New to Claude Skills? Learn how to install them →

Get Claude Skills
vercel on GitHub

Chat SDK

OfficialFree

Build chat bots across multiple platforms with ease.

by vercel2.3k stars on vercel/chat
Updated Aug 10, 2026
Get this skill

Free · Opens the source repo

What Chat SDK does

Chat SDK is a unified TypeScript SDK designed for developers looking to create chat bots that can operate across various platforms including Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, Discord, Telegram, GitHub, Linear, and WhatsApp. With the chat npm package, you can write your bot logic once and deploy it everywhere, simplifying the bot development process. The SDK provides a solid foundation for building bots that can handle complex interactions such as mentions, direct messages, reactions, slash commands, and more.

To get started, developers can use the create-chat-sdk command to scaffold a basic Next.js bot project quickly, without the need for extensive configuration. The SDK comes with comprehensive documentation and resources available in the node_modules/chat/docs/ directory, as well as templates and guides to help you build specific types of bots. For example, you can find step-by-step instructions for creating AI agents, managing workflows, and integrating with various APIs.

The Chat SDK also supports advanced features such as webhook routes and multi-adapter bots, allowing for a high degree of customization. Whether you need to send rich cards, stream AI responses, or build custom adapters, the SDK provides the necessary tools to implement these functionalities. Additionally, the available guides cover a range of use cases, from deploying bots that manage GitHub pull requests to creating interactive Slack bots that triage form submissions.

Overall, Chat SDK is an excellent choice for developers who want to streamline the process of building chat bots across multiple platforms while leveraging TypeScript's type safety and the flexibility of Next.js.

When to use it

Use Chat SDK when you need to create a chat bot that operates on multiple messaging platforms and want to minimize the complexity of maintaining separate codebases.

When not to use it

If your project requires extensive customization that falls outside the capabilities of the SDK or if you are targeting a single platform with unique requirements, other solutions may be more appropriate.

What you can build with it

Creating a Slack AI Agent

Use Chat SDK to build an AI agent for Slack that handles mentions and streams responses, integrating with AI SDK for enhanced capabilities.

Deploying a Multi-Platform Bot

Leverage Chat SDK to deploy a single bot across multiple platforms, ensuring consistent functionality and user experience.

Managing GitHub Pull Requests

Develop a GitHub bot that reviews pull requests on demand, utilizing Chat SDK to respond to @mentions and automate processes.

How to install Chat SDK

View source

1. Install with the skills CLI

npx skills add vercel/chat/chat-sdk --agent claude-code

2. Or install it manually

Download the skill folder and drop it into ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or .claude/skills/ to scope it to one repo. Restart Claude Code so it picks up the new skill.

Anthropic's agentic coding CLI, and the reference implementation of Agent Skills. Drop a skill folder into ~/.claude/skills and Claude Code loads it automatically whenever a task matches the skill's description. Claude Code docs

Inside SKILL.md

Written by vercel

Chat SDK

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

Scaffold a new project

Use create-chat-sdk to scaffold a basic Next.js bot project without prompts. Run npx create-chat-sdk --help to see the available options and how the CLI works.

Start with Chat SDK documentation

When Chat SDK is installed in a user's project, inspect the published docs that ship in node_modules/chat/docs/, the resources in node_modules/chat/resources/, and the available open source templates in node_modules/chat/resources/templates.json.

If those paths do not exist, the chat package is not installed in the project yet. The user can install it with npm i chat.

You can also find the docs on the Chat SDK website and in the Vercel knowledge base.

