Setting up auto-restart using systemd on Linux

Creating the service file

Create the new service file:

sudo -e /etc/systemd/system/red@.service

Paste the following and replace all instances of username with the username your bot is running under (hopefully not root):

[Unit]
Description=%I redbot
After=multi-user.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/home/username/.local/bin/redbot %I --no-prompt
User=username
Group=username
Type=idle
Restart=always
RestartSec=15
RestartPreventExitStatus=0
TimeoutStopSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save and exit ctrl + O; enter; ctrl + x

Starting and enabling the service

Note

This same file can be used to start as many instances of the bot as you wish, without creating more service files, just start and enable more services and add any bot instance name after the @

To start the bot, run the service and add the instance name after the @:

sudo systemctl start red@instancename

To set the bot to start on boot, you must enable the service, again adding the instance name after the @:

sudo systemctl enable red@instancename

If you need to shutdown the bot, you can use the [p]shutdown command or type the following command in the terminal, still by adding the instance name after the @:

sudo systemctl stop red@instancename

Warning

If the service doesn’t stop in the next 10 seconds, the process is killed. Check your logs to know the cause of the error that prevents the shutdown.

To view Red’s log, you can acccess through journalctl:

sudo journalctl -u red@instancename