Files
vercel__chat/README.md
T
Ben Sabic 8f3af76565 feat: add create-chat-sdk CLI (#603)
Adds `create-chat-sdk`, a CLI that scaffolds a Next.js Chat SDK bot
project:

```bash
npm create chat-sdk@latest my-bot

# non-interactive
npm create chat-sdk@latest -- my-bot --adapter slack redis -y
```

The user picks platform and state adapters interactively or via
`--adapter`, and the CLI generates a webhook-only project with
`src/lib/bot.ts`, `.env.example`, `next.config.ts`, `package.json`, and
a README, then optionally runs `git init` and installs dependencies.
There are no pages or client UI in the template.

Adapter choices come straight from the `chat/adapters` catalog, so the
CLI has no adapter registry of its own. When a coding agent such as
Cursor or Claude Code runs the CLI, it uses non-interactive defaults and
requires an explicit platform adapter. `--interactive` forces prompts.

## also in this pr

- `google-chat` is renamed to `gchat` everywhere, including docs pages,
the OG image, and adapter catalog. Old URLs redirect permanently,
including language-prefixed and `/og` paths
- a new docs page is available at `chat-sdk.dev/docs/create-chat-sdk`,
and the CLI is promoted on the homepage, package READMEs, and agent
skill
- `create-chat-sdk` releases independently with a minor changeset for
its initial `0.1.0` release

---------

Co-authored-by: Ben Sabic <bensabic@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: dancer <josh@afterima.ge>
2026-06-16 08:48:38 +01:00

4.5 KiB

Chat SDK

npm version npm downloads License: MIT

A unified TypeScript SDK for building chat bots across Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, Discord, Telegram, GitHub, Linear, and WhatsApp. Write your bot logic once, deploy everywhere.

Installation

npm install chat

Install adapters for your platforms:

npm install @chat-adapter/slack @chat-adapter/teams @chat-adapter/gchat @chat-adapter/discord @chat-adapter/telegram

CLI

Scaffold a minimal Next.js bot app with create-chat-sdk:

npx create-chat-sdk@latest my-bot

The CLI generates your Chat configuration, webhook route, .env.example file, dependencies, and optional Web adapter route from the adapter catalog. See the CLI docs for options and non-interactive usage.

Usage

import { Chat } from "chat";
import { createSlackAdapter } from "@chat-adapter/slack";
import { createRedisState } from "@chat-adapter/state-redis";

const bot = new Chat({
  userName: "mybot",
  adapters: {
    slack: createSlackAdapter(),
  },
  state: createRedisState(),
});

bot.onNewMention(async (thread) => {
  await thread.subscribe();
  await thread.post("Hello! I'm listening to this thread.");
});

bot.onSubscribedMessage(async (thread, message) => {
  await thread.post(`You said: ${message.text}`);
});

See the Getting Started guide for a full walkthrough.

Adapters

Browse official, vendor-official, and community adapters on chat-sdk.dev/adapters. A cross-platform feature matrix is available at chat-sdk.dev/docs/adapters.

Features

  • Event handlers — mentions, messages, reactions, button clicks, slash commands, modals
  • AI streaming — stream LLM responses with native Slack streaming, Telegram private chat draft previews, and post+edit fallback
  • Cards — JSX-based interactive cards (Block Kit, Adaptive Cards, Google Chat Cards)
  • Actions — handle button clicks and dropdown selections
  • Modals — form dialogs with text inputs, dropdowns, and validation
  • Slash commands — handle /command invocations
  • Emoji — type-safe, cross-platform emoji with custom emoji support
  • File uploads — send and receive file attachments
  • Direct messages — initiate DMs programmatically
  • Ephemeral messages — user-only visible messages with DM fallback
  • Overlapping messages - burst, queue, debounce, drop, or process concurrent messages on the same thread

AI Coding Agents

If you use an AI coding agent such as OpenAI Codex, Claude Code, or Cursor, install the Chat SDK skill so it knows the SDK APIs, adapter patterns, and project conventions before writing code.

npx skills add vercel/chat

The skill references bundled documentation in node_modules/chat/docs, plus adapter guides and starter templates in the published package.

You can also install the Vercel Plugin for a broader agent toolkit — it includes the Chat SDK skill alongside specialist agents, agent slash commands, and more:

npx plugins add vercel/vercel-plugin

The plugin is optional; the skill alone is enough to build with Chat SDK.

For agent-readable documentation, see chat-sdk.dev/llms.txt (page index) or chat-sdk.dev/llms-full.txt (full text).

Documentation

Full documentation is available at chat-sdk.dev/docs.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup and the release process.

Support

For help or questions, see SUPPORT.md. To report a security vulnerability, see SECURITY.md.

License

MIT