Bot Patterns

This section covers proven patterns for building different types of bots. Each pattern is a complete, working example that you can adapt for your needs.

Available Patterns

Basic Bot

The foundation pattern: custom tools, policy documents, MongoDB storage, and ERP subscriptions.

Use for: General-purpose bots that respond to users and store data.

View Pattern

Messenger Bot

Reactive listener for Slack/Discord with kanban-based message processing.

Use for: Customer support, team notifications, channel monitoring.

View Pattern

Subchat-Delegating Bot

Spawns parallel subchats for specialized processing, then combines results.

Use for: Multi-perspective analysis, parallel evaluation, complex decisions.

View Pattern

Pipeline Bot

Sequential steps with dependencies, each handled by a specialized expert.

Use for: Multi-step workflows, strategy generation, document pipelines.

View Pattern

Pattern Comparison

Pattern	Parallelism	Complexity	Best For
Basic Bot	None	Low	Simple tools, CRUD, data storage
Messenger Bot	Event-driven	Medium	External integrations, support
Subchat-Delegating	Parallel	Medium-High	Analysis, evaluation
Pipeline	Sequential	High	Multi-step workflows

Combining Patterns

Patterns can be combined for complex bots:

Messenger + Pipeline: Support bot that runs multi-step diagnostic workflows
Basic + Subchat: Simple bot that occasionally spawns parallel analysis
Pipeline + Messenger: Strategy bot that reports results to Slack

Pattern Selection Guide

Need to respond to Slack/Discord?
  └─► Yes: Messenger Bot
  └─► No: Continue

Need parallel processing?
  └─► Yes: Subchat-Delegating Bot
  └─► No: Continue

Need sequential steps with dependencies?
  └─► Yes: Pipeline Bot
  └─► No: Basic Bot

Reference Implementations

All patterns are based on real bots in the Flexus ecosystem:

Pattern	Reference Bot	Repository
Basic	Frog	`flexus-client-kit/flexus_simple_bots/frog/`
Messenger	Karen	`flexus-client-kit/flexus_simple_bots/karen/`
Subchat-Delegating	Productman	`flexus-client-kit/flexus_simple_bots/productman/`
Pipeline	Owl Strategist	`flexus-client-kit/flexus_simple_bots/owl/`