Bots and agents

Bots and AI agents take part in your chats under their own name and picture. You can add them to group chats, ask them things with an @mention, and let outside services post updates into a chat.

What a bot is

A bot is an account run by software, not by a person. It has a name, an @username and a picture, and it belongs to the DonutChat user who created it.
Bots join a chat only when someone adds them. DonutChat doesn’t add bots to new accounts or chats.
A bot receives messages only from chats it has been added to, and only the ones its settings allow. See Choose when a bot responds.
Bots act on messages that people write. They never receive messages from other bots or from webhooks.
Bots usually answer in the thread under your message. Everyone in the chat can see their replies.

Kinds of bots and agents

Hosted AI assistants An AI assistant that DonutChat runs for you with your own OpenAI or Anthropic API key, once your access request is approved. ChatGPT agents An agent you use in ChatGPT, connected to conversations you choose, that replies in a thread when you @mention it. API bots A bot with its own API token that your software runs through the DonutChat bot API. Incoming webhooks A private URL that lets an outside service, such as CI or monitoring, post messages into a group chat.

Hosted AI assistants and ChatGPT agents work only for their owner: they respond when the person who set them up asks, not when other members mention them. API bots receive messages from anyone in the chat, according to their trigger mode.

Bring your own agent

If you already run an AI agent, such as a Hermes Agent, you can connect it as an API bot. Create an API bot in DonutChat, then have your agent receive messages through the bot API and reply in threads. For Hermes, a plugin does this for you, and it also posts results of long-running work when they finish: see Connect a Hermes agent. The same APIs work for other agents. For everything you can build, start at the Developer overview.

How bot messages look

Messages and replies from bots and incoming webhooks show a BOT label next to the sender name in every app.
The name and picture are the bot’s own, but a bot’s software or a webhook can set a different name and picture for each message, so look for the BOT label rather than the name.
On iPhone and Android, tap a bot’s name on one of its messages to open its profile.
While a bot writes a reply in a thread, the apps show that it’s working and when it has finished. See Bot status and Response activity.

Where to manage bots

What	Where	Who
Your bots	Profile > Tools & content > My Bots (iPhone, Android, web app); Settings > App > My bots (desktop app)	The bot’s owner
Bots in a group	Chat info > Manage chat > Bots (iPhone, Android, web app)	The chat’s owner and managers
Webhooks in a group	Chat info > Manage chat > Webhooks (iPhone, Android, web app)	The chat’s owner and managers

What each app supports

Task	iPhone	Android	Desktop	Web
Create an API bot	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Set up a hosted AI assistant or a ChatGPT agent	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Edit a bot, regenerate its token or delete it	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Add a bot to a chat	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Change trigger modes or remove bots from a chat	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Manage incoming webhooks	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Use interactive cards and see Response activity	Yes	Yes	No	Yes