simplexcalc/README.md

# simplexcalc

simplexcalc is a Go chat bot by [@sneak](https://sneak.berlin) for the
SimpleX Chat network: it accepts every contact request and answers
arithmetic such as `2 + 2` with the result.

Send it `2 + 2` and it replies `4`; send `5 * 5/2` and it replies
`12.5`. It understands decimal numbers, `+ - * /`, powers written `2^10`
or `2**10`, remainders written `7 % 3`, signs and parentheses, and
computes exactly, so `0.1 + 0.2` is `0.3`. Anything else gets a short
explanation instead of a result.

## Getting Started

Build the image, write a random API credential onto a named volume, and
run the bot with its SimpleX profile on the same volume:

```sh
git clone git@git.eeqj.de:sneak/simplexcalc.git
cd simplexcalc
make docker
docker run --rm -v simplexcalc-data:/var/lib/simplexcalc simplexcalc \
    sh -c 'umask 077 && od -An -N32 -tx1 /dev/urandom | tr -d " \n" \
        >/var/lib/simplexcalc/api-token'
docker run -d --name simplexcalc --restart unless-stopped \
    -v simplexcalc-data:/var/lib/simplexcalc \
    -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 -e API_TOKEN_FILE=/var/lib/simplexcalc/api-token \
    simplexcalc
docker logs simplexcalc 2>&1 | grep '"msg":"ready"'
```

The credential is 32 random bytes written as 64 hexadecimal characters
to `/var/lib/simplexcalc/api-token`, readable only by the bot's user.
`-p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080` makes the API reachable from this host only;
see [API](#api).

The `ready` log line carries the bot's contact address: `address` is the
short link to share, and `full_address` is the same address in the long
form that older SimpleX clients need. Open the link in any SimpleX Chat
app, or paste it into its "connect via link" screen; the bot accepts at
once, greets you, and answers every message you send it.

The address is stored on the `simplexcalc-data` volume. It survives
restarts, image upgrades and recreating the container, and is lost only
with the volume.

### Messaging it from a terminal

The image carries the SimpleX Chat command-line client, so a throwaway
second client can talk to the bot without installing anything. Replace
`ADDRESS` with the bot's address:

```sh
docker run --rm -v simplexcalc-tester:/var/lib/simplexcalc simplexcalc \
    simplex-chat -d /var/lib/simplexcalc/tester --user-display-name tester \
    -e "/c ADDRESS" -t 30 --execute-log all
docker run --rm -v simplexcalc-tester:/var/lib/simplexcalc simplexcalc \
    simplex-chat -d /var/lib/simplexcalc/tester \
    -e "@calc 5 * 5/2" -t 20 --execute-log messages
docker volume rm simplexcalc-tester
```

The first command connects and prints the bot's greeting; the second
sends `5 * 5/2` and prints the reply, `12.5`.

## Configuration

All configuration is environment variables, read once at startup. A
`.env` file in the working directory is loaded automatically for
development.

**A variable that is set to something unparseable aborts startup.** It
is never quietly replaced by the default. Defaults apply only to
variables that are absent.

- `DATA_DIR` — where the SimpleX database lives: the bot's profile, its
  keys, its address and its contacts. Default `./data`; the image sets
  `/var/lib/simplexcalc`.
- `DEBUG` — `true` or `false`, default `false`. `true` logs every event
  the chat client sends.
- `PORT` — the TCP port the API listens on, on all interfaces: a whole
  number from 1 to 65535, default `8080`.
- `API_TOKEN_FILE` — path of a file holding the API credential, at least
  32 characters not counting the whitespace around them. The file is
  read once, at startup; one that cannot be read, or holds a shorter
  credential, aborts startup. Absent, the API still listens but refuses
  every request, and startup logs a warning saying so.

## API

An HTTP API beside the chat client lets another program read the bot's
chats and send messages in them. It speaks JSON on `PORT`.

