Bots are the future, Microsoft proclaimed at this year’s Build conference, and now the company is inviting developers to submit their own for inclusion in a publicly-available bot directory.
In an email to developers cited on Windows Central, Microsoft said it was seeking submissions of chat bots made using its open-source Bot Framework. The Framework, announced at Build, includes bot builder SDKs for C# and Node.js, available on Github, plus a Bot Connector for connecting your bot to Skype, Slack, Facebook Messenger and other popular conversational channels.
Once the directory goes live—on a yet-to-be-determined date—users will be able to search for and download a range of bots. For now, Microsoft’s directory page includes just a few sample bots released during Build, including a Bing News Bot and one that generates captions for photos. But Microsoft said more than 20,000 developers have already signed up to use the bot framework.
Click here to submit your bot or register for the framework if you’ve not yet signed up. Learn more about the bot framework here.