Simple Node.js server example for using the Watson Assistant API v2

This is a simple example to use the Watson Assistant API v2 with the Node.js SDK to get a Watson Assistant sessionID and send a message to Watson Assistant using this session ID.

These are the REST endpoints of the simple Node.js server:

GET getsession (which creates a new sessionID)
POST sendmessage

The project contains examples for using Postman.

Here are the steps you can follow to run that example on your local machine.

Step 1: Git clone

git clone https://github.com/thomassuedbroecker/
watson-assistant-simple-node-js-server-example.git
cd 
watson-assistant-simple-node-js-server-example/code/simple-server

Step 2: Configure the environment variables

Here we need an environment ID. We can find this ID in the Watson Assistant user interface, by navigating to the Environments page and selecting the environment you want to use (such as Draft or Live). Then you open the environment settings and copy the value from the appropriate field. (Contains the Link to the IBM Cloud documentation)

The image blow shows the environment ID in the IBM Cloud UI.

We also need an API key and a base URL from the Credentials. The image below shows the API key and the URL in the IBM Cloud UI.

Create an .env file

cat .env-template > .env

Configure the .env file to your needs

WATSON_ASSISTANT_VERSION='2021-11-27'
WATSON_ASSISTANT_API_KEY='XXXX'
WATSON_ASSISTANT_SERVICE_URL='https://api.us-south.assistant.watson.cloud.ibm.com'
WATSON_ASSISTANT_ENVIRONMENT_ID='XXX'

Step 3: Run local on port 3010

npm install
npm start

Step 4: Open browser and invoke the get session endpoint

It returns the newly created sessionID.

open http://localhost:3010/getsession

Example output:

{
"session_id": "37d13c72-1643-4add-bee5-574c6fd062dc"
}

Step 5: Import the postman collection into postman

The images shows the import button in postman.

Select the /postman/watson-assistant-example.postman_collection.json in the project for the import.

Step 6: After the import you have a new collection inside your postman

The images shows the imported collection.

Step 7: Send a message

Step 7.1: Send a message Get the session ID form `GET request` using the `getsession` endpoint

Step 7.2: Insert the `session ID` into the body of the `POST` request using the `sendmessage endpoint`

This is the JSON format which is used in the post request sendmessage

{ "sendmessage" : {
  "sessionID" : "XXXX",
  "message_type": "text",
  "text": "Hello"
  }
}

thomassuedbroecker/watson-assistant-simple-node-js-server-example