View source for Help:Bots

{{PD Help Page}}

A '''bot''' is a computer program that automatically retrieves or updates wiki pages when it is executed. In general, bots are used for repetitive maintenance tasks, whose volume and characteristics are too large to be performed manually by users.

Developing and executing bots is normally outside the role of normal users, requires programming experience and must be done in coordination with the wiki's [[Help:Sysops and permissions|admins]]. 

By default, bot edits are hidden in [[Special:RecentChanges|{{ns:special}}:{{MediaWiki:Recentchanges}}]]. 

== Framework and interface for bot development ==
Bots do not access the wiki through the normal graphical user interface. MediaWiki has an API (Application Programming Interface) available for this purpose. An API is a protocol for standardised communication between two computer programs. Check {{mediawiki|API:Client code}} for more information.

To access a wiki through the API a bot must have a user account, which has been granted 'bot' [[Help:Assigning permissions|permissions]].

=== pywikipediabot ===
{{mediawiki|meta:pywikipediabot}} provides a framework for the development of bots, which are commonly used to perform maintenance tasks such as adding a footer to some categorized pages ({{mediawiki|meta:pywikipediabot/add_text.py|add_text.py}}), adding some [[Help:Links|wikilinks]] ({{mediawiki|meta:pywikipediabot/replace.py|replace.py}}), moving old contents of [[Help:Talk pages|talk pages]] to [[Help:Subpages|subpages]] ({{mediawiki|meta:pywikipediabot/archivebot.py|archivebot.py}}), editing [[Help:Categories|categories]] ({{mediawiki|meta:pywikipediabot/category.py|category.py}}), or managing [[Help:Templates|templates]] ({{mediawiki|meta:pywikipediabot/template.py|template.py}}).

== The MassEditRegex extension ==
[[:mw:Extension:MassEditRegex|Extension:MassEditRegex]] provides an alternative way to perform mass edits using regular expressions, through a special page in the wiki. Only admins can normally use this extension.

== See also ==
* {{mediawiki|meta:Bot}}

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