QA Bot Core

A simple React chatbot component for Q&A applications with built-in rating system.

Pre-configured wrapper around react-chatbotify - Just provide your API endpoints and you're done.

Installation

npm install @snf/qa-bot-core

Usage

React Component

Basic Usage

Just provide required props:

import QABot from '@snf/qa-bot-core';

function App() {
  return (
    <QABot
      apiKey="your-api-key"
      qaEndpoint="https://your-api.com/chat"
      welcomeMessage="Hello! How can I help you today?"
    />
  );
}

Full Configuration

Customize appearance and behavior:

<QABot
  apiKey="your-api-key"
  qaEndpoint="https://your-api.com/chat"
  ratingEndpoint="https://your-api.com/rating"
  welcomeMessage="Hello! How can I help you today?"

  // Control
  enabled={true}
  open={false}
  onOpenChange={(isOpen) => console.log('Chat is now', isOpen ? 'open' : 'closed')}

  // Branding
  primaryColor="#24292e"
  secondaryColor="#586069"
  botName="Demo Assistant"
  logo="https://github.com/github.png"

  // Messages
  placeholder="Type your message here..."
  errorMessage="Sorry, something went wrong"
  tooltipText="Ask me anything!"

  // Layout
  embedded={false}

  // Footer
  footerText="Powered by Demo Corp"
  footerLink="https://demo.com"
/>

JavaScript API

import { qaBot } from '@snf/qa-bot-core';

const bot = qaBot({
  target: document.getElementById('bot-container'),
  apiKey: 'your-api-key',
  qaEndpoint: 'https://your-api.com/chat',
  ratingEndpoint: 'https://your-api.com/rating',
  welcomeMessage: "Hello! How can I help you today?",
  primaryColor: '#24292e',
  secondaryColor: '#586069',
  botName: 'Demo Assistant',
  logo: 'https://github.com/github.png'
});

// Programmatic control
bot.openChat();
bot.closeChat();
bot.addMessage('Hello from code!');
bot.destroy();

Standalone Bundle

<div id="bot-container"></div>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/@snf/qa-bot-core/dist/qa-bot-core.standalone.js"></script>
<script>
  window.qaBotCore({
    target: document.getElementById('bot-container'),
    apiKey: 'your-api-key',
    qaEndpoint: 'https://your-api.com/chat',
    ratingEndpoint: 'https://your-api.com/rating',
    welcomeMessage: "Hello! How can I help you today?",
    primaryColor: '#24292e',
    secondaryColor: '#586069',
    botName: 'Demo Assistant',
    logo: 'https://github.com/github.png'
  });
</script>

Configuration

Props

Prop	Type	Required	Description
apiKey	string	✅	API key for your Q&A service
qaEndpoint	string	✅	Q&A API endpoint URL
welcomeMessage	string	✅	Initial greeting message
ratingEndpoint	string	❌	Rating API endpoint URL (enables thumbs up/down)
enabled	boolean	❌	Enable/disable chat input (default: true). When false, shows login button in header
loginUrl	string	❌	Login URL to redirect to when chat is disabled (default: /login)
open	boolean	❌	Control chat window open/closed state
onOpenChange	function	❌	Callback when chat window state changes: (open: boolean) => void
primaryColor	string	❌	Main theme color (default: #1a5b6e)
secondaryColor	string	❌	Secondary theme color (default: #107180)
botName	string	❌	Bot display name (default: Q&A Bot)
logo	string	❌	Bot avatar URL (default: /default-chat-icon.svg)
placeholder	string	❌	Input placeholder text
errorMessage	string	❌	Error state message
tooltipText	string	❌	Tooltip text for chat toggle
embedded	boolean	❌	Embedded mode (default: false)
footerText	string	❌	Footer text
footerLink	string	❌	Footer link URL

Features

Login State Management

The bot supports login/logout states through the enabled prop:

• Enabled (enabled={true}): Shows user icon in header, chat input is active
• Disabled (enabled={false}): Shows login button in header, chat input is disabled

Example:

const [isLoggedIn, setIsLoggedIn] = useState(false);

<QABot
  apiKey="your-api-key"
  qaEndpoint="https://your-api.com/chat"
  welcomeMessage="Hello! How can I help you today?"
  enabled={isLoggedIn}
  loginUrl="https://your-app.com/login"
/>

When the user is not logged in (enabled={false}):

