Introduction

The purpose of the Chat API is to create an interface that is able to communicate with users in natural language to help them with their queries. You can then use this interface and track event data for usage analysis. You can find these reports in the dashboard of the Chat App.

This page describes how to set up the Chat API, request and retrieve information.

Obtain Authentication and Authorization Keys

All requests to the Chat API endpoints will be authenticated and authorized.
To obtain your credentials, see Finding your API credentials in the Help Center.

• The API Key will grant you access to the APIs.
• The Secret allows the request to access your instance's data.
• The Domain Key allows the request to access your instance's data, but only for requests coming from the browser (front-side integrations) and from a limited set of domains.

Use the access token

You need a valid access token to use the Chat API. Follow the steps listed in the Authorization section to set up your page with your token and refresh it. Once you obtain the access token, you must append it to every request inside the Authorization header, with the format Bearer <your_access_token>.

Get the API URL

The base URLs of the Chat API are dependent on the instance, so that Inbenta can offer worldwide service and allow service auto-escalation. This base URL may change over time. Do not store or cache it persistently. Instead, get it every time you obtain a new valid access token.

To get the current API URL for your instance, get the apis parameter from the same response that gave you the access token. Extract the URL corresponding to the instance product:

{
    "accessToken": "******************",
    "expiration": 1573563837,
    "expires_in": 1200,
    "apis": {
        ...
        "chat": "https://endpoint.inbenta.example/prod/chat",
        ...
    }
}

Specify the version

Once you have picked the appropriate product URL for your implementation, remember to specify the version of the API.

You specify the version at the end of the URL with v + {version}.

Examples:

The URLs for the current latest version of the Chat API look like this:

• Chat: "https://endpoint.inbenta.example/prod/chat/v1"

Use the API

Authorization

You need a valid access token to use the Chat API. Follow the steps listed in the Authorization section to set up your page with your token and refresh it.

Start Session

You must create a conversation with the bot before you send messages. Use the API key and the access token to create the conversation. When the conversation is created, you obtain a session token to use as an identifier. Use the access token and the session token to send messages to the bot and keep track of events.

You can configure conversation parameters such as answers or forms. For more information about available parameters, see the "conversation" section of the API routes.

Retrieve information

The bot has four types of answers: answer, polarQuestion, multipleChoiceQuestion and extendedContentsAnswer. For more information about each answer type and forms, see API Answer types.

Variables

The API can store information and use it at a later point in the conversation. This information will be stored as long as the conversation lasts, in variables that you define.

The function of variables is to give the bot extra information, and eliminate redundant requests for information that has already been given. For example, it can store user information such as name or reference number to pre-fill in a form.

For more information, see the conversation/variables section of the API routes.

Track events

• For more information on what data Inbenta tracks and how, see the Tracking Events section.
• Inbenta provides tracking codes for every content shown. For specific information about what each API endpoint tracks by default, see the API Routes section.
• To improve the accuracy of your analytics, Inbenta recommends tracking as many event types as possible. To see these recommendations per endpoint, see the Chat Tracking Guidelines section.