Proxy Bots

Learn how to test and preview your bot in Facebook Messenger, Viber and Amazon Alexa without real deployment.

The fastest way to test your chatbot in a specific channel is by using the NativeChat’s proxy chatbot. This way, you don’t need to have a working Facebook page, Viber public account or Alexa skill to test how your chatbot experience looks/sounds like in these environments.

Facebook Messenger

From the Test drop down button, click the Test in Messenger button. It will open a dialog with instructions on how to navigate to the NativeChat Messenger URL and provide the following instruction:

proxy {bot-id}

Once successfully mapped, the NativeChat bot will connect to your bot and will relay all messages back and forth.

Viber

Check our blog post on building a chatbot for Viber for instructions on how to test via NativeChat’s Viber proxy bot.

Amazon Alexa

To test your chatbot as Amazon Alexa skill, you need to enable the NativeChat Proxy skill.

What You Need

• an Amazon account
• the Amazon Alexa app installed on your iOS or Android device
• the Amazon Alexa app set up for use with your Amazon account
• NativeChat Proxy skill enabled for your account
• Alexa Developer Console account - sign-in / registration.
• A skill in the Alexa Developer Console - follow the instructions on Creating Amazon Skill

How to Use the Proxy Skill

1. Open the Alexa Developer Console
2. Go to Test tab (1) in the top navigation
3. Pick Development from the dropdown (2)
4. Type or say “Alexa, nativechat proxy” in the simulator
5. Go to your bot in NativeChat portal and from the Test dropdown menu pick Test in Alexa Developer Console
6. Copy the ` proxy {bot-id} ` command and paste it into the Alexa simulator in the Alexa Developer Console.