getreadyfor

Source for @readyforspoons a bot that makes random fake (but disappointingly real) Brexit posters

how

It'll fetch a random noun from a master list of nouns and then it make a webpage out of it, screenshot it and tweet it.

I recommend reading the code itself, (start at app.js!) it's pretty straightforward and simpler than that mouthful of an explanation!!

more complex how

1. Clone this repo

2. Run npm install to get all the dependencies. This will take a while. While you wait, talk about how you're negotiating a better deal for Britain with the person closest to you.

3. Run node and you should get a link to http://localhost:3000, showing a massive disappointment. Browser support is very flaky.

4. To take screenies, run node ./bin/screenshot.js

5. To post to Twitter, you first need to make an app at apps.twitter.com (this is where the bot will post!! be careful) and get all four tokens (2 for the app 2 for the user). Then make a .env file filling in the values you see in ./bin/tweet.js. Then just run node ./bin/tweet.js

autoposting

The actual live @readyforspoons is in sync with this exact codebase, it's hosted in heroku, which has a free forever tier, and there's a scheduled process that runs node ./bin/tweet.js hourly