rentabot 0.3.0

Rent-A-Bot, your automation resource provider.

Rent-A-Bot

Rent-a-bot, your automation resource provider.

Exclusive access to a static resource is a common problem in automation. Rent-a-bot allows you to abstract your resources and lock them to prevent any concurrent access.

Purpose

Rent-a-bot pursues the same objective as Jenkins Lockable Resource Plugin.

The plugin works quite well, but only if you use... well... Jenkins.

Rent-A-Bot's purpose is to fill the same needs in an environment where multiple automation applications exist.

Examples:

• Multiple Jenkins application servers
• Mixed automation applications (e.g., GitHub Actions + Jenkins)
• Shared resources between humans and automation systems

What is a resource?

A resource is defined by a name and the existence of a lock token indicating if the resource is locked.

Optional available fields help you customize your resources with additional information:

• Resource description
• Lock description
• Endpoint
• Tags

How to install and run

Prerequisites

This project uses uv for fast, reliable Python package management.

Install uv:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Or on macOS:

brew install uv

Installation

Clone the repository from GitHub:

git clone [e-mail]:cpoisson/rent-a-bot.git

Navigate to the project directory:

cd rentabot

Install the package and dependencies using uv:

uv sync              # Install dependencies and create virtual environment
uv pip install -e .  # Install the package in editable mode

How to run

Using the CLI (recommended)

The easiest way to run Rent-A-Bot is using the built-in CLI:

# Run directly with uvx (no installation needed)
uvx rentabot

# Or install and run
uv pip install -e .
rentabot

CLI Options:

rentabot --help                           # Show help
rentabot --version                        # Show version
rentabot --config path/to/config.yaml     # Use specific config file
rentabot --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080       # Custom host and port
rentabot --reload                         # Enable auto-reload for development
rentabot --log-level debug                # Set log level

Configuration File Discovery:

The CLI automatically searches for configuration files in this order:

1. Explicit --config argument
2. ./.rentabot.yaml or ./rentabot.yaml in current directory
3. ~/.rentabot/config.yaml in home directory
4. RENTABOT_RESOURCE_DESCRIPTOR environment variable
5. No config (starts with empty resources)

Using uvicorn directly

You can also start the FastAPI server directly:

# With environment variable
RENTABOT_RESOURCE_DESCRIPTOR="path/to/config.yaml" uvicorn rentabot.main:app --reload --port 8000

# Or with uv
uv run uvicorn rentabot.main:app --reload --port 8000

The API will be available at:

• Main API: http://127.0.0.1:8000/
• Interactive API Docs: http://127.0.0.1:8000/docs
• ReDoc: http://127.0.0.1:8000/redoc

How to use it

Alright, rent-a-bot is up and running.

At this stage you can connect to the web interface at http://127.0.0.1:8000/ or explore the interactive API documentation at http://127.0.0.1:8000/docs.

You will notice that the resource list is empty (dang...), let's populate it.

Populate the resources

You will need a resource descriptor file to populate the resources at startup.

RENTABOT_RESOURCE_DESCRIPTOR="/absolute/path/to/your/resource/descriptor.yml"

Resource descriptor

The resource descriptor is a YAML file. Its purpose is to declare the resources you want to make available on rent-a-bot.

# Resources Description
# This file describes resources to populate in the database at rent-a-bot startup

coffee-machine:
    description: "Kitchen coffee machine"
    endpoint: "tcp://192.168.1.50"
    tags: "coffee kitchen food"

3d-printer-1:
    description: "Basement 3d printer 1"
    endpoint: "tcp://192.168.1.60"
    tags: "3d-printer basement tool"

another-resource:
    description: "yet another resource"
    endpoint: ""
    tags: ""

Once set, (re)start the application with the environment variable:

RENTABOT_RESOURCE_DESCRIPTOR=/path/to/your/resources.yaml uvicorn rentabot.main:app --reload --port 8000

The web view should be populated with your resources.

RESTful API

List resources

GET /rentabot/api/v1.0/resources

e.g.

curl -X GET -i http://localhost:8000/rentabot/api/v1.0/resources

Access to a given resource

GET /rentabot/api/v1.0/resources/{resource_id}

e.g.

curl -X GET -i http://localhost:5000/rentabot/api/v1.0/resources/2

Lock a resource

POST /api/v1.0/resources/{resource_id}/lock

e.g.

curl -X POST -i http://localhost:5000/rentabot/api/v1.0/resources/6/lock

Note: If the resource is available, a lock-token will be returned. Otherwise an error code is returned.

Lock a resource using it's resource id (rid), name (name) or tag (tag).

POST /api/v1.0/resources/lock

e.g.

curl -X POST -i http://localhost:5000/rentabot/api/v1.0/resources/lock\?rid\=6
curl -X POST -i http://localhost:5000/rentabot/api/v1.0/resources/lock\?name\=coffee-maker
curl -X POST -i http://localhost:5000/rentabot/api/v1.0/resources/lock\?tag\=coffee\&tag\=kitchen

Notes:

• If multiple available resources match the criteria, the first available will be returned.
• If criteria types are exclusive, resource id is prioritized over the name and tags, and name is prioritized over tags.

Unlock a resource

POST /api/v1.0/resources/{resource_id}/unlock?lock-token={resource/lock/token}

curl -X POST -i http://localhost:5000/rentabot/api/v1.0/resources/6/unlock\?lock-token\={resource/lock/token}

Note: If the resource is already unlocked or the lock-token is not valid, an error code is returned.

How to test

Test implementation

Unit tests are done using pytest and coverage.

How to run unit tests

uv run pytest

Or with the virtual environment activated:

source .venv/bin/activate
pytest

---

Helpful documentation used to design this application

• FastAPI Documentation
• Pydantic Documentation
• Put versus Post
• Best practice for a pragmatic restful API
• HTTP status code
• OpenAPI Specification
• Implementing API Exceptions
• The Hitchhiker's Guide To Python