Botica Node.js Library

This library provides the official Node.js (and TypeScript) support for developing bots that run inside a Botica environment.

Installation

With botica-director

The easiest way to start is by using the botica-director CLI to initialize a new bot directly inside your Botica project. This sets up the directory structure, Dockerfile, and build configuration automatically.

# On Linux/macOS
./botica-director init <typescript/javascript> my-bot-name

# On Windows
botica-director.cmd init <typescript/javascript> my-bot-name

Using the official template

If you prefer to maintain your bot in a separate repository, you can use one of the official templates to set up your project:

• botica-seed-node: For JavaScript projects.
• botica-seed-node-ts: For TypeScript projects.

Using npm

Add the library dependency to your package.json:

npm install botica-lib-node

As botica-lib-node is built with TypeScript, it includes type definitions for seamless integration into TypeScript projects.

Tip

We really encourage creating your bot's repository using botica-director or the official template. They provide the necessary structure and Dockerfile to easily build and run your bot within a Botica environment.

Creating your first bot

To implement a bot, you will interact with the Bot instance obtained from the botica() function and define its behavior using its provided methods.

Example: reactive bot

This bot registers an order listener for process_data actions programmatically within its main function.

import botica from "botica-lib-node";

async function main() {
  const bot = await botica();

  bot.on("process_data", async (payload) => {
    console.log("Processing data: " + payload);
    const processedResult = process(payload);
    await bot.publishOrder("results_key", "store_processed_results", processedResult);
  });

  await bot.start();
}

function process(data) {
  return data.toUpperCase(); // Example processing
}

main().catch(console.error);

Example: proactive bot

This bot defines a proactive task using the proactive() method, which will run periodically as configured in the environment file.

import botica from "botica-lib-node";

async function main() {
  const bot = await botica();

  bot.proactive(async () => {
    await bot.publishOrder("raw_data", "process_data", "sample");
  });

  await bot.start();
}

main().catch(console.error);

Entry point

Each bot requires an entry point that starts the Botica runtime. The botica() function establishes the connection with the Botica Director and initializes your bot.

import botica from "botica-lib-node";

async function main() {
  const bot = await botica();
  // Configure your bot here
  await bot.start();
}

main().catch(console.error);

Important

Botica bots are designed to run exclusively within a Botica environment, not as standalone applications. You cannot simply run your bot's entry point manually.

Check out Running your bot in the documentation to learn how to run your bot in a Botica environment.

Further documentation

For a complete overview of botica-lib-node features and detailed guides, please refer to the full documentation:

Read full documentation, detailed guides and example projects

License

This project is distributed under the MIT License.