Twitch AI Chatbot

Overview

Connects to Twitch IRC via WebSocket and responds to a trigger word using an Anthropic model. No Twitch API key required for basic operation — only a bot account OAuth token.

Requirements: python3, aiohttp, websockets, Anthropic API key.

Setup

1. Create a bot Twitch account

Use a separate Twitch account for the bot. Get a chat OAuth token:

1. Go to: https://twitchapps.com/tmi/
2. Authorize with your bot account (not your main)
3. Copy the oauth:XXXXXXXXXX token

2. Configure

cd ~/ares-skills/twitch-ai-chatbot/scripts
cp config.example.json config.json

Edit config.json:

{
  "channel": "yourchannelname",
  "trigger_word": "!bot",
  "bot_login": "your_bot_account",
  "oauth_token": "oauth:XXXXXXXXXX",
  "model": "claude-haiku-4-5",
  "anthropic_api_key": "sk-ant-XXXXXXXX",
  "system_prompt": "You are a helpful and fun AI chatbot in a Twitch chat. Keep responses short (under 150 chars), casual, and engaging. No offensive content.",
  "cooldown_seconds": 30,
  "max_messages_per_30s": 18,
  "log_file": "chatbot.log",
  "storage_dir": "./storage"
}

Key fields:

• channel — Twitch channel to join (lowercase)
• trigger_word — command viewers type to talk to the bot (e.g. !bot, !ai, !ask)
• bot_login — Twitch username of the bot account
• oauth_token — OAuth token from twitchapps.com/tmi (include the oauth: prefix)
• model — Anthropic model ID. Recommended: claude-haiku-4-5 (fast + cheap)
• system_prompt — customize the bot's personality and rules
• cooldown_seconds — minimum seconds between bot responses (prevents spam)

3. Install dependencies

pip3 install aiohttp websockets

4. Run

python3 ~/ares-skills/twitch-ai-chatbot/scripts/chatbot.py

Or with a custom config path:

python3 chatbot.py --config /path/to/config.json

Environment Variable Overrides

All key config values can be set via env vars (take precedence over config.json):

export TWITCH_CHANNEL=yourchannelname
export TWITCH_LOGIN=your_bot_account
export TWITCH_OAUTH=oauth:XXXXXXXXXX
export TRIGGER_WORD=!bot
export AI_MODEL=claude-haiku-4-5
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-XXXXXXXX
export SYSTEM_PROMPT="You are a helpful bot..."

python3 chatbot.py

How It Works

1. Bot connects to wss://irc-ws.chat.twitch.tv:443 — no API key needed
2. Joins configured channel
3. Watches all chat messages
4. When a message starts with trigger_word: calls Anthropic API with last 10 chat messages as context
5. Replies in chat: @username <AI response>
6. Rate limiting: max 18 msgs/30s, configurable cooldown between responses
7. Prompt injection sanitization built in
8. Chat history persisted to JSONL at storage/chat_history.jsonl

Customizing the Bot

Change trigger word

Update trigger_word in config.json. Examples: !ai, !ask, !gpt, !help

Change personality

Update system_prompt. Example for a gaming bot:

You are an expert VALORANT coach in Twitch chat. Give quick tips and hype up plays. Max 150 chars per reply.

Change model

• Fast/cheap: claude-haiku-4-5
• Smarter: claude-sonnet-4-5
• Avoid models with thinking tokens (slow, unpredictable output length)

Running as a Background Service

tmux

tmux new-session -d -s twitch-bot 'python3 ~/ares-skills/twitch-ai-chatbot/scripts/chatbot.py'

launchd (macOS)

Create ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.twitch-ai-chatbot.plist with appropriate configuration and launchctl load it.

Troubleshooting

Bot connects but doesn't respond: Check trigger_word matches exactly. Verify bot account is in the channel (it joins automatically on connect).

Authentication failed: Regenerate OAuth token at twitchapps.com/tmi. Tokens expire.

Rate limited by Twitch: Increase cooldown_seconds. Default 30s is safe for most use.

AI replies are too long: Add "Max 150 characters" to your system_prompt.