**Authentication.** Every request carries the credential from
`API_TOKEN_FILE`:

```
Authorization: Bearer {credential}
```

A request without it, or with a wrong one, gets `401` with
`WWW-Authenticate: Bearer` and `{"error":"unauthorized"}`. No path is
exempt. Without `API_TOKEN_FILE`, every request gets that answer. The
file is read at startup, so a new credential takes a restart.

**Errors** are JSON with a short explanation, such as
`{"error":"not found"}`; what went wrong inside goes to the bot's log.

### `GET /api/v1/chats`

The bot's chats, ordered by `id`. The bot talks to people only one to
one, so each chat is one of its contacts.

```sh
TOKEN=$(docker exec simplexcalc cat /var/lib/simplexcalc/api-token)
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" http://127.0.0.1:8080/api/v1/chats
```

```json
{
    "chats": [
        { "id": 3, "display_name": "tester", "contact_deleted": false },
        { "id": 4, "display_name": "tester", "contact_deleted": true }
    ]
}
```

- `id` — the chat's number, which is its contact's number in the chat
  client.
- `display_name` — the name the contact gave themselves. Nothing makes
  it unique.
- `contact_deleted` — `true` once the contact has deleted their chat
  with the bot. The chat stays in the list, but nothing more reaches
  them.

### `GET /api/v1/chats/{id}/messages`

The latest messages in the chat `id`, oldest first. `count`, a whole
number from 1 to 100 and 20 if absent, is how many of the chat's latest
items to read. The chat client also records events in a chat, such as
the contact connecting, and only messages are returned, so fewer than
`count` can come back.

```sh
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
    'http://127.0.0.1:8080/api/v1/chats/3/messages?count=5'
```

```json
{
    "messages": [
        {
            "id": 9,
            "direction": "received",
            "type": "text",
            "text": "2 + 2",
            "time": "2026-09-29T03:14:34Z"
        },
        {
            "id": 10,
            "direction": "sent",
            "type": "text",
            "text": "4",
            "time": "2026-09-29T03:14:35.101223457Z"
        }
    ]
}
```

A message has:

- `id` — its number, unique across all the bot's chats.
- `direction` — `received` from the contact, or `sent` by the bot.
- `type` — `text`, or another kind of SimpleX message, such as `image`,
  `file` or `voice`.
- `text` — the text; for a message that is not `text`, its caption,
  which can be empty.
- `time` — in RFC 3339, in UTC: for a received message, when it reached
  the SimpleX relay, to the second; for a sent one, when the bot sent
  it.

A `count` other than a whole number from 1 to 100 gets `400`, and an
`id` that `GET /api/v1/chats` does not list gets `404`.

### `POST /api/v1/chats/{id}/messages`

Sends the `text` in the body to the chat `id`, and answers `201` with
the message as sent. The answer comes once the chat client has taken the
message, before it reaches the contact.

```sh
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -d '{"text":"hello"}' http://127.0.0.1:8080/api/v1/chats/3/messages
```

```json
{
    "message": {
        "id": 12,
        "direction": "sent",
        "type": "text",
        "text": "hello",
        "time": "2026-09-29T03:14:43.519552587Z"
    }
}
```

Nothing is sent, and the answer is:

- `400` if the body is not JSON of that shape, or `text` is empty;
- `404` if `GET /api/v1/chats` does not list `id`;
- `409` if the contact cannot receive messages: they have deleted their
  chat with the bot (`contact_deleted` is `true`), or have not finished
  connecting;
- `413` if the body is over 64 KiB, or the text is too long for one
  SimpleX message, which holds about 15,000 bytes.

