adk

Botpress ADK Guidelines

Use this skill when you've got questions about the Botpress Agent Development Kit (ADK) - like when you're building a feature that involves tables, actions, tools, workflows, conversations, files, knowledge bases, triggers, or Zai.

What is the ADK?

The Botpress ADK is a convention-based TypeScript framework where file structure maps directly to bot behavior. Place files in the correct directories, and they automatically become available as bot capabilities.

The ADK provides primitives for:

• Actions & Tools (reusable functions and AI-callable tools)
• Workflows (long-running, resumable processes)
• Conversations (message handling)
• Tables (data storage with semantic search)
• Files (file storage with semantic search)
• Knowledge Bases (RAG implementation)
• Triggers (event-driven automation)
• Zai (production-ready LLM utility library for common AI operations)

Project Structure (Convention-Based)

All primitives must be placed in src/ directory:

/                      # Project root
├── src/
│   ├── actions/       # Strongly-typed functions → auto-registered
│   ├── tools/         # AI-callable tools → available via execute()
│   ├── workflows/     # Long-running processes → resumable/scheduled
│   ├── conversations/ # Message handlers → routes by channel
│   ├── tables/        # Database schemas → auto-created with search
│   ├── triggers/      # Event handlers → subscribe to events
│   ├── knowledge/     # Knowledge bases → RAG with semantic search
│   └── utils/         # Shared helpers (not auto-registered)
└── agent.config.ts    # Bot configuration (includes integrations)

Note: dependencies.json was removed in ADK 1.9+. All configuration including integrations now lives in agent.config.ts.

Critical: Files outside src/ are not discovered. Location = behavior.

When to Use This Skill

Activate this skill when users ask ADK-related questions like:

• "How do I create an Action/Tool/Workflow/Conversation?"
• "What is the difference between X and Y?"
• "Show me an example of..."
• "How do I configure...?"
• "What's the CLI command for...?"
• "How do I use the Context API?"
• "How do I call integration actions?"
• "How do I use Zai for [extract/check/label/etc]?"
• "What are the best practices for...?"
• "How do I avoid common mistakes?"
• "How do I handle ticket assignment/escalation?"