botbook/src/chapter-02

Chapter 02: About Packages

How bots are organized in General Bots.

What You'll Learn

• Package structure (.gbai folders)
• Dialog scripts in BASIC
• Knowledge bases
• Configuration basics
• How packages load

Package Structure

A bot is just a folder ending in .gbai:

my-bot.gbai/
├── my-bot.gbdialog/    # BASIC scripts
├── my-bot.gbkb/        # Documents
├── my-bot.gbot/        # Configuration
├── my-bot.gbtheme/     # Optional styling
└── my-bot.gbdrive/     # Optional storage

Drop the folder in templates/, it loads automatically.

Key Concepts

Dialogs (.gbdialog)

• BASIC scripts that control conversation
• start.bas is optional (but needed to activate tools/KB with USE TOOL/USE KB)
• Simple commands like TALK and HEAR

Knowledge Base (.gbkb)

• Put PDFs and documents in folders
• Automatically becomes searchable
• Bot can answer questions from documents

Configuration (.gbot)

• Single config.csv file
• Simple name,value pairs
• Missing values use defaults

Themes (.gbtheme)

• Optional CSS styling
• Most bots don't need this

Storage (.gbdrive)

• Links to S3-compatible storage
• For large files and uploads

How It Works

1. Discovery: Finds .gbai folders
2. Loading: Reads all components
3. Indexing: Processes documents
4. Activation: Bot is ready

No build process. No compilation. Just folders and files.

The web UI uses HTMX with server-side rendering - minimal JavaScript, no build process, just HTML templates powered by Rust.

Topics Covered

• .gbai Architecture - Package details
• .gbdialog Dialogs - BASIC scripting
• .gbkb Knowledge Base - Document management
• .gbot Configuration - Settings
• .gbtheme UI Theming - Styling
• .gbdrive File Storage - Storage integration
• Bot Templates - Example bots

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