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This page provides an overview of the frameworks that you can use to build an
interactive Google Chat app.
Interactive Chat apps let users do any of the following:
Add Chat apps to Chat spaces or
direct messages.
Send messages to or receive messages from Chat apps.
Prompt Chat apps with a command.
Preview links from an external service or system.
Submit information to Chat apps, such as entering text into a
dialog or card message.
How users discover and use interactive Chat apps
Users can discover and use Chat apps published to the
Marketplace in many ways, including the following:
Search and install Chat apps from Google Chat or the
Marketplace.
Interact with a Chat app that's been added to a
Chat space.
Discover the Chat app in their direct messages panel
after a Google Workspace administrator installed the
Chat app on their behalf.
To start using a Chat app, Google Chat users can
start a direct message with the Chat app or add it to a
space. Users can also add the Chat app by @mentioning
it. For more information, see
Use Chat apps.
The following example shows how a user @mentions a
Chat app to add it to a space:
Choose a framework for your interactive Chat app
To build a Chat app that interacts with users, you
can choose between the following frameworks:
Google Workspace add-on: Lets you extend other
Google Workspace applications and list your
Chat app with other types of apps on the
Google Workspace Marketplace.
To learn more, see Extend Google Chat in the
Google Workspace add-on documentation.
For each framework, the following table shows the documentation for configuring
and creating a basic interactive Chat app for each
Google Chat app architecture:
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-08 UTC."],[],[],null,["This page provides an overview of the frameworks that you can use to build an\ninteractive Google Chat app. \n\nInteractive Chat apps let users do any of the following:\n\n- Add Chat apps to Chat spaces or direct messages.\n- Send messages to or receive messages from Chat apps.\n- Prompt Chat apps with a command.\n- Preview links from an external service or system.\n- Submit information to Chat apps, such as entering text into a dialog or card message.\n\nHow users discover and use interactive Chat apps\n\nUsers can discover and use Chat apps published to the\nMarketplace in many ways, including the following:\n\n- Search and install Chat apps from Google Chat or the Marketplace.\n- Interact with a Chat app that's been added to a Chat space.\n- Discover the Chat app in their direct messages panel after a Google Workspace administrator installed the Chat app on their behalf.\n\nTo start using a Chat app, Google Chat users can\nstart a direct message with the Chat app or add it to a\nspace. Users can also add the Chat app by @mentioning\nit. For more information, see\n[Use Chat apps](https://support.google.com/chat/answer/7655820).\n\nThe following example shows how a user @mentions a\nChat app to add it to a space:\n\nChoose a framework for your interactive Chat app\n\nTo build a Chat app that interacts with users, you\ncan choose between the following frameworks:\n\n- **Google Workspace add-on (Developer Preview)** : Lets you extend other Google Workspace applications and list your Chat app with other types of apps on the Google Workspace Marketplace. To learn more, see [Extend Google Chat](/workspace/add-ons/chat) in the Google Workspace add-on documentation.\n- **Chat API interaction event** : Lets you build additional features such as a [Chat app homepage](/workspace/chat/send-app-home-card-message) and use other architectures such as Pub/Sub and Dialogflow CX. To learn more, see [Receive and respond to interaction events](/workspace/chat/receive-respond-interactions).\n\nConfigure an interactive Chat app\n\nFor each framework, the following table shows the documentation for configuring\nand creating a basic interactive Chat app for each\n[Google Chat app architecture](/workspace/chat/structure):\n\n| Configuration | Add-on | Chat API interaction events |\n|------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|---|\n| Configure the Chat API | [Documentation](/workspace/add-ons/chat/configure) | [Documentation](/workspace/chat/configure-chat-api) |\n| **Quickstarts** | |||\n| Apps Script | [Documentation](/workspace/add-ons/chat/quickstart-apps-script) | [Documentation](/workspace/chat/quickstart/apps-script-app) |\n| HTTP service | [Documentation](/workspace/add-ons/chat/quickstart-http) | [Documentation](/workspace/chat/quickstart/gcf-app) |\n| Dialogflow CX | Unavailable for add-ons. | [Documentation](/workspace/chat/build-dialogflow-chat-app-natural-language) |\n| Pub/Sub | Unavailable for add-ons. | [Documentation](/workspace/chat/quickstart/pub-sub) |\n\nBuild interactive features\n\nFor each framework, the following table shows the documentation for\nbuilding interactive features:\n\n| Feature | Add-on | Chat API interaction events |\n|---------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------|\n| Send messages | [Documentation](/workspace/add-ons/chat/send-messages) | |\n| Respond to commands | [Documentation](/workspace/add-ons/chat/commands) | [Documentation](/workspace/chat/commands) |\n| Build interactive dialogs | [Documentation](/workspace/add-ons/chat/dialogs) | [Documentation](/workspace/chat/dialogs) |\n| Collect and process information | [Documentation](/workspace/add-ons/chat/collect-information) | [Documentation](/workspace/chat/read-form-data) |\n| Preview links in Chat messages | [Documentation](/workspace/add-ons/chat/preview-links) | [Documentation](/workspace/chat/preview-links) |\n| Build a homepage for your Chat app | Unavailable for add-ons. | [Documentation](/workspace/chat/send-app-home-card-message) |\n| Connect to external systems and tools | [Documentation](/workspace/add-ons/guides/connect-third-party-service) | [Documentation](/workspace/chat/connect-web-services-tools) |\n\nRelated topics\n\n- [Build a Google Chat app as a Google Workspace add-on](/workspace/add-ons/chat)\n- [Receive and respond to interaction events](/workspace/chat/receive-respond-interactions)\n- [Choose a Google Chat app architecture](/workspace/chat/structure)"]]
