Typebot

What is Typebot?

Typebot is a fair-source, no-code platform designed to build interactive conversational apps and chatbots. Unlike traditional static forms, Typebot enables you to create dynamic chat flows for lead qualification, customer support, and user onboarding. It provides a visual, drag-and-drop interface where you can sequence inputs, messages, and logic without writing any code.

The project is built on a modern stack using Next.js and Prisma, ensuring high performance and a smooth developer experience. Typebot can be embedded directly into websites, mobile apps, or integrated with WhatsApp. Because it is self-hostable, it appeals strongly to teams prioritizing data sovereignty and those looking to avoid vendor lock-in or per-seat licensing costs.

Core Features and Use Cases

Typebot excels at replacing standard web forms with conversational experiences that can increase engagement rates.

• Visual Builder: The drag-and-drop editor includes over 30 block types, ranging from simple text and email inputs to file uploads and date pickers.
• Logic and Routing: You can implement conditional branching, URL redirections, and custom JavaScript to tailor the conversation flow based on user responses.
• Integrations: It connects easily to tools like Google Sheets, OpenAI, Webhooks, and Make/Zapier, allowing you to push collected data instantly to your CRM or trigger automated workflows.
• Flexible Deployment: Once built, a typebot can be deployed as a standard container, a popup, or a chat bubble using a lightweight JavaScript library.

Setting up a Self-Hosted Instance

Self-hosting Typebot using Docker is the officially recommended approach. To get started, you need a server with Docker and Docker Compose installed, a PostgreSQL database, and S3-compatible storage for media uploads.

First, download the standard configuration files directly from the repository:

You will need to configure the .env file. Crucially, generate a secure 32-character string for the ENCRYPTION_SECRET to protect sensitive data:

Update your .env with the generated secret, your database connection string (DATABASE_URL), and at least one authentication provider (such as Email, Google, or GitHub). Once configured, launch the services:

This will start the builder and viewer services, typically accessible on ports 8080 and 8081, respectively.

Important Limitations

While highly capable for asynchronous chat and data collection, Typebot has a few constraints to be aware of:

• No Native Live Chat: Typebot does not have a built-in human takeover interface for live customer support. To achieve this, you must integrate it with an external platform like Chatwoot or a ticketing system like Zendesk.
• Complex Logic Curve: While the visual editor is intuitive, building deeply nested conditionals or handling complex JSON payloads via webhooks requires a technical mindset.
• File Upload Limits: By default, file uploads within the chat are limited to 10MB per file. (On self-hosted instances, this can be adjusted using the NEXT_PUBLIC_BOT_FILE_UPLOAD_MAX_SIZE environment variable).
• License Model: Typebot is released under the Functional Source License (FSL). While you can freely self-host and modify it, you cannot use the code to build a competing, commercial chatbot service.

When to Choose Typebot

If you want to replace static lead capture forms with engaging conversations and retain full ownership of your data by self-hosting, Typebot is an excellent choice. Its robust API, active community, and modern architecture make it a reliable foundation for automated workflows, provided you do not require a native live-agent helpdesk system.