Taki’s Guide to Host Modmail Locally

  1. Follow the installation guide: https://github.com/kyb3r/modmail/wiki/Installation. Skip the last step (you still need Heroku to deploy your log viewer if you want this feature).

    • This step creates a Discord bot and obtains a MongoDB account, both are mandatory.
    • You may choose to not sign up for Heroku thus have no log viewer, if this applies to you, in step 3, set LOG_URL=https://example.com.

  2. Download the zip archive of Modmail: https://github.com/kyb3r/modmail/archive/master.zip and unzip.

    • For more sophisticated users, you may choose to use git to download the latest version of Modmail (git clone https://github.com/kyb3r/modmail)

  3. Open .env.example in the Modmail unarchived directory (folder) with your favorite text editor, edit in the different values.

    • TOKEN= your bot’s token.
    • LOG_URL= the URL of your log viewer Heroku app (ie. https://yourlogviewerappname.herokuapp.com).
    • GUILD_ID= the ID of the server your bot operates in.
    • OWNERS= your user ID (ie. OWNERS=9821302031291298, or if multiple owners, OWNERS=9821302031291298,9781239213813229,924822913921391).
    • MONGO_URI= your Mongo connection URI from the MongoDB setup.
    • Together, they should resemble something similar to the original .env.example file.
    • Save the file as .env.

  4. Download Python and set up Python from official Python download page: https://www.python.org/downloads/. The pre-installed Python on your local machine is usually out of date, you need the latest version of Python (3.7.3) for Modmail.

    • When completing the installation, be sure to choose “Add to PATH” (or similar).

  5. Open your preferred console.

    • MacOS or Linux users, the default is Terminal.
    • Windows users, the default is cmd (Command Prompt).

  6. Depending where you stored the Modmail directory (folder), for example desktop (path > to > desktop), type one of the following (depends if you used git or not): 

    
cd path/to/desktop/modmail-master
cd path/to/desktop/modmail

  7. Install the requirements.

    • MacOS or Linux users, type in the following: 
      pip3.7 install pipenv && pipenv install
    • Windows users, type in the following: 
      py -3.7 -m pip install pipenv && py -3.7 -m pipenv install

  8. Start the Modmail.

    • MacOS or Linux users, type in the following: 
      pipenv run python3.7 bot.py
    • Windows users, type in the following: 
      py -3.7 -m pipenv run python bot.py

  9. Your Modmail bot should now be up and running, if you’re experiencing issues, join our Discord server and we’ll help you sort things out!