PT Feeder Docs

# Installation guide

Please follow our installation guides to make PT Feeder run on your system. Be aware that PT-Feeder is not a playful Utility with colorful buttons and a shiny UI. It is a power tool, that works nearly completely from the command line. Make sure you are safe enough to handle your operating system good enough and that you are able to edit configuration text files without breaking them.

Important note:

PT Feeder is a companion app to ProfitTrailer. It doesn't have its own interface. It generates configuration for ProfitTrailer. For details on that please see How PT Feeder works.

After you have installed PT Feeder you need to start/stop it in addtion to ProfitTrailer.

# Install .NET Runtime

First of all install Dotnet Core by Microsoft version 2.2.x or higher for your operating system. You can get it the runtime from here (opens new window). The SDK will also work. NOTE Anything higher than 2.2.x will not work. PT Feeder has not been upgraded to use any version of dotnet 3 or above yet.

Microsoft has different selection of Linux choices there so take the one that fits your Distribution.

# Linux

# Technical Requirements

  • Linux (we're mostly using Ubuntu 16.04 LTS but that's up to you)
  • At least 1GB RAM (2GB is better, but PT + PTF also run on 1GB VPS)
  • .NET Runtime
  • A solid Text Editor. Visual Studio Code (opens new window) is highly reccomended as it highlights any json errors whilst editing your config.

# Download and Unpack PT-Feeder

Now head to the Release Page of PT-Feeder (opens new window) and download your copy. The zip file is something like pt-feeder-v1.x.y.123.zip. Grab the URL and download the package using wget or whatever fits you best. Unpack the zip file and copy it to a location of your choice. We keep it in /opt most of the time but that's up to you of course.

# Configure & Start PT Feeder

# Configure PT Feeder to your needs

IMPORTANT This is key. You need to make yourself comfortable with how PT Feeder works. There are quite some documents on this wiki that help you on that. You need to at least do the basic setup in the hostsettings.json file and the appsettings.json. Both can be found in the config folder. Each of both has its own page on here. Check the navigation to the right to find your way.

Once you have your basic config done come back here and continue.

# Run PT Feeder

To run PT Feeder navigate to the folder where you unzipped PTF to. In there run:

dotnet pt-feeder.dll

You should immediately get some output from that. Look closely at it and see what it reads. Maybe you will get some errors. These can relate to licensing issues or any other mistake you made on the config file. Try to parse this error and see the navigation on the right for Common known Errors before you ask support for help.

If everything runs well hit CTRL + C to shut down PT-Feeder again.

Only continue if everything went well so far. If you get any errors you need to solve them first.

# Install PM2 process manager for ease of use.

  1. Install Node.js following the instructions on their Website (opens new window)
  2. Install PM2 by typing: sudo npm install pm2@latest -g
  3. When it is installed, navigate to your PT-Feeder folder
  4. Type pm2 start pm2-PT-Feeder.json and hit enter

Now it should be running and you can follow what happens in your log file in PT-Feeder/Logs or via pm2 logs. See the PM2 manual (opens new window) on more details about how pm2 works.

IMPORTANT: Once PT-Feeder was added to your PM2 installation you can start and stop it using its ID. You don't need to navigate to the folder again. Just type pm2 status from any folder in your terminal. A column named ID with the ID next to your pt-feeder will be visible. If you connect to your Linux VPS from a PC you may need to widen your terminal window to see this column. Type pm2 status again after making it wider. If you have the ID you can easily do pm2 restart 0 for example if 0 is the ID.

Note: You can also add PT to PM2 if you haven't already. There's a similar pm2-file in the folder of your ProfitTrailer. Adding it works the same way and you can then use PM2 to comfortably manage both tools.

# Windows

# Technical Requirements

Note: You can install PT and PTF either on your local Windows or on a Windows VPS in a Datacenter. This is a more generic installation instruction that should work on both.

  • Windows (ideally 64bit)
  • At least 4GB RAM for both ProfitTrailer and PT Feeder
  • .NET Runtime
  • A solid Text Editor. Visual Studio Code (opens new window) is highly reccomended as it highlights any json errors whilst editing your config.

# Start the installation

# Download and Unpack PT-Feeder

Now head to the Release Page of PT-Feeder (opens new window) and download your copy. Unpack the ZIP-File into a location of your choice. It is best practice to look for a folder anywhere in the user directory. Don't just leave it in your downloads or the desktop or you might easily mess up. Also rename the folder to something general like pt-feeder so it can stay there for every new version too.

# Configure & Start PT Feeder

# Configure PT Feeder to your needs

IMPORTANT This is key. You need to make yourself comfortable with how PT Feeder works. There are quite some documents on this wiki that help you on that. You need to at least do the basic setup in the hostsettings.json file and the appsettings.json. Both can be found in the config folder. Each of both has its own page on here. Check the navigation to the right to find your way.

Once you have your basic config done come back here and continue.

