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Overview

In CometChat, bots are unique users capable of autonomously sending and receiving messages.

Users can interact with bots through private one-on-one conversations or within group chats. When a bot receives a message, whether from an individual chat or a group, CometChat relays that message to a Callback URL that you configure. Upon receiving the message, you can process it according to your business logic and send a response using CometChat's API.

Create a callback endpoint​

Callback endpoint requirements​

  1. Your callback endpoint must be accessible over HTTPS. This is essential to ensure the security and integrity of data transmission.
  2. This URL should be publicly accessible from the internet.
  3. Ensure that your endpoint supports the HTTP POST method. Event payloads will be delivered via HTTP POST requests in JSON format.
  4. Configure your endpoint to respond immediately to the CometChat server with a 200 OK response. (CHECK THIS).

Security​

It is recommended to set up a Basic Authentication that is usually used for server-to-server calls. This requires you to configure a username and password. Whenever your callback endpoint is triggered, the HTTP Header will contain:

Authorization: Basic <Base64-encoded-credentials>

Configuring a bot​

Create a user​

CometChat requires each bot to be linked to a user account. This approach offers a significant benefit: It allows you to log in as the bot at any time and send personalized responses.

Therefore, before setting up a bot, you must first create a new user. You can create a user from CometChat dashboard or make use of CometChat's Create user REST API to do so.

Create a bot​

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After you've set up a user, you can proceed to create a new bot.

  1. Login to CometChat dashboard and select your app.
  2. Go to the Bots section in the left navigation.
  3. Add a new bot.
  4. Configure the bot by saving the following details:
  • UID: The identifier (UID) of the user that was created in the previous step.
  • URL: The callback URL of your bot.
  • Group Setting: Select the criteria for relaying a group message to your bot.
  • Security: It is recommended to enable authentication for your callback URL.
  1. Enable the bot.
  2. Save the configuration.

The actual development and behavior of the bot are completely in your hands. All you need to do is provide a Callback URL, and CometChat will then automatically relay all messages that meet the specified criteria to that URL.

Responding as a bot​

After your bot's callback endpoint has received and processed a message, and you're ready to send a response back, make use of CometChat's Send Bot Message REST API to do so.