Overview

An overview of the development kit used to create custom books.

In Kognitos, books can be added to an automation agent to expand functionality and integrate with external tools. Although Kognitos builds and maintains a library of books to address common use cases, there may be situations that require a custom book. Using our software toolkit, you can develop, deploy, and connect your own book to help with:

1. Integrations

Create procedures that interact with third-party APIs, databases, and external services. If your organization uses tools or services not natively integrated with Kognitos, you can build a custom book to integrate them directly into your automation workflows.

2. Extending Core Functionalities

Extend Kognitos’ features to support more complex scenarios beyond standard functionality. Whether you need to support advanced data manipulation or custom data validation, the toolkit provides the tools to create custom books that meet your unique requirements.

Components

The BDK is comprised of the following software components:

	Component	Description
1	API	The core Python library for Book development.
2	Template	A Python Cookiecutter template that simplifies the process of developing a new book.
3	Linter	A linting tool built as a Pylint plugin. It analyzes code throughout development to identify potential issues and ensures books are implemented, documented, and annotated correctly.
4	Poetry Plugin	A Python dependency management and packaging tool that uses Poetry. It manages dependencies, versioning, formatting, and documentation generation for a book.
5	Runtime	A runtime that connects a book with the Kognitos platform. It is packaged as a Docker image that serves as the foundation for book containers.

Lifecycle

This lifecycle outlines the stages of software development for a new book and how the components interact throughout the process.

1. Planning

The planning phase is where the book's functionality is defined. In this stage, you identify the external systems the book will integrate with and outline the workflows or automation goals. This stage clarifies objectives and requirements, setting the foundation for development.

2. Development

The development phase is where the book’s functionality is implemented using the API and other tools:

• The Book Template provides starter code to streamline setup.

• The Linter enforces coding standards and identifies potential issues.

• The Poetry Plugin manages dependencies, versioning, and documentation.

3. Testing

The testing phase ensures that books perform as intended. The Template includes a testing framework for validating book functionality.

4. Packaging & Deployment

In this stage, the book is packaged and prepared for deployment. The code is packaged with the Runtime using Docker and deployed externally.

5. Execution

Once deployed, the book is ready to run in Kognitos, enabling you to extend your automations with custom workflows.

Example Books

Book that integrates with the OpenWeather API.

Book that integrates with the Twilio API.

Book containing automation procedures that operate on YAML files.