# Run PT Feeder

To run PT Feeder open a CMD window.

If you don't know how to do that or if you have any other problem navigating around your system, there's good help on that on other sites like this (opens new window).

Also there are a bunch of videos out there on how to use the Windows Command Prompt like these (opens new window)

Now navigate to the folder where you unzipped PTF to. In there run:

dotnet pt-feeder.dll

You should immediately get some output from that. Look closely at it and see what it reads. Maybe you will get some errors. These can relate to licensing issues or any other mistake you made on the config file. Try to parse this error and see the navigation on the right for Common known Errors before you ask support for help.

If everything runs well hit CTRL + C to shut down PT-Feeder again.

Only continue if everything went well so far. If you get any errors you need to solve them first.

# Create a .bat File for ease of use

Use Notepad++ or any other Text editor that you selected earlier and create a new file. Put this inside the file:

dotnet pt-feeder.dll
PAUSE

Both lines should go into that file. Now save it to the folder where PT Feeder is in. Name it something like pt-feeder.bat. You just need to double click that file now to start the Feeder.

Make sure it works. You should see something similar than before.

# macOS

# Technical Requirements

# Start the installation

# Download and Unpack PT-Feeder

Now head to the Release Page of PT-Feeder (opens new window) and download your copy. It's that link they say something like pt-feeder-v1.x.y.123.zip Unpack this ZIP-File into a location of your choice. It is best practice to look for a folder anywhere in the user directory. Don't just leave it in your downloads or the desktop or you might easily mess up. Also rename the folder to something general like pt-feeder so it can stay there for every new version too.

# Configure & Start PT Feeder

# Configure PT Feeder to your needs

IMPORTANT This is key. You need to make yourself comfortable with how PT Feeder works. There are quite some documents on this wiki that help you on that. You need to at least do the basic setup in the hostsettings.json file and the appsettings.json. Both can be found in the config folder. Each of both has its own page on here. Check the navigation to the right to find your way.

Once you have your basic config done come back here and continue.

# Run PT Feeder

To run PT Feeder open a TERMINAL window. If you don't know how to do that or find any other problem with navigating around your system, there's good help on that on other sites like this (opens new window).

Now navigate to the folder where you unzipped PTF to. In there run:

dotnet pt-feeder.dll

You should immediately get some output from that. Look closely at it and see what it reads. Maybe you will get some errors. These can relate to licensing issues or any other mistake you made on the config file. Try to parse this error and see the navigation on the right for Common known Errors before you ask support for help.

If everything runs well hit CTRL + C to shut down PT-Feeder again.

Only continue if everything went well so far. If you get any errors you need to solve them first.

# Install PM2 process manager for ease of use.

  1. Download and install Node.js at from their Website (opens new window)
  2. Start your Teminal and install PM2 by typing: sudo npm install pm2@latest -g
  3. When it is installed, in Terminal, navigate to your PT-Feeder folder (where you put it on YOUR Mac)
  4. Type pm2 start pm2-PT-Feeder.json and hit enter

Now it should be running and you can follow what happens in your log file in PT-Feeder/Logs or via pm2 logs. See the PM2 manual (opens new window) on more details about how pm2 works.

IMPORTANT: Once pt feeder was add to your PM2 installation you can start and stop it using its ID. You don't need to navigate to the folder again. Just type pm2 status from any folder in your terminal. If your terminal window is wide enough it should show a column named ID with the ID next to your pt-feeder. Else make your window wider and repeat the command. If you have the ID you can easily do pm2 restart 0 for example if 0 is the ID.

Note: You can also add PT to PM2 if you haven't already. There's a similar pm2-file in the folder of your ProfitTrailer. Adding it works the same way and you can then use PM2 to comfortably manage both tools.

# License limitations

For each PTF license, you can run unlimited test bots and 4 live bots. To do this, the best way is to run multiple instances of PTF.

# Upgrade instructions

Whenever a new version comes out you need to care about updating your PT Feeder. Here's a simple explanation of how this works.

  1. Download the new Release from the Release Page (opens new window)
  2. Save it to a location different to your actual PTF Folder
  3. Unzip it still in a new folder
  4. Stop your running PT Feeder for a moment and if you feel insecure also stop your Bot
  5. Remove everything from your existing PT Feeder directory besides the config and the database subfolder.
  6. Copy over all files and folders again except the config and the database subfolder from the newly unzipped directory into the old, existing one.
  7. Have a look at the Release Page (opens new window) for notes on the actual release. There may have been changes to the config files that you need to work in. It's also a good idea to open the config from the newly downloaded zip file and your config side by side and compare them to changes.
  8. You are done. Start your Feeder again and wait for it to generate your PT config files. Have a look at those config files and see if they contain what you want them to before starting the Bot again.

Please follow this process thoroughly.

# Additional Note

On rare occasions, it might be good to delete the database file/folder when upgrading. You should find a note to that on the Release page if this is the case.