Quick Start
Admin
The admin dashboard is the place where you'll be able to manage and configure everything related to your Botpress Server installation, including:
- Create new bots
- Manage your Botpress Pro license and sync with version control
- Update your profile and your Botpress Account
- Unpack and activate modules
To open the Admin Dashboard, visit http://localhost:3000
in your favorite web browser. When you open the portal for the first time, you will be asked to register the main admin account
Creating a new bot
In Botpress, bots are assigned to a workspace. When you start Botpress for the first time, you'll have a default workspace created automatically for you.
Let's create a new bot with the Create Bot > New Bot button.
All you have to do is pick a name for your bot, a unique Bot ID
will be generated for you, then select a bot template.
The Bot ID can't be changed in the future so it's important to pick a meaningful name. Also, bear in mind that this ID will be visible to the users of your bots.
You may start from scratch with the Empty bot, or you can use one of the available templates for a quick demonstration of various features.
Once created, click on the bot's name to open the Studio interface and edit your bot.
Studio
The Studio is the main interface you'll use to build and edit your bot. From here, among other things, you can:
- Train an NLU model
- Create dialog flows
- Manage content
- Test and debug your bot
You will notice on the left there are a couple of sections available. Some of these are built inside Botpress (like Content and Flows), where some are there because of modules installed. Indeed, Botpress is a highly modular platform and the majority of the features you will use are provided by the modules themselves. You may use experimental ones, or even develop your own modules.
Test your bot
There is a chat emulator built in the studio with which you can test your bot. You can open this emulator from the button in the top right corner, or press 'E' while in the studio. It is made to represent what your visitors will face when they speak with your bot. You can reset the convertsation by clicking the reset button, or you can also start a new conversation with your bot with the conversations button.
In the order presented: Debug, Reset, Download, Conversations, Close emulator.
Open the chat window and say "Hello". If you selected the Welcome Bot template, it should greet you with something like "Hi, I'm Welcome Bot! My task is to help you understand how Botpress works.".
You can get additional information from the emulator's debugger by selecting the debug button. This panel is specifically designed for you, as the bot owner, to understand quickly why you get a specific answer. Note that it is only available for authenticated users. It includes all sorts of useful information: the dialog engine's elected suggestion, nodes flowed through and natural language intents or questions. You can also view the raw JSON event that contains all details, if you need further data.
Question and Answer
One of the modules shipped by default with Botpress is the Q&A (Question and Answer) module. This module allows you to easily and quickly add knowledge to your bot without having to create a flow or code anything. Q&A uses the NLU engine to detect the questions and automatically answer them.
Adding a Q&A
- Click the Q&A panel on the left.
- Click the "Add New" button.
- Type in the "Questions" textbox any question, for example: "How old are you?". Then add as many different ways of asking the same question as you want.
- In the "Answers" section, type the message you want your bot to provide, then press Enter to commit the answer.
- Click "Add".
The Q&A module will automatically retrain the NLU model in the background and tell you when it's completed, indicated in the bottom right. You can speak again with your bot and it should respond to your question correctly, even if you make some typos!
Q&A Example
Share your bot
Standalone chat
Congratulations on building your first bot! You can share this bot with your friends, provided they have access to your computer, it is available at http://localhost:3000/s/<<Bot ID>>
.
Embed on a website
You can also embed this bot on a website. There is an example provided in assets/modules/channel-web/examples/embedded-webchat.html
, which you can see by browsing here.