Bot Framework Composer is an integrated development environment (IDE) for building bots and other types of conversational software with the Microsoft Bot Framework technology stack. Inside this web-based tool, you'll find everything you need to build a modern, state-of-the-art conversational experience:
- A visual dialog Composer
- Tools to train and manage a language understanding (NLU) component
- A powerful language generation and templating system
- A ready-to-use bot runtime executable
Bot Framework Composer enables teams working to create bots to build all kinds of conversational experiences that use the latest features from the Bot Framework SDK without writing code. The Composer app reads and writes from the Adaptive Dialog format, a declarative JSON specification shared by many tools provided by the Bot Framework. Dialogs, NLU training data and message templates are treated like normal developer assets - files that can be committed to source control and deployed alongside code updates.
To get your self familiar with the Composer, read Introduction to Bot Framework Composer.
To get started install the Bot Framework Composer on your local machine, create your first bot and review the various samples.
The Bot Framework Composer is designed to be a hosted web app. Currently, you need to run the Composer locally as a web app.
To start, clone the Composer GitHub repository.
git clone https://github.com/microsoft/BotFramework-Composer.git
Next,you have two options for running Composer locally:
- Using a docker image (Recommended)
- Build and run Composer
Using a docker provides a more controled and isolated environment for you to run the composer. There are two docker images, one for the Composer web app and one for the bot project runtime.
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NOTE: If you follow the instructions of installing docker for Windows or MacOs, the Docker Desktop and Docker Toolbox already include Compose along with other Docker apps, so most users do not need to install Compose separately.
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Run the docker images
Form a terminal windows
docker-compose upThis will build two images for composer-app and bot-runtime if not exits, then start two containers based on these images.
To use Composer, open a browser and navigate to http://localhost:3000
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Restart the Composer app Should you find yourself needing to restart the composer app. From the terminal window you are using to run the docker image: If the docker image is currently running, use ctrl+c in the terminal window to stop the docker app, then use docker-compose up
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Build
If you made some changes after first run and you would like to rebuild the images by call
$ docker-compose build -
Test Bot With Emulator
When using Emulator to test your bot, make sure you use ngrok and uncheck 'bypass ngrok for local addresses', because container is considered as remote, even the address looks like local.
The bot is running on http://localhost:3979/api/messages.
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Advance use: Development
If you are developing some components and you want fast iteraction without re-building container images on every change, please refer to the document to each component for setup instuctions
With this option you need to use Yarn to build the Composer app and run it locally.
- Build and run Composer
Open a new terminal window. Navigate to the Bot Framework Composer repo. In the repo, navigate to the Composer folder. Run the following commands:
yarn install
This command gets all dependent packages.
yarn build
This command build the Composer app. The build process can take few minutes.
yarn start
This command runs the Composer app.
To use Composer, open a browser and navigate to http://localhost:3000
- Run the Bot Project
To test the bot you are creating with the Composer you need to run the Bot Project that comes with the Composer.
Open a new terminal window. Navigate to the Bot Framework Composer repo. In the repo, navigate to the BotProject\CSharp folder. Run the following command:
dotnet run
This will build and run a Bot Framework bot that the Composer connects to.
The bot is running on http://localhost:3979/api/messages.
This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit https://cla.microsoft.com.
When you submit a pull request, a CLA-bot will automatically determine whether you need to provide a CLA and decorate the PR appropriately (e.g., label, comment). Simply follow the instructions provided by the bot. You will only need to do this once across all repos using our CLA.
This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact [email protected] with any additional questions or comments.