Platform Overview

This document’s purpose is to give you a high level view of the different components using to build conversational applications with Plantt.

Introduction

Plantt is a server-less platform for building conversational applications and virtual assistants. It is a low-code development platform, which means that you can build end-to-end sophisticated applications without writing and debugging almost any code! Plantt is shipped with hundreds of pre-built components and integrations, so all there is left for you is to focus on the specifics of your product and integrating with your business logic.

Following this document you can find a short brief about the Plantt platform and the different components used together for building conversational apps.

Apps, Channels, Flows and Routers

App

A Plantt App is the top-level entity for Plantt. It contains all the conversation flows and logic of your product. App is the top-level In its core, a Plantt app is built on top of the 3 main components: Flows, Routers and Channels.

Flows

Flows are the logic parts of your app - the user-stories, or functionalities you want to be available in your app. For example your app might have registration process where users are asked for their email and name, and in turn a database record is created.

Flows are built on top of components called Nodes, which describe the logic of each part in the Flow. Such nodes for example are Prompts, and Functions. We use Prompts whenever we need to get the users’ input (asking questions like “How old are you”?), whereas Functions are used to execute custom code at any point of the conversation (this could be anything from connecting with database or invoking AI model).

Routers

Routers’ job is to identify the user intent and redirect them to right Flow (for example, for “Please get me some Pizza” message, router might associate this with “Order Food” Flow). For traditional apps the intent is always expressed explicitly by the user (for example by choosing an option from the menu).

Channels

Once you have created your app, you can connect it with multiple channels such as Whatsapp, Messenger - or you can use our SDK to create your own custom UI.

Channels are the conversational platforms your app is available at. This could be WhatsApp, Messenger, Alexa, or your own dedicated mobile app. In general, an app can be connected to multiple channels without any further implementations. For some cases we might have to deal with the diversity in features among channels (I.e. SMS does not support audio files) so our App would be compatible with every one of them.

Develop a Plantt App

To create and build your first Plantt App, please read our getting started guide. We also offer some tools that will help you develop and manage Plantt applications.

Plantt CLI (command line interface)

The Plantt CLI offers the richest environment to manage and develop your app. With this tool you can build, maintain and debug assets to your app. As it integrates with your development environment, it the easiest way to develop your Botlerr app.

If you are a developer, we definitely recommend this approach.

Plantt Console

Botlerr console is an online tool to manage your account and apps at Plantt. It offers tools like simulators to test your app and online monitoring, together with other tools that helps you develop your app, as an online store where you can integrate easily your app with 3rd party services.

Admin SDK

Admin SDK is a set of tools let you manage your assets at Plantt, Using this as SDK you can integrate with your own apps to manage any aspects of your Plantt app like Flows or Functions, It’s also used to manage your on-going sessions or accessing data about past sessions.