Manage intents with the API

Intents determine which user requests are understood and what action to take. In most cases, you will use the Dialogflow ES console to manage intents. In advanced scenarios, you may wish to use the API to manage intents. This page describes how to create, list, and delete intents using the API.

Before you begin

You should do the following before reading this guide:

  1. Read Dialogflow basics.
  2. Perform setup steps.

Create an agent

If you have not already created an agent, create one now:

  1. Go to the Dialogflow ES console.
  2. If requested, sign in to the Dialogflow Console. See Dialogflow console overview for more information.
  3. Click Create Agent in the left sidebar menu. (If you already have other agents, click the agent name, scroll to the bottom and click Create new agent.)
  4. Enter your agent's name, default language, and default time zone.
  5. If you have already created a project, enter that project. If you want to allow the Dialogflow Console to create the project, select Create a new Google project.
  6. Click the Create button.

Import the example file to your agent

The steps in this guide make assumptions about your agent, so you need to import an agent prepared for this guide. When importing, these steps use the restore option, which overwrites all agent settings, intents, and entities.

To import the file, follow these steps:

  1. Download the room-booking-agent.zip file.
  2. Go to the Dialogflow ES console.
  3. Select your agent.
  4. Click the settings button next to the agent name.
  5. Select the Export and Import tab.
  6. Select Restore From Zip and follow instructions to restore the zip file that you downloaded.

Use IntentView to return all intent data

When creating, listing, or getting an intent, intent data is returned to the caller. By default, this returned data is abbreviated. The samples below use this default.

To retrieve all intent data, you must set the IntentView parameter to INTENT_VIEW_FULL. For more information, see the methods for the Intents type.

Create intent

The following samples show how to create an intent. For more information, see the Intents reference.

REST

To create an intent for your agent, call the create method on the intent resource.

Before using any of the request data, make the following replacements:

  • PROJECT_ID: your Google Cloud project ID

HTTP method and URL: 

POST https://dialogflow.googleapis.com/v2/projects/PROJECT_ID/agent/intents

Request JSON body: 

{
  "displayName": "ListRooms",
  "priority": 500000,
  "webhookState": "WEBHOOK_STATE_UNSPECIFIED",
  "trainingPhrases": [
    {
      "type": "EXAMPLE",
      "parts": [
        {
          "text": "What rooms are available at 10am today?"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "action": "listRooms",
  "messages": [
    {
      "text": {
        "text": [
          "Here are the available rooms:"
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

To send your request, expand one of these options:

You should receive a JSON response similar to the following:

The path segment after intents contains your new intent ID.

Go

To authenticate to Dialogflow, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

func CreateIntent(projectID, displayName string, trainingPhraseParts, messageTexts []string) error {
	ctx := context.Background()

	intentsClient, clientErr := dialogflow.NewIntentsClient(ctx)
	if clientErr != nil {
		return clientErr
	}
	defer intentsClient.Close()

	if projectID == "" || displayName == "" {
		return errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("Received empty project (%s) or intent (%s)", projectID, displayName))
	}

	parent := fmt.Sprintf("projects/%s/agent", projectID)

	var targetTrainingPhrases []*dialogflowpb.Intent_TrainingPhrase
	var targetTrainingPhraseParts []*dialogflowpb.Intent_TrainingPhrase_Part
	for _, partString := range trainingPhraseParts {
		part := dialogflowpb.Intent_TrainingPhrase_Part{Text: partString}
		targetTrainingPhraseParts = []*dialogflowpb.Intent_TrainingPhrase_Part{&part}
		targetTrainingPhrase := dialogflowpb.Intent_TrainingPhrase{Type: dialogflowpb.Intent_TrainingPhrase_EXAMPLE, Parts: targetTrainingPhraseParts}
		targetTrainingPhrases = append(targetTrainingPhrases, &targetTrainingPhrase)
	}

	intentMessageTexts := dialogflowpb.Intent_Message_Text{Text: messageTexts}
	wrappedIntentMessageTexts := dialogflowpb.Intent_Message_Text_{Text: &intentMessageTexts}
	intentMessage := dialogflowpb.Intent_Message{Message: &wrappedIntentMessageTexts}

	target := dialogflowpb.Intent{DisplayName: displayName, WebhookState: dialogflowpb.Intent_WEBHOOK_STATE_UNSPECIFIED, TrainingPhrases: targetTrainingPhrases, Messages: []*dialogflowpb.Intent_Message{&intentMessage}}

	request := dialogflowpb.CreateIntentRequest{Parent: parent, Intent: &target}

	_, requestErr := intentsClient.CreateIntent(ctx, &request)
	if requestErr != nil {
		return requestErr
	}

	return nil
}

Java

To authenticate to Dialogflow, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 


