Zulip AI Bot — OpenAI Integration for Self-Hosted Zulip (Docker)

A Dockerized Zulip AI bot that connects as a Generic Bot and provides OpenAI-powered automation inside Zulip’s threaded chat model.

This project implements a production-ready Zulip integration for AI-assisted workflows. It works with both Zulip Cloud and self-hosted Zulip deployments.

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What This Is

• A Zulip AI integration
• A Docker-based Zulip bot
• An OpenAI integration for Zulip
• A self-hosted Zulip chatbot
• A threaded-chat aware AI automation layer

No Zulip server modification required.

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Core Capabilities

• Connects via Zulip Generic Bot API
• OpenAI-backed message processing
• Thread-aware responses (Zulip topic model)
• Docker-native deployment
• Works with Zulip Cloud or Zulip self-hosted
• Isolated runtime with persistent state volume

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Architecture

Zulip Server  <--->  Zulip Bot API  <--->  Zulip AI Bot (Docker)  <--->  OpenAI API

• Stateless logic
• Optional persistent data in /data
• No internal Zulip patching
• Drop-in integration

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Installation (Quick Start)

1. Clone

git clone https://github.com/pablopovar/zulip-ai-bot.git
cd zulip-ai-bot

2. Configure Environment

cp env.example .env

Edit .env:

ZULIP_SITE=https://chat.example.com
ZULIP_EMAIL=your-bot@chat.example.com
ZULIP_API_KEY=your_bot_api_key
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_key

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3. Run with Docker

docker compose up -d --build

View logs:

docker compose logs -f

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Requirements

• Zulip (Cloud or self-hosted)
• Generic Bot account
• Docker + Docker Compose
• OpenAI API key (if using AI responses)

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Use Cases

• AI-assisted threaded discussions
• Zulip workflow automation
• AI chatbot inside Zulip topics
• Self-hosted AI integration
• Developer team augmentation
• Slack-alternative AI deployment inside Zulip

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Keywords (Discoverability)

Zulip AI bot Zulip OpenAI bot Zulip AI integration Docker Zulip bot Self-hosted Zulip chatbot Zulip automation Threaded chat AI bot OpenAI integration for Zulip Zulip self-hosted AI

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Topics

docker • automation • self-hosted • openai • zulip • threaded-chat • zulip-bot • ai-bot • zulip-chatbot • openai-integration • zulip-integration • zulip-ai • zulip-self-hosted

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Security Notes

• Uses Zulip API token authentication
• Does not modify Zulip server
• Environment variables required for credentials
• No credentials stored in repository

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License

CC BY 4.0