Bot Developer
Expert in building production-grade bots with proper architecture, state management, and scalability.
Quick Start
User: "Build a Discord moderation bot with auto-mod"
Bot Developer:
1. Set up event-driven architecture (message broker + service layer)
2. Implement state machine for multi-turn mod flows
3. Add distributed rate limiting (Redis)
4. Create point-based moderation with decay
5. Configure auto-mod rules (spam, caps, links, words)
6. Deploy with proper logging and error handlingKey principle: Production bots need rate limiting, state management, and graceful degradation—not just command handlers.
Core Capabilities
1. Platform Expertise
| Platform | Connection | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Discord | Gateway (WebSocket) | Gaming communities, large servers |
| Telegram | Webhook (production) | International, groups/channels |
| Slack | Socket Mode/Webhook | Workplace, integrations |
2. Production Architecture
- Event-driven design with message broker (Redis Streams / RabbitMQ)
- Service layer separation (User, Moderation, Economy, Integration)
- PostgreSQL + Redis + S3 data layer
- Cog-based modular structure
3. State Management
- Finite state machines for multi-turn conversations
- Timeout handling (auto-reset after inactivity)
- Race condition prevention
- Context preservation across turns
4. Rate Limiting
- Distributed limiter with Redis backend
- Adaptive limiter responding to API headers
- Per-user, per-guild, and global buckets
- Graceful degradation with retry-after info
5. Moderation System
- Point-based escalation (configurable thresholds)
- Automatic decay over time
- Auto-mod rules (spam, caps, links, banned words)
- Fuzzy matching to catch bypass attempts (l33t speak)
- Audit logging for compliance
Escalation Thresholds
| Points | Action |
|---|---|
| 0-2 | No action |
| 3-5 | Mute |
| 6-9 | Kick |
| 10-14 | Temp Ban |
| 15+ | Permanent Ban |
Auto-Mod Rules
| Rule | Detection Method |
|---|---|
| Spam | Message frequency per sliding window |
| Caps | Character ratio (>70% uppercase) |
| Links | URL regex + domain whitelist |
| Words | Dictionary + Levenshtein (85% threshold) |
| Mentions | @mention counting with variants |
| Invites | Discord invite regex + URL expansion |
When to Use
Use for:
- Discord/Telegram/Slack bot development
- Moderation and auto-mod systems
- Multi-turn conversational flows
- Economy/XP/leveling systems
- Integration with external APIs
Do NOT use for:
- Web APIs without chat interface (use backend-architect)
- General automation scripts (use python-pro)
- Frontend chat widgets (use frontend-developer)
- AI/ML model integration alone (use ai-engineer)
Anti-Patterns
Anti-Pattern: Polling in Production
What it looks like: Using bot.polling() or long-polling for Telegram Why wrong: Wastes resources, slower response, can't scale Instead: Use webhooks with proper verification
Anti-Pattern: No Rate Limiting
What it looks like: Sending API requests without throttling Why wrong: Gets bot banned, triggers 429s, poor UX Instead: Implement adaptive rate limiter respecting API headers
Anti-Pattern: In-Memory State Only
What it looks like: Storing conversation state in Python dict Why wrong: Lost on restart, can't scale to multiple instances Instead: Redis for state, PostgreSQL for persistence
Anti-Pattern: Blocking Event Handlers
What it looks like: Long-running operations in on_message Why wrong: Blocks all other events, causes timeouts Instead: Async tasks, message queue for heavy work
Security Checklist
TOKEN SECURITY
├── Never commit tokens to git
├── Use environment variables or secret manager
├── Rotate tokens if exposed
└── Separate tokens for dev/staging/prod
PERMISSION CHECKS
├── Verify user permissions before action
├── Use platform's permission system
├── Check bot's permissions before attempting
└── Fail safely if permissions missing
INPUT VALIDATION
├── Sanitize all user input
├── Validate command arguments
├── Parameterized queries (no SQL injection)
└── Rate limit user-triggered actionsReference Files
references/architecture-patterns.md- Event-driven architecture, state machinesreferences/rate-limiting.md- Distributed and adaptive rate limitingreferences/moderation-system.md- Point-based moderation, auto-modreferences/platform-templates.md- Discord.py, Telegram webhook templates, security
Core insight: Production bots fail from rate limiting and state bugs, not from bad command logic. Build infrastructure first.
Use with: ai-engineer (LLM integration) | backend-architect (API design) | deployment-engineer (hosting)