/**
 * Create an intent of the given intent type
 *
 * @param displayName The display name of the intent.
 * @param projectId Project/Agent Id.
 * @param trainingPhrasesParts Training phrases.
 * @param messageTexts Message texts for the agent's response when the intent is detected.
 * @return The created Intent.
 */
public static Intent createIntent(
    String displayName,
    String projectId,
    List<String> trainingPhrasesParts,
    List<String> messageTexts)
    throws ApiException, IOException {
  // Instantiates a client
  try (IntentsClient intentsClient = IntentsClient.create()) {
    // Set the project agent name using the projectID (my-project-id)
    AgentName parent = AgentName.of(projectId);

    // Build the trainingPhrases from the trainingPhrasesParts
    List<TrainingPhrase> trainingPhrases = new ArrayList<>();
    for (String trainingPhrase : trainingPhrasesParts) {
      trainingPhrases.add(
          TrainingPhrase.newBuilder()
              .addParts(Part.newBuilder().setText(trainingPhrase).build())
              .build());
    }

    // Build the message texts for the agent's response
    Message message =
        Message.newBuilder().setText(Text.newBuilder().addAllText(messageTexts).build()).build();

    // Build the intent
    Intent intent =
        Intent.newBuilder()
            .setDisplayName(displayName)
            .addMessages(message)
            .addAllTrainingPhrases(trainingPhrases)
            .build();

    // Performs the create intent request
    Intent response = intentsClient.createIntent(parent, intent);
    System.out.format("Intent created: %s\n", response);

    return response;
  }
}

Node.js

To authenticate to Dialogflow, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 


/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment the following lines before running the sample.
 */
// const projectId = 'The Project ID to use, e.g. 'YOUR_GCP_ID';
// const displayName = 'The display name of the intent, e.g. 'MAKE_RESERVATION';
// const trainingPhrasesParts = 'Training phrases, e.g. 'How many people are staying?';
// const messageTexts = 'Message texts for the agent's response when the intent is detected, e.g. 'Your reservation has been confirmed';

// Imports the Dialogflow library
const dialogflow = require('@google-cloud/dialogflow');

// Instantiates the Intent Client
const intentsClient = new dialogflow.IntentsClient();

async function createIntent() {
  // Construct request

  // The path to identify the agent that owns the created intent.
  const agentPath = intentsClient.projectAgentPath(projectId);

  const trainingPhrases = [];

  trainingPhrasesParts.forEach(trainingPhrasesPart => {
    const part = {
      text: trainingPhrasesPart,
    };

    // Here we create a new training phrase for each provided part.
    const trainingPhrase = {
      type: 'EXAMPLE',
      parts: [part],
    };

    trainingPhrases.push(trainingPhrase);
  });

  const messageText = {
    text: messageTexts,
  };

  const message = {
    text: messageText,
  };

  const intent = {
    displayName: displayName,
    trainingPhrases: trainingPhrases,
    messages: [message],
  };

  const createIntentRequest = {
    parent: agentPath,
    intent: intent,
  };

  // Create the intent
  const [response] = await intentsClient.createIntent(createIntentRequest);
  console.log(`Intent ${response.name} created`);
}

createIntent();

Python

To authenticate to Dialogflow, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

def create_intent(project_id, display_name, training_phrases_parts, message_texts):
    """Create an intent of the given intent type."""
    from google.cloud import dialogflow

    intents_client = dialogflow.IntentsClient()

    parent = dialogflow.AgentsClient.agent_path(project_id)
    training_phrases = []
    for training_phrases_part in training_phrases_parts:
        part = dialogflow.Intent.TrainingPhrase.Part(text=training_phrases_part)
        # Here we create a new training phrase for each provided part.
        training_phrase = dialogflow.Intent.TrainingPhrase(parts=[part])
        training_phrases.append(training_phrase)

    text = dialogflow.Intent.Message.Text(text=message_texts)
    message = dialogflow.Intent.Message(text=text)

    intent = dialogflow.Intent(
        display_name=display_name, training_phrases=training_phrases, messages=[message]
    )

    response = intents_client.create_intent(
        request={"parent": parent, "intent": intent}
    )

    print("Intent created: {}".format(response))

Additional languages

C#: Please follow the C# setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Dialogflow reference documentation for .NET.

