Build a customizable template bot

Creating a customizable template bot involves designing a bot that can be easily adapted to serve different purposes (e.g., customer support, lead generation, FAQ assistant, etc.) with minimal changes. Below is a fully functional JavaScript-based template bot using Node.js and Express, structured to be customizable with minimal code modification.

✅ Features:

• Customizable greetings, questions, and responses

• Webhook support for dynamic responses

• Easy integration with front-end (web, apps)

• Scalable structure

📁 File Structure

pgsql
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template-bot/
├── bot-config.js
├── index.js
├── responses/
│   ├── defaultResponses.js
│   └── customResponses.js
├── utils/
│   └── responseHandler.js
├── package.json

📦 package.json

json
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{
  "name": "template-bot",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "node index.js"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "express": "^4.18.2",
    "body-parser": "^1.20.2"
  }
}

📄 bot-config.js

js
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module.exports = {
  botName: "FlexBot",
  greeting: "Hello! I'm FlexBot. How can I help you today?",
  fallbackMessage: "Sorry, I didn't understand that. Can you rephrase?",
  defaultFlow: true,
  customFlowFile: "./responses/customResponses"
};

📄 index.js

js
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const express = require("express");
const bodyParser = require("body-parser");
const config = require("./bot-config");
const defaultResponses = require("./responses/defaultResponses");
const customResponses = require(config.customFlowFile);
const handleResponse = require("./utils/responseHandler");

const app = express();
app.use(bodyParser.json());

app.post("/webhook", (req, res) => {
  const userMessage = req.body.message?.toLowerCase() || "";
  const response = handleResponse(userMessage, config.defaultFlow ? defaultResponses : customResponses, config.fallbackMessage);
  res.json({ bot: config.botName, response });
});

app.get("/", (req, res) => {
  res.send(config.greeting);
});

app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log(`${config.botName} is running on http://localhost:3000`);
});

📄 responses/defaultResponses.js

js
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module.exports = {
  "hi": "Hey there! How can I assist you?",
  "hello": "Hello! Need any help today?",
  "help": "I can help you with general inquiries, account info, or support.",
  "bye": "Goodbye! Feel free to return if you need more help."
};

📄 responses/customResponses.js

js
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module.exports = {
  "price": "Our products range from $19.99 to $99.99. Do you want to see a full catalog?",
  "support": "Please describe the issue you're facing. A human agent can also be contacted at support@example.com.",
  "order status": "To check your order status, provide your order ID or email used during purchase.",
  "return": "We have a 30-day return policy. You can initiate a return from your account dashboard."
};

📄 utils/responseHandler.js

js
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function handleResponse(message, responses, fallback) {
  for (let key in responses) {
    if (message.includes(key)) {
      return responses[key];
    }
  }
  return fallback;
}

module.exports = handleResponse;

🛠 How to Customize

1. Edit bot-config.js to change the bot name, greeting, and toggle between default/custom responses.

2. Modify or add new entries in customResponses.js for more specific conversations.

3. Extend logic in responseHandler.js for more advanced NLP or AI integration.

🧪 Example API Call

POST to /webhook

json
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{
  "message": "What's your return policy?"
}

Response

json
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{
  "bot": "FlexBot",
  "response": "We have a 30-day return policy. You can initiate a return from your account dashboard."
}

This template bot is modular, scalable, and ready to be deployed or extended with NLP services like Dialogflow, OpenAI API, or Rasa. Let me know if you want a frontend UI or a version in Python.