Webex-Bot-Starter

Starter kit and template for a simple Webex bot

For a more detailed walkthorugh, see the companion blog post here

This is a very simple Webex node.JS bot application that serves as a template to be further extended. It features the webex-node-bot-framework that simplifies development for Webex bots by abstracting away some of the complexity of the API calls and registering for events.

Here is the bot in action:

Prerequisites:

• node.js (minimum supported v8.0.0 & npm 2.14.12 and up)

• Sign up for Webex Developer Account

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Steps to get the bot working

1. Create a Webex bot (save the API access token and username): https://developer.webex.com/my-apps/new/bot

2. Copy the .env.local file to a file called .env

3. Edit .env with the following values:

• BOTTOKEN - Set this to the token for your bot that you got in step 1

1. Turn on your bot server with npm start

2. Create a space in Webex

3. Add the bot (by its username) to the space in Webex

4. @ mention your bot with help to get your first response: @mybotname help

Optional: Webhooks

The webex-node-bot-framework supports WebSockets by default. If you would prefer your bot to operate via Webhooks, use these steps.

1. Sign up for nGrok, then connect and start it on your machine (save the port number and public web address): https://ngrok.com/download

2. After installing ngrok, run it on your local machine to get a public ip address, eg ngrok http 3000 --region=eu

3. Copy the ip address displayed in the ngrok window, ie: : https://1234.eu.ngrok.io

4. Edit .env with the following values:

• PORT - Set this to the port you set when you started ngrok
• WEBHOOKURL - Set this to the ip address that you copied