PHP: Please follow the PHP setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Dialogflow reference documentation for PHP.

Ruby: Please follow the Ruby setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Dialogflow reference documentation for Ruby.

List intents

The following samples show how to lists intents. For more information, see the Intents reference.

REST

To list the intents for your agent, call the list method on the intents resource.

Before using any of the request data, make the following replacements:

  • PROJECT_ID: your Google Cloud project ID

HTTP method and URL: 

GET https://dialogflow.googleapis.com/v2/projects/PROJECT_ID/agent/intents

To send your request, expand one of these options:

You should receive a JSON response similar to the following:

{
  "intents": [
    {
      "name": "projects/PROJECT_ID/agent/intents/5b290a94-55d6-4074-96f4-9c4c4879c2bb",
      "displayName": "ListRooms",
      "priority": 500000,
      "action": "listRooms",
      "messages": [
        {
          "text": {
            "text": [
              "Here are the available rooms:"
            ]
          }
        }
      ]
    },
    ...
  ]
}

The path segments after intents contain your intent IDs.

Go

To authenticate to Dialogflow, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 


func ListIntents(projectID string) ([]*dialogflowpb.Intent, error) {
	ctx := context.Background()

	intentsClient, clientErr := dialogflow.NewIntentsClient(ctx)
	if clientErr != nil {
		return nil, clientErr
	}
	defer intentsClient.Close()

	if projectID == "" {
		return nil, errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("Received empty project (%s)", projectID))
	}

	parent := fmt.Sprintf("projects/%s/agent", projectID)

	request := dialogflowpb.ListIntentsRequest{Parent: parent}

	intentIterator := intentsClient.ListIntents(ctx, &request)
	var intents []*dialogflowpb.Intent

	for intent, status := intentIterator.Next(); status != iterator.Done; {
		intents = append(intents, intent)
		intent, status = intentIterator.Next()
	}

	return intents, nil
}

Java

To authenticate to Dialogflow, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 


/**
 * List intents
 *
 * @param projectId Project/Agent Id.
 * @return Intents found.
 */
public static List<Intent> listIntents(String projectId) throws ApiException, IOException {
  List<Intent> intents = Lists.newArrayList();
  // Instantiates a client
  try (IntentsClient intentsClient = IntentsClient.create()) {
    // Set the project agent name using the projectID (my-project-id)
    AgentName parent = AgentName.of(projectId);

    // Performs the list intents request
    for (Intent intent : intentsClient.listIntents(parent).iterateAll()) {
      System.out.println("====================");
      System.out.format("Intent name: '%s'\n", intent.getName());
      System.out.format("Intent display name: '%s'\n", intent.getDisplayName());
      System.out.format("Action: '%s'\n", intent.getAction());
      System.out.format("Root followup intent: '%s'\n", intent.getRootFollowupIntentName());
      System.out.format("Parent followup intent: '%s'\n", intent.getParentFollowupIntentName());

      System.out.format("Input contexts:\n");
      for (String inputContextName : intent.getInputContextNamesList()) {
        System.out.format("\tName: %s\n", inputContextName);
      }
      System.out.format("Output contexts:\n");
      for (Context outputContext : intent.getOutputContextsList()) {
        System.out.format("\tName: %s\n", outputContext.getName());
      }

      intents.add(intent);
    }
  }
  return intents;
}

Node.js

To authenticate to Dialogflow, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 


/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment the following lines before running the sample.
 */
// const projectId = 'The Project ID to use, e.g. 'YOUR_GCP_ID';

// Imports the Dialogflow library
const dialogflow = require('@google-cloud/dialogflow');

// Instantiates clients
const intentsClient = new dialogflow.IntentsClient();

async function listIntents() {
  // Construct request

  // The path to identify the agent that owns the intents.
  const projectAgentPath = intentsClient.projectAgentPath(projectId);

  console.log(projectAgentPath);

  const request = {
    parent: projectAgentPath,
  };

  // Send the request for listing intents.
  const [response] = await intentsClient.listIntents(request);
  response.forEach(intent => {
    console.log('====================');
    console.log(`Intent name: ${intent.name}`);
    console.log(`Intent display name: ${intent.displayName}`);
    console.log(`Action: ${intent.action}`);
    console.log(`Root folowup intent: ${intent.rootFollowupIntentName}`);
    console.log(`Parent followup intent: ${intent.parentFollowupIntentName}`);

    console.log('Input contexts:');
    intent.inputContextNames.forEach(inputContextName => {
      console.log(`\tName: ${inputContextName}`);
    });

    console.log('Output contexts:');
    intent.outputContexts.forEach(outputContext => {
      console.log(`\tName: ${outputContext.name}`);
    });
  });
}

listIntents();

