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Back to BotKit SDK Overview This guide covers production deployment considerations for the BotKit SDK: architecture, hosting, performance, high availability, API authorization, and rate limiting.

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Architecture

  • BotKit is a Node.js application that intercepts Platform events and adds custom processing.
  • It runs as a standalone service, receiving message events, feedback survey events, and webhook events from the Platform.
  • It sends responses back to the Platform to control conversation flow.

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Hosting

Typical starting spec: 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM. Adjust based on load testing. Follow the BotKit installation steps in Installing the BotKit SDK.

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System Requirements

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Performance

  • Load test the BotKit API using Apache Bench or JMeter to benchmark throughput before going live.
  • All code inside BotKit event handlers must use asynchronous processing. Synchronous long-running operations block the event loop and degrade overall throughput.

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High Availability

  • Deploy multiple BotKit instances behind a load balancer in an active-active configuration.
  • Monitor the BotKit process and configure automatic restart on failure (use a process manager like pm2 or a systemd service).

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Asynchronous API

  • The Platform sends events to your configured BotKit endpoint.
  • BotKit supports async communication: respond with an ACK immediately, then call the return URL with the final response.
  • See sdk.AsyncResponse and sdk.respondToHook.

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API Authorization

  • Whitelist Platform IP addresses so only the Platform can call your BotKit API.
  • Require the Platform to authenticate requests using the Client ID and Client Secret generated when registering the BotKit app.

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Rate Limiting

  • Implement rate limiting on the BotKit API endpoint to protect against excessive requests.
  • Enforce limits per API key to prevent individual clients from overloading the system.