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Docker is the recommended way to run BotMeriendo in production. It bundles Python, FFmpeg, and every dependency into a single reproducible image, so the bot behaves identically whether it runs on your laptop, a cloud VM, or a Raspberry Pi at home. By the end of this guide you will have the bot running in the background, configured to restart automatically after reboots, and optionally wired up to a GitHub Actions workflow that redeploys on every push to main.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure the following are in place:
  • Docker and Docker Compose — Install Docker Engine and verify docker compose version works in your terminal.
  • A Discord bot token — create an application and bot account at the Discord Developer Portal.
  • A host machine — any Linux machine with Docker support works; the project was originally built to run on a Raspberry Pi.

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Step-by-step deployment

1

Clone the repository

Download the source code onto your host machine:
Clone
git clone <url-del-repo>
cd botMeriendo
2

Create the .env file

Copy the provided example file to create your local configuration:
Create .env
cp .env.example .env
3

Edit .env with your credentials

Open .env in your preferred editor and fill in the two required values:
.env
TOKEN=tu_token_aqui_sin_comillas
TRGGKEY=!
  • TOKEN — your Discord bot token (no quotes needed).
  • TRGGKEY — the character or string used to trigger commands (defaults to !).
4

Build and start the bot

Build the image and start the container in detached mode:
Start
docker compose up -d --build
Docker will pull the python:3.11-slim base image, install FFmpeg and the Python dependencies, copy the source code, and start the bot. The first build takes a couple of minutes; subsequent builds are much faster thanks to layer caching.

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Managing the bot

Once the container is running you can use these standard Docker Compose commands to operate it:
Follow live logs
docker compose logs -f
Stop the bot
docker compose down
Restart the bot
docker compose restart discord-bot
The docker-compose.yml sets restart: unless-stopped on the discord-bot service. This means Docker will automatically bring the bot back up after a server reboot or an unexpected crash — you do not need a separate init script or systemd unit.

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CI/CD with GitHub Actions

BotMeriendo ships with a workflow at .github/workflows/deploy.yml that automatically redeploys the bot every time you push to main. The workflow runs on a self-hosted runner (the same machine that hosts the bot) and performs three steps:
  1. Checks out the latest code with actions/checkout@v4.
  2. Writes the .env file from the ENV_FILE repository secret — this keeps credentials out of the repository while still making them available at deploy time.
  3. Rebuilds and restarts the container with docker compose up -d --build --force-recreate, then runs docker image prune -f to remove stale images and prevent the host disk from filling up.
Store the full contents of your .env file as a single Actions secret named ENV_FILE under Repository Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions. The workflow writes that secret directly to .env on the runner before Docker reads it.

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docker-compose.yml reference

docker-compose.yml
services:
  discord-bot:
    build: .
    container_name: bot_melendo
    restart: unless-stopped # Si la Pi se reinicia, el bot arranca solo
    env_file:
      - .env
    environment:
      - PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1
    volumes:
      # Opcional: Si quieres que los logs o descargas persistan fuera, añádelos aquí
      - ./src:/app/src # Útil para editar el código sin reconstruir la imagen (solo reiniciando)

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