• The login button appears in the chat header
• Clicking it opens the loginUrl in a new tab
• The chat input is disabled with the errorMessage shown as placeholder

When the user is logged in (enabled={true}):

• A user icon appears in the chat header
• The chat input becomes active
• Users can ask questions normally

Chat Window Control

Control the chat window open/closed state programmatically:

const [chatOpen, setChatOpen] = useState(false);

<QABot
  apiKey="your-api-key"
  qaEndpoint="https://your-api.com/chat"
  welcomeMessage="Hello! How can I help you today?"
  open={chatOpen}
  onOpenChange={setChatOpen}
/>

<button onClick={() => setChatOpen(true)}>Open Chat</button>
<button onClick={() => setChatOpen(false)}>Close Chat</button>

The open prop provides two-way binding:

• Setting open={true} opens the chat window
• Setting open={false} closes the chat window
• User interactions (clicking open/close buttons) trigger onOpenChange

Imperative API

You can also control the bot imperatively using a ref:

const botRef = useRef();

<QABot
  ref={botRef}
  apiKey="your-api-key"
  qaEndpoint="https://your-api.com/chat"
  welcomeMessage="Hello! How can I help you today?"
/>

// Available methods:
botRef.current.openChat();           // Open the chat window
botRef.current.closeChat();          // Close the chat window
botRef.current.toggleChat();         // Toggle chat window state
botRef.current.addMessage("Hello!"); // Inject a message into the chat
botRef.current.setBotEnabled(false); // Change enabled state

Embedded Mode

The bot supports two display modes:

Floating Mode (default):

• Shows as a toggle button in the bottom-right corner
• Chat window can be opened/closed by clicking the button
• Overlays on top of page content

Embedded Mode:

• Displays inline within your page layout
• Always visible (no toggle button)
• Takes full width of its container
• Chat window cannot be closed

Example of embedded mode:

<div style={{ maxWidth: '800px', margin: '0 auto' }}>
  <h1>Customer Support</h1>
  <QABot
    apiKey="your-api-key"
    qaEndpoint="https://your-api.com/chat"
    welcomeMessage="Hello! How can I help you today?"
    embedded={true}
  />
</div>

Note: When embedded={true}, the open and onOpenChange props are ignored, and the imperative methods openChat(), closeChat(), and toggleChat() have no effect.

Session Management

The bot automatically manages conversation sessions with unique session IDs:

• Each bot instance generates a unique session ID when mounted
• The session ID is included in API request headers (X-Session-ID)
• A "New Chat" button in the footer allows users to start fresh conversations
• Clicking "New Chat" generates a new session ID and clears the conversation history
• This allows your backend to track conversation continuity and user journeys

Session Headers Sent to API:

X-Session-ID: qa_bot_session_abc123
X-Query-ID: query_xyz789

The session ID persists across page refreshes, but clicking "New Chat" creates a completely new session. This is useful for:

• Starting a new topic without the bot referencing previous context
• Resetting conversation state
• Allowing users to have multiple distinct conversations

API Requirements

Your Q&A endpoint should accept POST requests:

POST /your-qa-endpoint
Content-Type: application/json
X-API-KEY: your-api-key

{
  "query": "User's question here"
}

And return:

{
  "response": "Bot's answer with **markdown** support",
  "sessionId": "session_123",
  "queryId": "query_456"
}

Rating Endpoint (Optional)

For thumbs up/down feedback:

POST /your-rating-endpoint
Content-Type: application/json
X-API-KEY: your-api-key

{
  "sessionId": "session_123",
  "queryId": "query_456",
  "rating": 1  // 1 for 👍, 0 for 👎
}

Development

Demo Application

The project includes an interactive demo that showcases all features:

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run demo app
npm start

The demo runs at http://localhost:3000 and includes:

Configuration Status

• Shows which environment variables are configured
• Displays API endpoints for verification

Dynamic Props

• Toggle enabled prop to simulate login/logout states
• Toggle open prop to control chat window state
• Toggle embedded prop to switch between floating and embedded modes

Component API

• Test the imperative addMessage() method
• Inject custom messages into the chat

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the project root:

REACT_APP_API_KEY=your-api-key
REACT_APP_QA_ENDPOINT=https://your-api.com/chat
REACT_APP_RATING_ENDPOINT=https://your-api.com/rating  # optional

Building

# Build library
npm run build:lib

License

MIT License