chat-sdk

by vercel

Vercel Chat SDK expert guidance. Use when building multi-platform chat bots — Slack, Telegram, Microsoft Teams, Discord, Google Chat, GitHub, Linear — with a… npx skills add https://github.com/vercel-labs/vercel-plugin --skill chat-sdk Download ZIPGitHub207

Chat SDK

Unified TypeScript SDK for building chat bots across Slack, Teams, Google Chat, Discord, Telegram, GitHub, Linear, and WhatsApp. Write bot logic once, deploy everywhere.

Start with published sources

When Chat SDK is installed in a user project, inspect the published files that ship in node_modules:

node_modules/chat/docs/ # bundled docs
node_modules/chat/dist/index.d.ts # core API types
node_modules/chat/dist/jsx-runtime.d.ts # JSX runtime types
node_modules/chat/docs/contributing/ # adapter-authoring docs
node_modules/chat/docs/guides/ # framework/platform guides

If one of the paths below does not exist, that package is not installed in the project yet.

Read these before writing code:

• node_modules/chat/docs/getting-started.mdx — install and setup

• node_modules/chat/docs/usage.mdx — Chat config and lifecycle

• node_modules/chat/docs/handling-events.mdx — event routing and handlers

• node_modules/chat/docs/threads-messages-channels.mdx — thread/channel/message model

• node_modules/chat/docs/posting-messages.mdx — post, edit, delete, schedule

• node_modules/chat/docs/streaming.mdx — AI SDK integration and streaming semantics

• node_modules/chat/docs/cards.mdx — JSX cards

• node_modules/chat/docs/actions.mdx — button/select interactions

• node_modules/chat/docs/modals.mdx — modal submit/close flows

• node_modules/chat/docs/slash-commands.mdx — slash command routing

• node_modules/chat/docs/direct-messages.mdx — DM behavior and openDM()

• node_modules/chat/docs/files.mdx — attachments/uploads

• node_modules/chat/docs/state.mdx — persistence, locking, dedupe

• node_modules/chat/docs/adapters.mdx — cross-platform feature matrix

• node_modules/chat/docs/api/chat.mdx — exact Chat API

• node_modules/chat/docs/api/thread.mdx — exact Thread API

• node_modules/chat/docs/api/message.mdx — exact Message API

• node_modules/chat/docs/api/modals.mdx — modal element and event details

For the specific adapter or state package you are using, inspect that installed package's dist/index.d.ts export surface in node_modules.

Core concepts

• Chat — main entry point; coordinates adapters, routing, locks, and state

• Adapters — platform-specific integrations for Slack, Teams, Google Chat, Discord, Telegram, GitHub, Linear, and WhatsApp

• State adapters — persistence for subscriptions, locks, dedupe, and thread state

• Thread — conversation context with post(), stream(), subscribe(), setState(), startTyping()

• Message — normalized content with text, formatted, attachments, author info, and platform raw

• Channel — container for threads and top-level posts

Event handlers

Handler Trigger onNewMention Bot @-mentioned in an unsubscribed thread onDirectMessage New DM in an unsubscribed DM thread onSubscribedMessage Any message in a subscribed thread onNewMessage(regex) Regex match in an unsubscribed thread onReaction(emojis?) Emoji added or removed onAction(actionIds?) Button clicks and select/radio interactions onModalSubmit(callbackId?) Modal form submitted onModalClose(callbackId?) Modal dismissed/cancelled onSlashCommand(commands?) Slash command invocation onAssistantThreadStarted Slack assistant thread opened onAssistantContextChanged Slack assistant context changed onAppHomeOpened Slack App Home opened onMemberJoinedChannel Slack member joined channel event

Read node_modules/chat/docs/handling-events.mdx, node_modules/chat/docs/actions.mdx, node_modules/chat/docs/modals.mdx, and node_modules/chat/docs/slash-commands.mdx before wiring handlers. onDirectMessage behavior is documented in node_modules/chat/docs/direct-messages.mdx.

Streaming

Pass any AsyncIterable<string> to thread.post() or thread.stream(). For AI SDK, prefer result.fullStream over result.textStream when available so step boundaries are preserved.

import { ToolLoopAgent } from "ai";

const agent = new ToolLoopAgent({ model: "anthropic/claude-4.5-sonnet" });

bot.onNewMention(async (thread, message) => {
 const result = await agent.stream({ prompt: message.text });
 await thread.post(result.fullStream);
});

Key details:

• streamingUpdateIntervalMs controls post+edit fallback cadence

• fallbackStreamingPlaceholderText defaults to "..."; set null to disable

• Structured StreamChunk support is Slack-only; other adapters ignore non-text chunks

Cards and modals (JSX)

Set jsxImportSource: "chat" in tsconfig.json.

Card components:

• Card, CardText, Section, Fields, Field, Button, CardLink, LinkButton, Actions, Select, SelectOption, RadioSelect, Table, Image, Divider

Modal components:

• Modal, TextInput, Select, SelectOption, RadioSelect

await thread.post(
 
 Your order has been received. 
 
 Approve 
 Reject 
 
 
);

Adapter inventory

Official platform adapters

Platform Package Factory Slack @chat-adapter/slack createSlackAdapter Microsoft Teams @chat-adapter/teams createTeamsAdapter Google Chat @chat-adapter/gchat createGoogleChatAdapter Discord @chat-adapter/discord createDiscordAdapter GitHub @chat-adapter/github createGitHubAdapter Linear @chat-adapter/linear createLinearAdapter Telegram @chat-adapter/telegram createTelegramAdapter WhatsApp Business Cloud @chat-adapter/whatsapp createWhatsAppAdapter

Official state adapters

State backend Package Factory Redis @chat-adapter/state-redis createRedisState ioredis @chat-adapter/state-ioredis createIoRedisState PostgreSQL @chat-adapter/state-pg createPostgresState Memory @chat-adapter/state-memory createMemoryState

Community adapters

• chat-state-cloudflare-do

• @beeper/chat-adapter-matrix

• chat-adapter-imessage

• @bitbasti/chat-adapter-webex

• @resend/chat-sdk-adapter

• chat-adapter-baileys

Coming-soon platform entries

• Instagram

• Signal

• X

• Messenger

Building a custom adapter

Read these published docs first:

• node_modules/chat/docs/contributing/building.mdx

• node_modules/chat/docs/contributing/testing.mdx

• node_modules/chat/docs/contributing/publishing.mdx

Also inspect:

• node_modules/chat/dist/index.d.ts — Adapter and related interfaces

• node_modules/@chat-adapter/shared/dist/index.d.ts — shared errors and utilities

• Installed official adapter dist/index.d.ts files — reference implementations for config and APIs

A custom adapter needs request verification, webhook parsing, message/thread/channel operations, ID encoding/decoding, and a format converter. Use BaseFormatConverter from chat and shared utilities from @chat-adapter/shared.