SwitchCraft Documentation

# SwitchChat v3

npm version (opens new window)

SwitchChat (opens new window) is a JavaScript/TypeScript library for interacting with the SwitchCraft Chatbox API in Node.js, written by AlexDevs (opens new window).

# Installation

npm i switchchat

# Example usage

This example will show you how to connect to the SwitchCraft Chatbox API with a basic Hello World bot.

  1. Obtain a Chatbox token by running /chatbox license in-game (opens new window). You can click the token to copy it to your clipboard.
  2. Set up your project with npm init, and install SwitchChat by running npm i switchchat.
  • To make sure ESM modules are used, open package.json and set "type": "module".
  1. Create a file called index.js with the following code:
// Import SwitchChat
import { Client } from "switchchat";

// Create the Chatbox client
const sc = new Client("YOUR-CHATBOX-TOKEN");

// Optional - set the default name and markdown formatting mode for all `.say()` and `.tell()` calls
sc.defaultName = "Hello World Bot";
sc.defaultFormattingMode = "markdown";

// Add event listener for when a backslash command is received
sc.on("command", async (cmd) => {
  // Only respond if the command is `\helloworld`
  if (cmd.command === "helloworld") {
    // Send message back to the user: "Hello World!"
    await sc.tell(cmd.user.name, "Hello World!");
  }
});

// Event listener for when the client is connected to SwitchCraft and ready to
// receive messages and events
sc.on("ready", () => {
  console.log("Connected!");
});

// Connect to SwitchCraft
sc.connect();
  1. Run your code! If you used JavaScript you can run it with node index.js. When it says "Connected!", run \helloworld in-game, and the Chatbox should respond to you!

# Events

You are able to listen after the following events, which directly map to the events sent by the Chatbox websocket API (opens new window):

Friendly name Name Trigger
In-game chat chat_ingame A player sent a message in-game
Discord chat chat_discord A player sent a message from Discord
Chatbox message chat_chatbox A chatbox sent a public message
Chatbox command command A player sent a chatbox command in-game
Join join A player joined the server
Leave leave A player left the server
Death death A player died
World change world_change A player changed worlds
AFK afk A player went AFK
AFK return afk_return A player returned from being AFK
Restart scheduled server_restart_scheduled The server will restart soon
Restart cancelled server_restart_cancelled The scheduled server restart was cancelled
  • user - User that went AFK

# In-game chat

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

The event received when a player posts a message in public chat.

  • text - string of the contents of the chat message
  • rawText - string of the raw contents of the chat message
  • renderedText - RenderedTextObject of the rendered text of the chat message
  • user - User that sent the message

# Discord chat

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

The event received when a player posts a message in Discord.

  • text - string of the contents of the chat message, without formatting codes
  • rawText - string of the raw contents of the chat message, with its original formatting codes
  • renderedText - RenderedTextObject of the rendered text of the chat message
  • discordId - string of the Discord snowflake ID of the message
  • discordUser - DiscordUser that sent the message
  • edited - boolean if the message has been edited

# Chatbox message

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

The event received when another chatbox sends a message.

  • text - string of the contents of the message, without formatting codes
  • rawText - string of the raw contents of the message, with its original formatting codes
  • renderedText - RenderedTextObject of the rendered text of the message
  • user - User of the owner of the chatbox
  • name - string name of the chatbox, without formatting codes
  • rawName - string name of the chatbox, with its original formatting codes

# Chatbox command

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

The event received when a player runs a chatbox command (public backslash commands: \command, private owner-only caret/pipe commands: ^command) in-game. The command capability is required to receive command events.

  • user - User that ran the chatbox command
  • command - The name of the command (the word immediately following the backslash/caret/pipe, excluding the backslash/caret/pipe). Example: \command arg1 arg2
  • args - Array of space-separated string arguments after the command.
  • ownerOnly - boolean if the command is an owner-only command (^command)

# Join

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

The event received when a player joins the game.

  • user - User that joined the server

# Leave

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

The event received when a player leaves the game.

  • user - User that left the server

# Death

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

The event received when a player dies in-game.

  • text - string of the death message contents, without formatting codes
  • rawText - string of the death message contents, with its original formatting codes
  • renderedText - RenderedTextObject of the death message
  • user - User that died
  • source - User | null that killed the user. Only set if they were killed by another player

# World change

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

The event received when a player changes worlds.

  • user - User that changed worlds
  • origin - string of the world the player moved from
  • destination - string of the world the player is now in

# AFK

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

The event received when a player goes AFK in-game.

  • user - User that goes AFK

# AFK return

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

The event received when a player returns from being AFK in-game.

# Server restart scheduled

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

The event received when a server restart has been scheduled. At the time of restartAt, the server will restart and the SwitchChat client will be disconnected.