Available resources

<!-- RESOURCES:START -->

Guides

  • node_modules/chat/resources/guides/how-to-build-an-ai-agent-for-slack-with-chat-sdk-and-ai-sdk.md — Build a Slack AI agent using Chat SDK, AI SDK's ToolLoopAgent, and Vercel AI Gateway. Covers project setup, tool definitions, streaming responses, deployment to Vercel, and scaling tool selection with toolpick.
  • node_modules/chat/resources/guides/human-in-the-loop-with-chat-sdk-and-workflow-sdk.md — Pause durable workflows on Slack approval cards using Chat SDK and Workflow SDK. Uses createWebhook to suspend workflows until a button click, with patterns for multi-stage approvals, timeouts via durable sleep, and approver validation.
  • node_modules/chat/resources/guides/liveblocks-chat-sdk-ai-sdk.md — Build an AI agent that replies to @-mentions in Liveblocks comment threads with streamed responses and tool calling. Uses Chat SDK, the Liveblocks adapter, AI SDK's ToolLoopAgent, and Redis for thread subscriptions and distributed locking.
  • node_modules/chat/resources/guides/slack-bot-vercel-blob.md — Build a Slack bot that lists, reads, uploads, and deletes files in Vercel Blob through tool calls. Uses Chat SDK, AI SDK's ToolLoopAgent, and Files SDK's createFileTools factory with approval-gated write tools and a read-only mode.
  • node_modules/chat/resources/guides/run-and-track-deploys-from-slack.md — Build a Slack deploy bot with Chat SDK and Vercel Workflow. Dispatch GitHub Actions from a slash command, gate production behind approval, poll for completion, and notify Linear and GitHub when the run finishes.
  • node_modules/chat/resources/guides/triage-form-submissions-with-chat-sdk.md — Build a Slack bot that triages form submissions with interactive cards. Forward, edit, or mark as spam without leaving Slack. Built with Chat SDK, Hono, and Resend.
  • node_modules/chat/resources/guides/how-to-build-a-slack-bot-with-next-js-and-redis.md — This guide walks through building a Slack bot with Next.js, covering project setup, Slack app configuration, event handling, interactive features, and deployment.
  • node_modules/chat/resources/guides/create-a-discord-support-bot-with-nuxt-and-redis.md — This guide walks through building a Discord support bot with Nuxt, covering project setup, Discord app configuration, Gateway forwarding, AI-powered responses, and deployment.
  • node_modules/chat/resources/guides/ship-a-github-code-review-bot-with-hono-and-redis.md — This guide walks through building a GitHub bot that reviews pull requests on demand. When a user @mentions the bot on a PR, Chat SDK picks up the mention, spins up a Vercel Sandbox with the repo cloned, and uses AI SDK to analyze the diff.
  • node_modules/chat/resources/guides/build-a-slack-bot-with-vercel-connect.md — Learn how to build your very own Slackbot with Chat SDK and AI SDK. Vercel Connect supplies runtime Slack tokens and forwards triggers, so you never store a long-lived bot token.
  • node_modules/chat/resources/guides/vercel-connect.md — Use Vercel Connect to call provider APIs like Slack, GitHub, and Snowflake from your agents and services with short-lived, user-authorized tokens instead of long-lived secrets.
  • node_modules/chat/resources/guides/ai-gateway-and-ai-sdk.md — Build AI agents on Vercel with AI Gateway and AI SDK, then make them reliable, capable, and durable with Sandbox, Chat SDK, Vercel Connect, and Workflow.
  • node_modules/chat/resources/guides/daily-digest-bot-with-chat-sdk-and-workflow-sdk.md — Create your own daily digest bot that posts a daily digest of GitHub stats to Slack. Learn how to use Vercel Connect to set up Slack and GitHub app securely in your project.

Templates

Listed in node_modules/chat/resources/templates.json:

<!-- RESOURCES:END -->

Chat SDK adapters

Adapter directory

See the 'Official Adapters', 'Vendor-Official Adapters', and 'Community Adapters' sections in the Chat SDK llms.txt file for the current list of official, vendor-official, and community adapters.

Adapter catalog subpath

Chat SDK exposes a zero-dependency static catalog at chat/adapters.

Agents can import ADAPTERS, ADAPTER_NAMES, getAdapter, isAdapterSlug, listEnvVars, getSecretEnvVars, and metadata types like CatalogAdapter and AdapterSlug from this subpath without importing any adapter implementation package.

Use it for:

  • Listing official and vendor-official adapter slugs, names, npm packages, groups, and platform vs state types.
  • Building setup or onboarding flows that need package names, peer dependencies, and install guidance before any adapter is installed.
  • Discovering required, optional, and credential-mode environment variables for an adapter, including which variables are secrets.
  • Keeping vendor-official adapter docs and metadata aligned with the catalog when adding or updating a listed adapter.

Frequently asked questions about Chat SDK

Similar skills

WinMD API Search

Easily find and explore Windows desktop APIs.

WebMCPify

Transform any web app into an agent-ready platform.

Phoenix Tracing

Instrument LLM applications with OpenInference tracing.

Foundry Hosted Agent CopilotKit

Guidance for developing agentic web apps on Azure.

Power Automate Foundation

Connect AI agents to Power Automate seamlessly.

Power Automate Flow Builder

Efficiently build and deploy Power Automate flows programmatically.