A starter kit for developing bots on the Recast.AI platform.
Note: This project is currently in beta version and can be modified at any time.
We recommend to use at least node v4.3.0
Create an account on the Recast.AI platform and follow this quick tutorial to create your first bot on the interface.
git clone https://github.com/RecastAI/starter-NodeJS.git my-bot && cd my-bot
using npm
npm install
or yarn
yarn
Create a config.js
file in the src
directory of your project, copy/paste these lines:
process.env.PORT = '5000'
process.env.REQUEST_TOKEN = ''
process.env.LANGUAGE = ''
// Write your own configuration here:
// ...
Complete the Recast.AI process.env.REQUEST_TOKEN
and process.env.LANGUAGE
: go to your bot page, click on the settings icon (on the right side of your screen), and copy the request_token
.
Then, set the default language of your bot: 'en'
, 'fr'
... or leave this field empty for auto-detection language
Tips: This config. file will never be pushed onto your repository. If you would like to deploy your code with Bot Hosting, you just have to create env. variables in Bot Hosting section in RUN page. More info in About your config. file
using npm npm start
using yarn yarn start
Note: Next steps, only if you have connected your bot to channels, using the Bot Connector tool
- download ngrok
- launch it:
./ngrok http 5000
- copy the url ngrok gave and paste it in the Recast.AI interface: Go to your bot page, click on the RUN tab and edit your
current bot webhook
- Chat with your bot on the channels you've configured ;)
If you're not using the Bot Connector to connect your bot to the channels, you will only need to change the bot.js
file and the message.js
file and make changes depending on the way you want to receive the message.
Code | Documentation |
---|---|
Receiving messages | The Recast.AI SDK - connect |
Sending messages | The Recast.AI SDK - connect |
Rich messaging | See the different payload message |
Manage the conversation | The Recast.AI SDK - converse |
To host your bot and deploy your code, create a repository on Github, and push this code on it. Connect your github account on Recast:
- Go to your bot page
- Click on the RUN tab, and on the Bot Hosting menu
- Connect your Github account
- Select the repository you've just created
- Wait a little, we're starting your instance...
Every time you will push onto the master branch, we'll deploy your code ๐
Since we deploy your code your code in generic containers, there are 3 requirements:
- Your package.json must contain the
build
task. It must be present even if empty or just copying files. The default one you will find in the starter kit is"build": "babel src -d lib"
to compile your Javascript. So you can code with your favorite ES6, ES7 features ๐ - A lib directory must be present (by default it's created with the
build
task) - The entrypoint of your code in production must be in the
lib/bot.js
file. This file must contain an export of abot
function namedbot
. It takes as the first argument the body of the request (Bot Connector, custom curl,...)
You can change all other file names, directory structures, but be sure that these three points work fine!
The src/config.js
file will never be pushed to your repository, to keep your configuration private.
To set up your local env. variables in Bot Hosting, you have to create env. variables in Bot Hosting section in the RUN page.
PORT
env. variable is not needed. Bot Hosting manages it for you :)
REQUEST_TOKEN
and LANGUAGE
env. variables are already set up with your bot configuration. LANGUAGE
can be customised with the one you want (en
, fr
, ...)
You can add any env. variable you want in the Bot Hosting section and then use it in your code with this syntax: process.env.MY_ENV_VAR_NAME
You can view the whole API reference at man.recast.ai. You can follow us on Twitter at @recastai for updates and releases.
Copyright (c) [2017] Recast.AI
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