This document outlines the steps required to create your first bot with Rocket.Chat.
In order to talk to your chatbot, there must be a user account pre-configured on the Rocket.Chat server that the bot can use to log in.
To add user accounts you need to have admin privileges:
- Navigate to Administration > Workspace > Users.
- Click +New to create a new user.
- Fill in the user information, verify the user, and assign it a
botrole. - Click Save
Once saved, the bot's credentials can be configured with the CHAT_USER and ROCKETCHAT_PASSWORD environmental variables of your bot.
{% hint style="info" %}
To avoid creating multiple accounts for bot emails, you can use Gmail +address alias. For example: youremail+botnam@gmail.com. See this issue for more.
{% endhint %}
To make the process of coding a bot easier and faster, you may want to check our existing guides below to deploy a basic bot instance quickly. As an advanced alternative, you can create your bot from the scratch using your favorite framework.
{% hint style="info" %} Developing a Hubot can serve as a good entry point in learning chatbot principles. {% endhint %}
{% content-ref url="develop-a-rocket.chat-sdk-bot.md" %} develop-a-rocket.chat-sdk-bot.md {% endcontent-ref %}
{% content-ref url="develop-a-botpress-bot.md" %} develop-a-botpress-bot.md {% endcontent-ref %}
{% hint style="success" %}
If the bot is configured to listen to direct messages (RESPOND_TO_DM=true), and messages are prepended with BOT_NAME or a preconfigured BOT_ALIAS, the bot will usually respond to all messages addressed directly to the bot user (depending on the particular bot framework).
{% endhint %}