Meet Hyfa

Hyfa (HackYourFuture Assistant) is an AI-powered Slack bot designed to serve as a virtual mentor for HackYourFuture.

Hyfa provides guidance, support, and resources to trainees throughout their coding journey, helping them navigate the curriculum and overcome technical challenges while encouraging independent problem-solving and growth.

What Hyfa Can Help With

• Understanding web development concepts (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Node.js, React.js, databases)
• Providing hints and guidance for coding problems without giving away complete solutions
• Offering advice on study methods and debugging strategies
• Supporting job search preparation, including CV building and interview tips
• Answering general questions about life in the Netherlands

Hyfa is designed to be accessible, friendly, and professional – always ready to assist but careful to empower students to develop their own problem-solving skills.

How to use Hyfa

• You can send a private message to @hyfa at any time and she will respond in no time.

• If Hyfa is a member of a Slack channel (private or public), you can tag her with @hyfa to get her attention to your question, she will look at the recent channel messages and try to provide the best answer.

• You can also tag @hyfa inside a Slack thread if you want her to join the conversation. Threads only work for group channels

• Creating a private group with multiple trainees? Why not adding Hyfa to help out if needed

Environment Setup

Create a .env file in the root directory with the following variables:

# Slack API tokens
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=
SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET=
SLACK_APP_TOKEN=xapp-

# LLM API endpoint and token
LLM_API_ENDPOINT=
LLM_API_TOKEN=

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js (version >= 22.0.0)
• npm

Installation

npm run setup

Run in development mode

npm run dev

Run in production mode

npm start

Docker Deployment

Build and run with Docker

# Build the Docker image
docker build -t hyfa-bot .

# Run the container
docker run -d --name hyfa-bot --env-file .env hyfa-bot