py file as described in Manual:Pywikibot/OAuth. This will keep your OAuth credentials more secure. |
To learn more about OAuth in general, see OAuth/For Developers.
Next steps
Now that you know how to run your bot on Toolforge, read the script development and maintenance tips described in Help:Toolforge/Developing successful tools. These tips will help you to license, publish, and support your bot over time.
If you are looking for ideas on what types of scripts you can run using Pywikibot, see Manual:Pywikibot/Scripts. If you want to write your own script, see Manual:Pywikibot/Cookbook.
If you want to teach others how to run bots on Toolforge, see the How to host a bot on Toolforge - workshop materials.
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 have subscribed to the cloud@ mailing list
- Subscribe to the cloud-announce@ mailing list (all messages are also mirrored to the cloud@ list)
- Read the News wiki page
Use a subproject of the #Cloud-Services Phabricator project to track confirmed bug reports and feature requests about the Cloud Services infrastructure itself
Read the Cloud Services Blog (for the broader Wikimedia movement, see the Wikimedia Technical Blog)