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+pinhook
+=======
+
+a pluggable irc bot framework in python
+
+Tutorial
+--------
+
+Installation
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+::
+
+    $ pip install git+git://github.com/archangelic/pinhook.git
+
+Creating the Bot
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+To create the bot, just create a python file with the following:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+    import pinhook.bot
+
+    bot = pinhook.bot.Bot(
+        channels=['#foo', '#bar'],
+        nickname='ph-bot',
+        server='irc.freenode.net'
+    )
+    bot.start()
+
+This will start a basic bot and look for plugins in the ‘plugins’
+directory to add functionality.
+
+Optional arguments are:
+
+-  ``port``: choose a custom port to connect to the server (default:
+   6667)
+-  ``ops``: list of operators who can do things like make the bot join
+   other channels or quit (default: empty list)
+-  ``plugin_dir``: directory where the bot should look for plugins
+   (default: “plugins”)
+
+Creating plugins
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+In your chosen plugins directory (“plugins” by default) make a python
+file with a function. You can use the ``@pinhook.plugin.register``
+decorator to tell the bot the command to activate the function.
+
+The function will need to be structured as such:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+    import pinhook.plugin
+
+    @pinhook.plugin.register('!test')
+    def test_plugin(msg):
+        message = '{}: this is a test!'.format(msg.nick)
+        return pinhook.plugin.message(message)
+
+The function will need to accept a single argument in order to accept a
+``Message`` object from the bot.
+
+The ``Message`` object has the following attributes:
+
+-  ``cmd``: the command that triggered the function
+-  ``nick``: the user who triggered the command
+-  ``arg``: all the trailing text after the command. This is what you
+   will use to get optional information for the command
+-  ``channel``: the channel where the command was initiated
+-  ``ops``: the list of bot operators
+-  ``botnick``: the nickname of the bot
+
+The plugin function **must** return one of the following in order to
+give a response to the command:
+
+-  ``pinhook.plugin.message``: basic message in channel where command
+   was triggered
+-  ``pinhook.plugin.action``: CTCP action in the channel where command
+   was triggered (basically like using ``/me does a thing``)
+
+Examples
+--------
+
+There are some basic examples in the ``examples`` directory in this
+repository.
+
+For a live and maintained bot running the current version of pinhook see
+`pinhook-tilde`_.
+
+.. _pinhook-tilde: https://github.com/archangelic/pinhook-tilde