This is Part 1 of a four-part blog post series on how to create a simple chatbot using IBM Cloud services and integrate it with Slack. 

In this post, I’m going to show you how to create the required app and services on IBM Cloud. By the time you complete all four parts of this series, you will have your own chatbot:

• Part 1: Set up required apps and services.
• Part 2: Configure Watson Assistant to process simple Q&A.
• Part 3: Create a simple flow on Node-RED and integrate with Watson Assistant.
• Part 4: Configure Slack and Node-RED integration.

Prerequisites

• IBM Cloud account 
• Slack
• Fundamental knowledge about Cloud Foundry
• Basic JavaScript knowledge

Services we are going to use on IBM Cloud

• Node-RED
• Watson Assistant

Step 1. Deploy Node-RED app

1. Log into IBM Cloud and go to the Catalog.
2. Under the Software tab, find and select Node-RED App. 

   
   

3. Click Create app.

   
   

4. Select a Resource group where you want to deploy the app and Cloudant service.

   
   

   • Note: Node-RED flows are all stored in Cloudant DB, so it will be deployed alongside. DO NOT DELETE THE CLOUDANT SERVICE.
5. Follow the instructions on the right to deploy a Node-RED app on the Cloud Foundry (CF) space. 
6. Click Deploy your app.

   
   

7. Fill in the necessary information and click Create.

   
   

   • IBM Cloud API Key is required. If you are not sure, please create a new key by clicking New.
   • Number of instances MUST be 1.
   • Select target Region, Organization, and Space for your Node-RED app. If you are not sure, stick to the default.
   • Select the Region and Resource group of your toolchain. If you are not sure, stick to the default resource group in an existing region.
   • Note: Toolchain is a different service that allows you to reflect any changes to your source code. However, we don’t use this feature in this series. 

Here is what it looks like once the deployment is completed.

Step 2. Deploy the Watson Assistant service

1. Go to the Catalog.
2. Under the Services tab, find and select Watson Assistant.

   
   

3. Select the Lite plan and set the region to where you want to deploy the service. Then, click Create.

   
   

Deployment complete!

What’s next?

You’ve now deployed all the necessary services on IBM Cloud. In the next three parts of this series, we are going to teach our Watson Assistant to process simple Q&A, and then we will connect to our Node-RED in a later post. 

If you encounter any technical difficulties with services on IBM Cloud, feel free to contact us at the Support Center. 

Disclaimer

IBM is not liable for any damages arising in contract, tort or otherwise from the use of or inability to use this post or any material contained within. All sample code is provided as-is and IBM does not support customization. Do not use the code in production.