static new Map<S, Integer> getBotPort_cache;
static int getBotPort_timeout = 5000;

// returns 0 if not found
static int getBotPort(S searchPattern) {
  Integer port = getBotPort_cache.get(searchPattern);
  if (port != null) try {
    DialogIO io = talkTo("localhost", port);
    io.waitForLine(/*getBotPort_timeout*/); // TODO: implement
    S line = io.readLineNoBlock();
    if (indexOfIgnoreCase(line, searchPattern) == 0) {
      io.close();
      return port;
    }
  } catch (Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
  }
  
  for (ProgramScan.Program p : quickBotScan())
    if (indexOfIgnoreCase(p.helloString, searchPattern) == 0) { // strict matching - start of hello string only, but case-insensitive
      getBotPort_cache.put(searchPattern, p.port);
      return p.port;
    }
    
  return 0;
}

Began life as a copy of #1001303