Stackchat Concepts

Before using Stackchat, it is critical to understand some key concepts that describe components of your chatbot.

Flow: Flows are the top-level element that serve as containers for all the Elements that provide your bot's functionality. They are also the targets of Natural Language Processing.

Element: Elements are the lower level building blocks of a Stackchat bot. They perform operations such as sending a message, collecting information, navigating, or altering information about customers in Slots.

Slot: Slots contain information about your users that are gained through interaction with your bot, direct user input, and Natural Language Processing.

Conversational Design Markup Language (CDML): All Stackchat bots are built using Conversational Design Markup Langauge, a human-parsable language that can be viewed and edited at any time. Whenever you create a Flow, Element or sub-Element, Stackchat converts that action into CDML.

Cloud Function: Cloud Functions are pieces of logic that allow your bot to integrate with APIs belonging to your business to return the output of your choice.

Cloud Configuration: Cloud Configurations allow your bot to connect to third-party services, including Natural Language Processing and Analytics providers.

Channel: Channels are where your bot is published. Currently available channels are the Web Messenger and Speech-to-Text.

Natural Language Processing (NLP): NLP allows your bot to interpret user intention and extract useful pieces of information that can be used to populate Slots.

NLP Agent: An NLP agent is a set of skills that define what kinds of intentions and pieces of information the NLP can understand.