Its clear that bots are having a moment.

So I wanted to learn how to make my own botand put it to work!

On the one hand, chat bots are nothing new.

Theyve been around since the 1960s and the days ofELIZA.

But suddenly the tools to create meaningful, personalized conversations are easy enough to deploy at scale.

To get a sense for the bot world I decided to try my hand at making one.

LinkedIn profileshavent changed much in the last decade.

Sure, theyre more attractive than resumes but they arent much more engaging.

But once youve found an interesting candidate how do you tell if shes looking for work?

How do you determine if hes aculturalfit?

What if you want to see examples of their work?

A resume cant hold all of that,but a bot can.

My hope was thatEstherBotcould showcase some of my quirky interests and discuss my personal values.

I usedSmoochbecause they make it easy to send images, GIFs and action buttons across multiple platforms.

How To Make Your Own Bot

I made a few tweaks to the Smoochexample codeandsimplified the instructions.

Use the drop down menu on the left and Create a new app.

Determine what messaging channel to use and connect it.

In my case, I used Twilio.

Sign in toGitHuband go toEstherBot.

Creating this version will give you a web based chat app.

Also, generate a new Secret Key, and take note of the key ID and secret.

From your forked EstherBot on GitHub, deploy your app to Heroku.

(Youll find the deploy button in theReadMe.)

Its a service for hosting apps so go sign up if you dont already have an accountits free.

Your app should now be running on Heroku but youre not quite done yet.

Take note of the URL where your Heroku app is running, for example:https://foo-bar-4242.herokuapp.com.

Youll need to specify this in your Heroku appSERVICE_URLconfig variable.

it’s possible for you to do this in the Heroku control panel underSettings>Config Variables.

Still in Heroku, see to it to go to Deploy and connect to your GitHub account.

You should be all set.

Open your Heroku app and start chatting with your new bot!

Thats where the filescript.jsoncomes in.

Its the document you’re gonna wanna edit to make your bot talk.

Edit the document on GitHub by clicking on the pencil icon.

The keywords are on the left, and the bots response is on the right.

The only two keywords you dont want to change are CONNECT ME and DISCONNECT.

CONNECT ME turns the automated chat off, so the bot will stop responding to keywords.

DISCONNECT will turn the bot back on.

Also, the initial script starts with So you want to learn about Esther?

… but of course youll want to change it.

it’s possible for you to edit it in the script.js file.

Unsurprisingly, crafting compelling conversational flows is really hard.

Probably the hardest part of the entire process.

Being able to add flair, intrigue and personality is a different skill set than building a bot.

(you’re free to go get afree downloadof my actual Sketch file to get you started.)

You have added another bot to the internet.

Spoiler alert: My bot is killing it as a recruiter.

Arebots and conversational UIs the most exciting thingto emerge since the App Store revolution?

Will there come a time when we all have bots acting as intermediaries?

Esther Crawfordis a Product Marketer with a passion for storytelling and design.

Hit upEstherBotto learn more.

This article is adapted from Esthersoriginal post on Medium.

Image byOwen Smith via Getty.