Recast.AI starter kit NodeJS

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.

Requirements

Node version

We recommend to use at least node v4.3.0

Recast.AI account

Create an account on the Recast.AI platform and follow this quick tutorial to create your first bot on the interface.

Usage

Installation

git clone https://github.com/RecastAI/starter-NodeJS.git my-bot && cd my-bot

using npm npm install

or yarn yarn

Create the config file

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

Run locally

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 ;)

Alternative, if you are not using Bot Connector

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.

Documentation

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

How your code will be deployed?

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 👏

Requirements

Since we deploy 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 👍
• 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 a bot function named bot. 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!

About your config. file

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

More

You can view the whole API reference at man.recast.ai. You can follow us on Twitter at @recastai for updates and releases.

License

Copyright (c) [2017] Recast.AI

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.