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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/AresChat/sb0t/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

sb0t includes a built-in browser chat interface called ib0t — a WebSocket-based server that runs alongside the main Ares TCP listener. When enabled, users can open your room’s URL in any modern browser and appear as fully-fledged room participants, right alongside Ares desktop clients, without installing anything.

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How ib0t Works

When a browser makes an HTTP connection to sb0t’s port, ServerCore.ServiceWebSockets() detects the incoming HTTP upgrade request. The server parses the WebSocket handshake headers, computes the correct reply using WebSockets.Html5HandshakeReplyPacket(), and upgrades the connection to a persistent WebSocket session. Once the handshake is complete, the client and server exchange plain-text messages using a structured ident:args protocol. Every message from the browser is split at the first colon: everything before it is the ident (command name) and everything after is the args (payload). WebProcessor.Evaluate() dispatches each message to the appropriate handler: 
LOGIN:<lengths>:<name><guid><version>...
PUBLIC:<lengths>:<name><text>
EMOTE:<lengths>:<name><text>
PM:<lengths>:<name><text>
COMMAND:<text>
PING:
IGNORE:<lengths>:<name><flag>
LAG:<data>
Outbound messages sent to the browser follow the same scheme, implemented in WebOutbound: 
ACK:<length>:<name>
JOIN:<lengths>:<name><level>
PART:<length>:<name>
PUBLIC:<lengths>:<name><text>
EMOTE:<lengths>:<name><text>
PM:<lengths>:<sender><text>
NOSUCH:<length>:<text>
USERLIST:<lengths>:<name><level>
USERLIST_END:
TOPIC_FIRST:<length>:<text>
TOPIC:<length>:<text>
URL:<lengths>:<address><tag>
AVATAR:<lengths>:<name><base64image>
PERSMSG:<lengths>:<name><text>
FONT:<lengths>:<name><namecolor><textcolor>
UPDATE:<lengths>:<name><level>
Web client users are stored in UserPool.WUsers and share the same virtual room partitions (Vroom) as Ares desktop users. A web user joining is broadcast to all desktop clients via TCPOutbound.Join(), and all desktop clients are broadcast to the newly-arrived web user via WebOutbound.UserlistItemTo().

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Enabling Web Chat

In the sb0t GUI, navigate to Settings → Web and set enabled to true (Settings.Get<bool>("enabled", "web")). The web client shares the same TCP port as the Ares listener — no separate port needs to be opened.
Make sure the port your server listens on is open in Windows Firewall (both inbound TCP and — if using room search — UDP). Since the Ares TCP listener and the WebSocket listener share the same port, a single firewall rule covers both Ares desktop clients and browser clients.

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Timeouts

The main server loop enforces three connection deadlines, checked every 25 ms in ServiceWebSockets():
PhaseTimeoutBehaviour
WebSocket handshake10 secondsConnection is dropped if the HTTP upgrade does not complete within 10 s of the socket being accepted
Login15 secondsConnection is dropped if the client connects but never sends a LOGIN message within 15 s of the handshake completing
Idle2 minutesA fully logged-in user is disconnected if no PING or other message is received for 120 s

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Channel Push

Every 20 minutes, ChannelPusher.Push() runs in a background thread to advertise the room to web-channel search nodes. It POSTs the server’s local IP, port, room name, and topic to the configured channel-push URL: 
sb.Append("local=" + Settings.LocalIP);
sb.Append("&port=" + Settings.Port);
sb.Append("&name=" + Uri.EscapeDataString(Settings.Name));
sb.Append("&topic=" + Uri.EscapeDataString(Settings.Topic));
The push URL is read from Settings.Get<String>("url", "web"). The initial push fires on the first server loop tick — channel_push_timer is pre-initialised to Time.Now - 1200000, so the condition time > (channel_push_timer + 1200000) is satisfied immediately without waiting 20 minutes.

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Extended Protocol Features

Browser clients that report a protocol version >= 2000 are flagged as Extended. Extended clients receive additional data at login that basic clients do not:
  • Avatars of existing users (AVATAR packets, image bytes Base64-encoded)
  • Personal messages of existing users (PERSMSG packets)
  • Font colour data of Ares users (FONT packets — oldN and oldT colour bytes from AresFont)
  • The bot’s personal message (software version string)
  • The server avatar (if one is configured)

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HTML Style Template

The HTML template and CSS served to web clients is loaded from %AppData%\sb0t\<app-name>\Style\. You can customise the look of the chat interface by editing the files in that directory. Changes take effect for the next browser request without restarting the server.

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Connection Limits and Flood Protection

sb0t applies the same join-flood guard and per-IP limit to web clients as it does to Ares desktop clients:
  • Maximum 4 connections per external IP — a fifth connection attempt from the same IP is rejected with RejectedMsg.TooManyClients.
  • Join flood detection — repeated joins within a short window trigger RejectedMsg.TooSoon.
  • Message flood control — once logged in, every inbound ident is passed through FloodControl.IsFlooding(); detected floods fire Events.Flooding() and, if not cancelled, disconnect the user.

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