Capistrano recipe for Hubot deployments + Forever

config.rb

# Lifted from this blog article & modified heavily:
# http://blog.nicolai86.eu/posts/2011-11-03/deploying-hubot-with-capistrano

set :application, "hubot"
set :repository,  "repository"

set :scm, :git
set :ssh_options, { :forward_agent => true }
set :branch, "master"

set :deploy_to, "/home/hubot"
set :deploy_via, :remote_cache

set :user, "hubot"
set :use_sudo, false

default_environment['PATH'] = "$HOME/current/node_modules/.bin:$HOME/current/node_modules/hubot/node_modules/.bin:$PATH"

role :web, "your-server"

# if you want to clean up old releases on each deploy uncomment this:
after "deploy:restart", "deploy:cleanup"

namespace :deploy do
  desc "Sets up the log file, then sources EnvVars & starts Hubot"
  task :start do
    log_file = "#{shared_path}/log/hubot.log"
    # If we've got a log file already, mark that a deployment occurred
    run "if [ -e #{log_file} ]; then echo \"\n\nDeployment #{release_name}\n\" >> #{log_file}; fi"
    # Start Hubot!
    run "source #{release_path}/.env && \
      cd #{release_path} && \
      forever start --pidfile #{shared_path}/pids/hubot.pid -a -l #{shared_path}/log/hubot.log -c coffee node_modules/.bin/hubot -a hipchat"
  end

  desc "Stop Hubot"
  task :stop do
    run "cd #{release_path} && \
      forever stop node_modules/.bin/hubot"
  end

  desc "Install necessary Node modules, then move them to the correct path"
  task :npm_install do
    # Install the necessary node packages
    run "cd #{release_path} && npm install"
    # Move installed Node modules to shared directory
    run "mv #{release_path}/node_modules #{shared_path}/node_modules"
  end

  desc "Create symlink to shared Node modules"
  task :npm_modules_make_symlink do
    run "ln -s #{shared_path}/node_modules #{release_path}/node_modules"
  end

  desc "Base task to restart Hubot after a deployment if he's already running"
  task :restart do
    stop
    npm_modules_make_symlink
    start
  end

  desc "A cold start for when Hubot's dead"
  task :cold do
    update
    npm_install
    npm_modules_make_symlink
    start
  end

  task :migrate do
    # dummy task
  end

  task :migrations do
    # dummy task
  end
end