## Entrypoints

This repo adheres to the
[Scripts to Rule Them All](https://github.com/github/scripts-to-rule-them-all)
standard. The `script/` entrypoints, each with a thin `make` shim:

- `script/bootstrap` (`make bootstrap`) — install build dependencies
  (git, make, go) idempotently. Linting additionally needs docker;
  markdown formatting needs docker or a local `prettier`.
- `script/setup` (`make setup`) — `bootstrap` plus the git pre-commit
  hook
- `script/test` (`make test`) — `go test` with the race detector and
  coverage, `-count=1`, 90 s timeout; quiet on success, verbose rerun on
  failure
- `script/lint` (`make lint`) — `golangci-lint` via docker only, against
  the digest-pinned image, then `script/assert-step-ran` and
  `script/assert-context-complete` over the build log. Nothing is
  installed locally and nothing runs on the host.
- `script/fmt` (`make fmt`) — format Go with `gofmt` and everything else
  with `prettier` (writes)
- `script/fmt-check` (`make fmt-check`) — the same scope, read-only
- `script/check` (`make check`) — `test` + `lint` + `fmt-check`. What
  the pre-commit hook runs. Never modifies files.
- `script/docker` (`make docker`) — build the image, tagged with
  `script/projectname`
- `script/cibuild` (`make cibuild`) — the CI gate:
  `docker build --progress=plain --no-cache-filter=lint --no-cache-filter=builder .`
  followed by assertions that the lint step and the test step really
  ran, and that both stages really received the whole repository. The
  Gitea workflow runs this on every push.
- `script/precommit` — the hook body: `go mod tidy` must not change
  `go.mod`/`go.sum`, then `check`
- `script/install-precommit` (`make hooks`) — installs the hook
- `script/projectname` — prints the project name; other scripts call it
  so they can stay identical across repos
- `script/prettier`, `script/assert-step-ran`,
  `script/assert-context-complete`, `script/repo-source-manifest` —
  helpers, not entrypoints

`make build`, `make run`, `make dev`, `make deps` and `make clean` are
the ordinary conveniences. `make run` and `make dev` run the bot on the
host, which needs the `simplex-chat` command-line client on `PATH`.

### Why the assertions exist

A green `docker build` is not evidence that the checks ran. On an
unchanged tree every layer comes from cache and the build exits 0 having
executed nothing; BuildKit silently ignores a `--no-cache-filter` naming
a stage that no longer exists; and a `.dockerignore` entry can remove a
package from the build context, after which the linter genuinely runs,
genuinely examines what it was handed, and genuinely reports `0 issues.`
over a repository with a violation in it.

So the build is not trusted. `script/assert-step-ran` requires the log
to show the step executing and the tool's own success line coming out of
it. `script/assert-context-complete` requires the file inventory each
stage emitted to match the git index — an expectation `.dockerignore`
cannot reach. Read the comments in those two scripts before changing
either; they document what they still cannot see.

## Rationale

SimpleX Chat is an end-to-end encrypted messenger with no user
identifiers: people connect through addresses they choose to share.
simplexcalc is a calculator anyone can reach that way, and a small,
complete example of a SimpleX bot in Go: profile and address set-up,
automatic acceptance, and replies, with the chat client in the same
container.

