Adding an extension to your assistant

After you build a custom extension, you must add it to the assistant before it can be accessed by actions.

Adding the extension to the assistant configures the extension for use within a particular environment, and it makes the extension available so that it can be called from actions.

You can use different configuration details for each environment. For example, you might want to use the URL for a test server in the draft environment, but a production server in the live environment.

For information about how to create a custom extension, see Build a custom extension.

Adding the extension to the draft environment

To add a custom extension to the assistant, follow these steps:

On the Integrations page, scroll to the Extensions section and find the tile for the custom extension you want to add.
Click Add. Review the overview of the extension and click Confirm to configure it for your assistant.

When you first add an extension to an assistant, the configuration settings you provide are applied only to the draft environment. You must complete configuration for the draft environment before you can add the extension in the live environment. Read the Configuring the extension for the live environment section to learn how to add the custom extension to the live or other environment.

Read the information in the Get started step, and then click Next.
In the Authentication step, specify the authentication and server information you want your assistant to use when it calls the service.
- In the Authentication type field, select the type of authentication to use (or No authentication if the API is not authenticated). The available authentication types are determined by the security schemes that are defined in the OpenAPI document.
- Specify the additional information required for the authentication type you selected (such as the username and password, API key, bearer token, or OAuth 2.0 details).

For more information about configuring OAuth 2.0 authentication, see OAuth 2.0 authentication.

In the Servers field, select the server URL to use.

If the selected URL contains any variables, also specify the values to use. Depending on how each variable is defined in the OpenAPI document, you can either select from a list of valid values or type the value to use in the field.

The Generated URL message shows the full URL that the assistant uses, including the variable values.

Click Next.

The Review operations table shows the operations that the assistant is able to call from an action step. An _operation_ is a request by using a particular HTTP method, such as GET or POST, on a particular resource.

Review operations table

For each operation, a row in the table shows the following information:

Operation: A description of the operation, which is derived from either the summary (if present) or description in the OpenAPI file.
Method: The HTTP method used to send the API request for the operation.
Resource: The path to the resource the operation acts upon.

To see more information about an operation, click the Label icon next to its row in the table. The following details are shown:

Request parameters: The list of input parameters defined for the operation, along with the type of each parameter and whether the parameter is required or optional.
Response properties: The properties of the response body that are mapped to variables the assistant can access.

Click Finish.
Click Close to return to the Integrations page.

The extension is now connected to your assistant and available for use by actions in the draft environment.

Managing the extension

After you add the custom extension to the environment, you can review or replace the OpenAPI document of it, and update the authentication type.

In the extension, click Open.
Select the environment where you want to manage the custom extension, and click Confirm.
In the Manage extension step, you can review the imported OpenAPI document if required.
In the Authentication tab, you see information about the authentication methods that are defined in the OpenAPI document. The Table. Fields in Authentication tab table gives details about the fields in the Authentication tab:


Field name	Description	Values
Authentication type	The type of authentication set up in the OpenAPI script.	- `OAuth 2.0` - `Basic Auth` - `API key auth` - `Bearer auth`
Username	The username credential in the OpenAPI script.	For example, `user`
Password	The password credential set up in the OpenAPI script.	For example, `Password@123`
Servers	The link to the server that is defined in the Open API document to connect to the API extension.	For example, `https://custom-extension-server.xyz`

OAuth 2.0 authentication

If you are configuring OAuth 2.0 authentication, the information you must provide depends upon the grant type.

For more information about OAuth 2.0, see OAuth 2.0.

To complete the OAuth authentication setup, follow these steps:

If you haven't already, register your application with the external API you want to access. Copy the client ID and client secret that is provided by the external API.
In the Grant type field, select the grant type that you want to use. Available grant types are determined by flows that are defined in the securitySchemes object in the OpenAPI document. Authorization Code, Client Credentials, Password, and custom grant types that start with x- are supported.

The OAuth2 custom grant type x-<any custom name> is used by the IBM IAM authentication mechanism and by watsonx.

Specify the required values that were provided by the external API when you registered your application. The required values depend on the grant type:

Table 1. Grant types
Grant type	Required values
Authorization Code	- Client ID \n - Client secret
Client Credentials	- Client ID \n - Client secret
Password	- Client ID \n - Client secret \n - Username \n - Password
`x-<any custom name>`	- A list of secret fields mentioned in the openAPI spec file

If you are using the Authorization Code grant type, follow these steps:
1. Copy the redirect URL from the AI assistant builder extension settings page and paste it into the appropriate field on the application registration page for the external API. (The redirect URL is sometimes called the _callback URL_.)
2. Click Grant Access. You are redirected to the authorization page on the website for the external service. Verify that the correct access is being granted and click to approve. You are then redirected back to the extension setup page by using the redirect URL.
In the Client authentication field, specify whether the authentication credentials are sent in an HTTP header or as part of the request body. (Credentials that are sent in the request body use the x-www-form-urlencoded content type.) Select the option that is expected by the external service.
In the Header prefix field, specify the prefix that precedes the access token in the Authorization header. (The default prefix is Bearer, which is typical for most applications.)
If you are using the custom grant type x-<any custom name> (for example, x-apikey), follow these steps:
1. Add the secret values associated with the secret fields.
2. Add the optional parameter values, if any.

If the external service supports the Refresh Token grant type, AI assistant builder automatically obtains a new access token when the old one expires. If the OpenAPI document defines the refreshUrl attribute, the specified URL is used; otherwise, the tokenUrl URL is used.

Configuring the extension for the live environment

To configure the extension for the live environment, follow these steps:

On the Integrations page, scroll to the Extensions section and find the tile for the custom extension you want to add.
Click Open. The Open custom extension window opens.
In the Environment field, select Live. Click Confirm.
Repeat the configuration process, specifying the values that you want to use for the live environment.

If you are using multiple environments, follow the same steps to configure the extension for each environment. For more information, see Adding and using multiple environments.

The extension is now available in the environments that you configured, and it can be called from the assistant. For more information about how to call an extension from an action, see Calling a custom extension.