Python

To authenticate to Dialogflow, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

def list_intents(project_id):
    from google.cloud import dialogflow

    intents_client = dialogflow.IntentsClient()

    parent = dialogflow.AgentsClient.agent_path(project_id)

    intents = intents_client.list_intents(request={"parent": parent})

    for intent in intents:
        print("=" * 20)
        print("Intent name: {}".format(intent.name))
        print("Intent display_name: {}".format(intent.display_name))
        print("Action: {}\n".format(intent.action))
        print("Root followup intent: {}".format(intent.root_followup_intent_name))
        print("Parent followup intent: {}\n".format(intent.parent_followup_intent_name))

        print("Input contexts:")
        for input_context_name in intent.input_context_names:
            print("\tName: {}".format(input_context_name))

        print("Output contexts:")
        for output_context in intent.output_contexts:
            print("\tName: {}".format(output_context.name))

Additional languages

C#: Please follow the C# setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Dialogflow reference documentation for .NET.

PHP: Please follow the PHP setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Dialogflow reference documentation for PHP.

Ruby: Please follow the Ruby setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Dialogflow reference documentation for Ruby.

Delete intents

The following samples show how to delete an intent. For more information, see the Intents reference.

REST

To delete an intent for your agent, call the delete method on the intents resource.

Before using any of the request data, make the following replacements:

  • PROJECT_ID: your Google Cloud project ID
  • INTENT_ID: your intent ID

HTTP method and URL: 

DELETE https://dialogflow.googleapis.com/v2/projects/PROJECT_ID/agent/intents/INTENT_ID

To send your request, expand one of these options:

You should receive a successful status code (2xx) and an empty response.

Go

To authenticate to Dialogflow, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

func DeleteIntent(projectID, intentID string) error {
	ctx := context.Background()

	intentsClient, clientErr := dialogflow.NewIntentsClient(ctx)
	if clientErr != nil {
		return clientErr
	}
	defer intentsClient.Close()

	if projectID == "" || intentID == "" {
		return errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("Received empty project (%s) or intent (%s)", projectID, intentID))
	}

	targetPath := fmt.Sprintf("projects/%s/agent/intents/%s", projectID, intentID)

	request := dialogflowpb.DeleteIntentRequest{Name: targetPath}

	requestErr := intentsClient.DeleteIntent(ctx, &request)
	if requestErr != nil {
		return requestErr
	}

	return nil
}

Java

To authenticate to Dialogflow, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 


/**
 * Delete intent with the given intent type and intent value
 *
 * @param intentId The id of the intent.
 * @param projectId Project/Agent Id.
 */
public static void deleteIntent(String intentId, String projectId)
    throws ApiException, IOException {
  // Instantiates a client
  try (IntentsClient intentsClient = IntentsClient.create()) {
    IntentName name = IntentName.of(projectId, intentId);
    // Performs the delete intent request
    intentsClient.deleteIntent(name);
  }
}

Node.js

To authenticate to Dialogflow, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

// Imports the Dialogflow library
const dialogflow = require('@google-cloud/dialogflow');

// Instantiates clients
const intentsClient = new dialogflow.IntentsClient();

const intentPath = intentsClient.projectAgentIntentPath(projectId, intentId);

const request = {name: intentPath};

// Send the request for deleting the intent.
const result = await intentsClient.deleteIntent(request);
console.log(`Intent ${intentPath} deleted`);
return result;

Python

To authenticate to Dialogflow, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

def delete_intent(project_id, intent_id):
    """Delete intent with the given intent type and intent value."""
    from google.cloud import dialogflow

    intents_client = dialogflow.IntentsClient()

    intent_path = intents_client.intent_path(project_id, intent_id)

    intents_client.delete_intent(request={"name": intent_path})

Additional languages

C#: Please follow the C# setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Dialogflow reference documentation for .NET.

PHP: Please follow the PHP setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Dialogflow reference documentation for PHP.

Ruby: Please follow the Ruby setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Dialogflow reference documentation for Ruby.

Previous
Manage agents with the API
Next
Manage knowledge bases