Proposal: Centralized Microbot Login System for Launcher and Cloud

[chsami]

Proposal: Microbot Login System in the Launcher

We’re exploring adding a Microbot login system (OAuth2-style) to the Microbot Launcher (Electron app).
The purpose is to provide a consistent authentication flow and connect the launcher more closely with our community.

I'm posting the idea here because I would like to implement it first in the launcher

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Goals of a Microbot Login System

• Be less dependant on discord
• Central place for news, announcements, and progress updates.
• Single sign-on: log in once and use the same account across launcher, client, and microbot.cloud.
• Option to link RuneScape accounts to microbot.cloud so you can access them from any device.
• Possibility to connect usage data (telemetry) to an account and later provide a personal dashboard
  (e.g., most used plugins, hours botted, mouse data).
• Add community features such as account-based badges (novice / experienced / expert).
• Restrict certain features to registered members only.

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Open Questions

1. Should a Microbot login be required or optional in the launcher?
2. Should we also support external providers (Discord, GitHub, etc.) or focus only on Microbot accounts?
3. If we support multiple providers, should they be added now or later?
4. Which features should require login, and which should remain fully open?

Sharing some schema for inspiration

[Bolado]

That would be awesome!

Would there be a dashboard ( microbot.cloud? ) as well?

Last month, I worked on coding a plugin that used RuneLite's party backend to connect clients across different networks through their party ID. It was designed to act as a "command center" on a static website. The system would use the party's websocket connection to encode images from selected clients and send them to the frontend. One of my goals was to allow users to send canvas coordinates from the frontend to specific clients. This setup would enable controlling multiple clients from a single static frontend website, using a private "party" as the backend. I mention this because would might be safer to implement it with credentials and easier with a proprietary ecosystem instead of the Party plugin backend 😂

Java.Kybseymdwb.mp4

[chsami]

That would be awesome!

Would there be a dashboard ( microbot.cloud? ) as well?

Last month, I worked on coding a plugin that used RuneLite's party backend to connect clients across different networks through their party ID. It was designed to act as a "command center" on a static website. The system would use the party's websocket connection to encode images from selected clients and send them to the frontend. One of my goals was to allow users to send canvas coordinates from the frontend to specific clients. This setup would enable controlling multiple clients from a single static frontend website, using a private "party" as the backend. I mention this because would might be safer to implement it with credentials and easier with a proprietary ecosystem instead of the Party plugin backend 😂

Java.Kybseymdwb.mp4

Oh that's super cool! Could definitely be handy if you are running multiple clients. We could easily integrate it with a dashboard.

[Bolado]

A dashboard, launcher, and client in a closed ecosystem could be incredibly useful, even for those who aren't running many clients. After all, who wouldn’t want to check on their client at home while running an errand, right?

I saw in the past that you had a branch for the launcher in Typescript, if people show interest, will we see those new things being done in Typescript? Or maybe too soon for that?

[chsami]

A dashboard, launcher, and client in a closed ecosystem could be incredibly useful, even for those who aren't running many clients. After all, who wouldn’t want to check on their client at home while running an errand, right?

I saw in the past that you had a branch for the launcher in Typescript, if people show interest, will we see those new things being done in Typescript? Or maybe too soon for that?

I definitely want to migrate to typescript. Just hadn't had the time to do it

[ghost]

Hi there!

I think this looks like a really cool idea! Just a few points:

Regarding restricting certain features to registered members only:

• Could you provide some examples of what these features might be? I’m not a big fan of excluding people from features just because they haven’t registered. Unless, of course, registration is necessary for the feature to work.

Regarding the login and security of the accounts:

• I would really like to see an implementation of two-factor authentication (via email or authenticator app) and perhaps even passkeys to help secure accounts.

Regarding the open questions:

Should a Microbot login be required or optional in the launcher?

• I strongly believe this should be optional. I don’t think requiring users to create an account is in their best interest, but it should be an attractive option with compelling features so users can decide for themselves that it’s worth it!

Should we also support external providers (Discord, GitHub, etc.) or focus only on Microbot accounts?

• I think supporting external providers is a good idea, as it makes login faster and simpler for users who prefer a specific provider. A good starting list might include Discord, GitHub, and Google. However, I also believe that traditional email and password login should always be available.

If we support multiple providers, should they be added now or later?

• It depends on the amount of work required. I’ve implemented Discord OAuth for a personal project before, and it was pretty straightforward. But of course it always depends on the project and the provider. Having at least Discord included from the start would be nice, especially since many current Microbot users are likely already in the Discord community.

Which features should require login, and which should remain fully open?

• I think only features that technically require a login (such as a personal dashboard or analytics) should be restricted. Everything else should remain fully open. Decisions should be made on a per-feature basis, so a discussion can be held around each one.

Thanks :)

[subinznz]

Are you open sourcing the back end as well so that it can be self hosted ?

[chsami]

Not in the first stages, there are a lot of things to consider when open sourcing stuff, so to keep things simple this will be an api hosted on the microbot cloud platform.

[freedarwuin]

I am interested in learning about this topic