Getting started

Who is this for?

The Conversations API is designed for developers and technical teams who want to extend Ada beyond its native channels. Typical users include teams that need to:

• Build and manage their own messaging frontends
• Integrate Ada with an existing email provider
• Connect Ada to third-party platforms or proprietary systems not supported out of the box

Implementation example

To see a working implementation of a frontend that interacts with an Ada AI Agent via the Conversations API, visit our public repository for complete details: ada-conversations-api-demo.

Core concepts

Now that you know what the Conversations API does and who it serves, let’s explore its key principles. At a high level, the API is organized around a few main concepts:

• Channel: A communication pathway through which customers interact with your business. For custom channels, you create a new channel with a messaging or email modality.

  The email modality for custom channels is not the same as Ada’s native Email channel, which is accessed through the Email Conversations API.

• Conversation: A sequence of messages exchanged between participants on a specific channel. Participants can include the end user, the AI Agent, and human agents.

• Message: A unit of communication authored by a participant. With custom channels, the Conversations API supports text messages.

Want to work with the native Email channel?

The Email Conversations API is an implementation of the Conversations API, designed specifically for Ada’s native Email channel. In this context, the same concepts apply, with a few differences for the native Email channel:

• Channel: You don’t create a new channel. Ada provides the native Email channel, and you interact with it via the Email Conversations API.
• Message: Messages are email-based (subject, body, optional cc/reply-as) and sent through the dedicated endpoint.
• Webhook support: Core lifecycle events (conversation started, message sent, conversation closed) are supported, but webhook coverage is more limited than for custom channels.

Talk to your AI Agent

Setup begins with a common step, then branches based on your use case.

1. Generate an API key, if you don’t already have one.
2. For custom channels, create a webhook and subscribe to conversation events. Then continue with the custom channel instructions.
3. For conversations over Ada’s native Email channel, continue with the see Email channel instructions.

Conversations on custom channels

Use the Conversations API to create and run conversations over your own custom channels. The steps below show how to create a channel, start a conversation, exchange messages, and end the conversation programmatically.

1. Create a custom channel

Make sure you declare a modality so that the AI Agent responds to users in the corresponding style.

$
    POST https://{bot-handle}.ada.support/api/v2/channels
$
    Authorization: Bearer <your-api-token>
$
    
$
        {
>
          "name": "My Custom Channel",
>
          "description": "A custom messaging channel for my AI Agent",
>
          "modality": "messaging",
>
          "metadata": {
>
            "webpage_host": "https://lovelace-chat.com"
>
          }
>
        }

2. Create a conversation over your channel

If you have an existing end user, include their End User ID in the payload.

Otherwise, the Conversations API will make a new end user automatically. Make sure you save the End User ID from the response so you can send messages from this End User in the next step.

When a conversation is successfully created, you’ll receive a v1.conversation.created webhook event if subscribed.

$
    POST https://{bot-handle}.ada.support/api/v2/conversations
$
    Authorization: Bearer <your-api-token>
$
    
$
        {
>
        "channel_id": "5df263b7db5a7e6ea03fae9b",
>
        "metadata": {
>
            "started_from_help_center": true
>
            }
>
        }

3. Send a message on behalf of the End User

$
    POST https://{bot-handle}.ada.support/api/v2/conversations/{conversation_id}/messages
$
    Authorization: Bearer <your-api-token>
$
    
$
        {
>
        "author": {
>
            "id": "5f7e0e2c1e7c7e000f0f9c3a",
>
            "role": "end_user",
>
            "avatar": "https://www.gravatar.com",
>
            "display_name": "Ada Lovelace"
>
            }
>
        },
$
        "content": {
>
            "body": "I need help with my order",
>
            "type": "text"
>
            }
$
        }

When a message is successfully sent, you’ll receive a v1.conversation.message webhook event if subscribed. Note that the author.role will be end_user.

4. Listen for AI Agent response

When the AI Agent responds to your end user’s inquiry, you’ll receive a v1.conversation.message webhook event if subscribed. Note that the author.role will be ai_agent.

5. End a conversation on behalf of an end user

To end a conversation on behalf of the end user, call

POST /v2/conversations/{conversation_id}/end/

Conversations on the native Email channel

How do you run conversations once you know the basics of the Email Conversations API for Ada’s native Email channel? Building on that foundation, you’ll configure a sender address, send conversations to Ada through the dedicated endpoint, and route replies for continuity.

For complete setup and implementation details, see this help topic.