Chatbot Widget with Authentication and AI Integration

This project delivers a functional chatbot widget built using React and TypeScript, designed for embedding in external webpages. The backend is implemented with Xano, providing user authentication, refresh token logic, and integrations for AI services.

Features

Frontend

• Chatbot Widget: A lightweight and embeddable React component styled with CSS.
• User Authentication: Login and signup processes implemented using React Router.
• Access Control: Bot access is restricted to authenticated users, with sessions managed using tokens stored in React Context.

Backend (Xano)

• AI Integrations:
  • Hugging Face (used as an alternative to OpenAI for free-tier support).
  • Assente AI API calls for processing chatbot queries.
• User Authentication with Refresh Token Logic:
  • Access tokens (authToken) and refresh tokens (refreshToken) for secure session management.
  • Refresh tokens stored in a database table linked to users.
  • Auth tokens have a short lifespan, with refresh tokens generating new auth tokens as needed.

Token Refresh Mechanism

1. Login (auth/login):

   • Generates an authToken and refreshToken.
   • refreshToken is saved in a dedicated database table, linked to the users table.
   • authToken has a short lifespan (2 minutes initially).

2. Token Refresh (auth/refresh_tokens):

   • Request includes the authToken in the Authorization header.
   • Backend verifies the refreshToken:
     • If valid, a new pair of authToken (valid for a couple of hours) and refreshToken is generated.
   • Old refresh tokens in the database are replaced with the new pair.

3. Frontend Update:

   • The new tokens are sent to the frontend and stored in the Context API.

Instructions

Embedding the Chatbot Widget

To embed the chatbot widget on an external webpage:

1. Install the package: Include the chatbot widget package in your project dependencies:

   npm install chatbot-widget

2. Import and use the widget:

   import React from 'react';
   import { ChatbotWidget } from 'chatbot-widget';
   
   function App() {
     return (
       <div>
         <h1>Welcome to the Chatbot</h1>
         <ChatbotWidget />
       </div>
     );
   }
   
   export default App;

3. Authentication Requirement: Ensure the user is authenticated before displaying the chatbot. You can use React.Context to manage tokens and pass them as props to the chatbot component.

Setting Up Xano Backend

1. Create an Account and Workspace:

   • Go to Xano and sign up.
   • Create a workspace for your project.

2. Setup API Endpoints:

   • Create endpoints for authentication (auth/login and auth/refresh_tokens).
   • Create endpoints for processing AI requests to Hugging Face and Assente AI APIs.

3. Configure Token Storage:

   • Create a refresh_tokens table in Xano linked to the users table.

4. Deploy the backend:

   • Test endpoints using Xano’s in-built API testing tools.
   • Ensure proper connection between the chatbot frontend and the Xano backend.

Documentation

Refresh Token Implementation

1. Initial Login:

   • Endpoint: POST /auth/login
   • Payload: User credentials (email, password).
   • Response: A pair of authToken (valid for 2 minutes) and refreshToken.

2. Token Refresh Process:

   • Endpoint: POST /auth/refresh_tokens
   • Header: Authorization: Bearer {refreshToken}.
   • Backend Process:
     1. Verify refreshToken exists and is valid.
     2. Generate a new authToken and refreshToken.
     3. Replace the old refreshToken in the database with the new one.
   • Response: New authToken and refreshToken pair.

3. Frontend Handling:

   • Store tokens in React Context.
   • Use authToken for API calls and refreshToken to regenerate expired tokens.

Contributing

Feel free to submit issues or pull requests for feature enhancements or bug fixes.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.