## Design

- **One process tree, one container.** `simplexcalc run` starts the
  SimpleX Chat command-line client, `simplex-chat`, as a child process,
  with its database under `$DATA_DIR/simplex` and its WebSocket API on
  `127.0.0.1:5225`. That WebSocket has no authentication, which is why
  it is never exposed outside the container.
- **The protocol** (`internal/simplex`) is JSON over that WebSocket: a
  command carries a correlation id, its response carries the same id,
  and anything without one is an event. Only the fields the bot reads
  are decoded, so records that grow new fields in a later client release
  still decode.
- **Set-up on every start** (`internal/bot`): read the bot's profile,
  create its long-term address if it has none, and set the address to
  accept every contact request and to greet each new contact. The first
  start creates the profile itself, a bot profile named `calc`. The
  address is logged in the `ready` line.
- **The API** (`internal/api`): an HTTP server, routed with chi, that
  starts once set-up is done; if it cannot listen, the bot exits with an
  error, as when the chat client fails. Every request must carry the
  credential, compared in constant time; every response carries headers
  that forbid framing, content sniffing, caching and referrers, and a
  `Permissions-Policy` that denies the camera, microphone and location;
  a request body is capped at 64 KiB and a request's work at 10 seconds.
  Handlers call the chat client on the request's own goroutine, never on
  the one that delivers events, which also delivers the chat client's
  answers. When the bot stops, requests in progress get 5 seconds to
  finish before the chat client is stopped.
- **Replies**: for each text message a contact sends in a direct chat,
  the bot sends back the result, as a reply quoting the message. Group
  messages, files and the bot's own messages are ignored.
- **Arithmetic** (`internal/calc`): a small parser of its own reads
  numbers, `+ - * / % ^`, signs and parentheses, and refuses anything
  else. `go/constant` computes with exact rationals. `^`, also written
  `**`, is a power: it binds tighter than `*`, `/`, `%` and a sign on
  its left, and groups to the right, so `2^3^2` is `512`, `-2^2` is
  `-4`, `(-2)^2` is `4` and `2^-1` is `0.5`. `%` is the remainder and
  ranks with `*` and `/`; its result takes the sign of the divisor, as
  in Python, so `7 % 3` is `1`, `-7 % 3` is `2` and `7.5 % 2` is `1.5`.
  A power with a whole exponent is exact, so `0.1^2` is `0.01` and
  `2^-1400 * 2^1400` is `1`, unless `go/constant` could hold the result
  only rounded; that power, and one with a fractional exponent, is
  computed as a double, so `2^0.5` is `1.4142135623730951`. A negative
  number to a fractional power is refused, as having no real result.
  Numbers are read as decimal, so `010` is ten. Input over 256 bytes is
  refused, exact powers are capped, and every number is held as a
  fraction, whole numbers too, under the 4096-bit limit below, so a
  message cannot make the bot do unbounded work. Whole numbers below
  10<sup>21</sup> are written exactly; other results in the shortest
  form that reads back as the same double, in exponent notation from
  10<sup>21</sup> up and below 10<sup>-6</sup>. Refused as too large or
  too small: any number whose numerator or denominator reaches 4096
  bits, wherever it appears, as `go/constant` rounds a fraction that
  grows that large (`1e-1300 + 1`); a power computed as a double whose
  base or result is outside the normal range of a double, about 2.2e-308
  to 1.8e308 in magnitude, where a double keeps all its digits
  (`1e-400^0.5`); and a result other than zero outside that range, as it
  is written through a double (`1e400`, `2^-1400`).
- **Failure is an exit.** If the chat client exits or the connection to
  it drops, the bot exits with an error and the container's restart
  policy starts both again. `SIGTERM` stops the bot, which stops the
  chat client with `SIGTERM` and kills it if it has not exited within 10
  seconds.
- **The image**: a Go build stage, then an Ubuntu 22.04 runtime — the
  release the chat client is built for, which already has every library
  it links — with the `simplex-chat` v7.0.2 binary downloaded by an
  `ADD` whose checksum BuildKit verifies. It runs as an unprivileged
  user and is x86_64 only.

## Operating it

**Backup.** Everything durable is on the volume: the SimpleX database,
`simplex_chat.db` and `simplex_agent.db`, and the API credential,
`api-token`. Stop the container before copying the database, since a
copy taken from under the running client can be inconsistent. The
database holds the bot's keys, so a copy lets its holder answer as the
bot, and the credential lets its holder use the API; keep both as
private as the running instance.

**Upgrade.** Rebuild the image and recreate the container with the same
volume. The chat client migrates its database on start. A newer
`simplex-chat` release is a change to the URL and the checksum on the
`ADD` line in the `Dockerfile`.

## TODO

See `docs/TODO.md` and the repository's issue tracker.

## Author

[@sneak](https://sneak.berlin)