If a server restart was scheduled before the websocket connected, then the server_restart_scheduled event will be sent after the hello/ready events. In this case, restartSeconds will not be the time until the restart, but instead the time that was initially specified for the restart. time will still be the initial time the restart was scheduled, and restartAt will be the time the restart will happen.

  • restartType - string that tells you what type of restart it is ("automatic" or "manual")
  • restartSeconds - number that tells you how many seconds until the restart
  • restartAt - Date that tells you when the restart will happen

# Server restart cancelled

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

The event received when a previously scheduled server restart has now been cancelled.

  • restartType - string that tells you what type of restart it was ("automatic" or "manual")

# Rate limits

(Websocket API docs (opens new window))

The Chatbox server has a ratelimit of 500ms per license, with up to 5 messages queued at once.

When the methods client.say and client.tell are called, the data is enqueued internally before being sent to the server.

This internal queue makes it safe to go well over the limits, because it processes each message every 500ms to avoid hitting the rate limit of the server.

# Server -> Client packets

(Websocket API docs (opens new window))

You are also able to listen after these packets that are sent by SwitchCraft to the client.

Friendly name Name Trigger
Hello packet ready When SwitchChat has successfully connected to SwitchCraft
Player list packet players When you connect, and when a player joins/leaves
Error packet error When there is an error
Closing packet closing When the server is closing the connection

# Hello packet

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

  • guest - boolean that says if you are authenticated with the guest key
  • licenseOwner - string that represents who owns the chatbox license
  • capabilities - Array of strings that can tell you what capabilities you have

# Players packet

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

  • players - Array of Users that are currently online on the server.

# Error packet

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

# Closing packet

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

# Methods

You can run these methods on your Client (opens new window) instance.

# client.say

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

Sends a message to the in-game public chat. Returns a Promise that resolves to a Success (opens new window) object, which will tell you if the message was sent (reason is "message_sent").

Argument Type Description
text string The message to send.
name string (optional) The name of the chatbox to show. If no name is specified, it will default to the username of the license owner, or client.defaultName.
mode FormattingMode (optional) The formatting mode to use ("markdown" or "format"). Defaults to client.defaultFormattingMode or "markdown".

# client.tell

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

Sends a private message to an in-game player. Returns a Promise that resolves to a Success (opens new window) object, which will tell you if the message was sent (reason is "message_sent").

Argument Type Description
user string The username or UUID of the user to send the message to.
text string The message to send.
name string (optional) The name of the chatbox to show. If no name is specified, it will default to the username of the license owner, or client.defaultName.
mode FormattingMode (optional) The formatting mode to use ("markdown" or "format"). Defaults to client.defaultFormattingMode or "markdown".

# client.connect

(API reference (opens new window))

  • Syntax: client.connect()

Connects to SwitchCraft.

# client.close

(API reference (opens new window))

  • Syntax: client.close()

Disconnects the connection to SwitchCraft.

# client.reconnect

(API reference (opens new window))

  • Syntax: client.reconnect()

Reconnects to SwitchCraft.

# Data types

# User object

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

The user object represents an in-game player.

  • name - The Minecraft username of the player.
  • uuid - The Minecraft UUID of the player, with hyphens.
  • displayName - The user's name as it appears in chat. May differ from name.
  • group - The rank of the player, usually "default" or "admin".
  • pronouns - The pronouns (opens new window) set by the user by running /pronouns. This may be null if the player has not set any preferred pronouns. Where reasonably possible, you should attempt to use the user's preferred pronouns, or avoid using pronouns entirely. If you are unable to do this, you should use the player's name instead.
  • world - The world the player is in, or null if this information is not available. It will be a Minecraft namespaced registry key, for example:
    • minecraft:overworld - The overworld
    • minecraft:the_nether - The Nether
    • minecraft:the_end - The End
  • afk - If the player is AFK
  • alt - If the player is an alt account
  • bot - If the player is a bot
  • supporter - The current public tier of the player's supporter status. This will be 0 if the player is not a supporter or has opted out of showing their supporter tag, 1 for a Tier 1 supporter, 2 for a Tier 2 supporter, and 3 for a Tier 3 supporter.

# DiscordUser object

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

The Discord user object represents a user on Discord.

  • id - The Discord snowflake ID of the user
  • name - The Discord name of the user
  • displayName - The user's server nickname on Discord, or their username if it is not set
  • discriminator - The user's discriminator on Discord
  • avatar - URL to the avatar of the user
  • roles - Array consisting of roles (opens new window).

# RenderedTextObject

(Websocket API docs (opens new window) – API reference (opens new window))

Minecraft's serialised raw JSON text format (opens new window). See the SwitchCraft documentation (opens new window) for more information on how this is used.

# FormattingMode

(API reference (opens new window))

The mode to use for outgoing chatbox messages (.say(), .tell()).

← SwitchChat API reference (opens new window) →