Run PoshBot as a Service

There are several ways to run PowerShell scripts as a service; We're going to use nssm - it's a bit simpler than some of the alternatives.

Ingredients

• Script that will run as a service
• Latest release of nssm.exe
• PoshBot installed with a configuration to read

Recipe

• Write the poshbot script that will run as a service. Here's an example saved as C:\poshbot\start-poshbot.ps1:

Import-Module PoshBot -force
$pbc = Get-PoshBotConfiguration -Path C:\poshbot\config.psd1

while($True) {
    try {
        $err = $null
        Start-PoshBot -Configuration $pbc -Verbose -ErrorVariable err
        if($err) {
            throw $err
        }
    }
    catch {
        $_ | Format-List -Force | Out-String | Out-File (Join-Path $pbc.LogDirectory Service.Error)
    }
}

Adjust the path as needed - we'll use C:\poshbot\config.psd1 here.

• Download nssm, extract nssm.exe (win64 for typical 64-bit PowerShell)

• Use nssm.exe to create a service. Adjust variables as needed:

$nssm = 'C:\nssm.exe'
$ScriptPath = 'C:\poshbot\start-poshbot.ps1'
$ServiceName = 'poshbot'

$ServicePath = 'C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe'
$ServiceArguments = '-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -NoProfile -File "{0}"' -f $ScriptPath

& $nssm install $ServiceName $ServicePath $ServiceArguments
Start-Sleep -Seconds .5

# check the status... should be stopped
& $nssm status $ServiceName

# start things up!
& $nssm start $ServiceName

# verify it's running
& $nssm status $ServiceName

Your PoshBot should be up and running as a service! You can now start and stop the service like a normal service:

Get-Service PoshBot
Stop-Service PoshBot
Start-Service PoshBot