Automation, and the ability to build highly automated, custom workflows is one of the primary use-cases of Medplum. Medplum automations are implemented via [bots](/content/docs/bots/index.html), which are lambdas that implement custom functions written by developers.

Bots are often linked with integrations and are one of the most utilized features of Medplum.

## Examples

To get a sense of what bots are, it's useful to consider some examples. Below are examples of automations built using the [bots](/content/docs/bots/index.html) framework.

- **Consume event data or webhooks from other platforms**: see this tutorial on [consuming HL7 feeds and converting to FHIR](/content/docs/bots/hl7-into-fhir/index.html).
- **Export data to other systems**: see this tutorial on [exporting a PDF report for human consumption](/content/docs/bots/creating-a-pdf/index.html).
- **Drive workflow**: see this tutorial on checking insurance eligibility for a specific medical service.
- **Calling out to 3rd party APIs**: see this tutorial on [uploading a file to an external API](/content/docs/bots/file-uploads/index.html).

## Writing Bots

Bots are written in TypeScript using the Medplum [SDK](/content/docs/sdk/index.html). Bots are then deployed into and hosted as part of the core application, much like AWS Lambdas. When the bot is invoked the bot code is executed.

- The bots active in your account can be viewed in on [app.medplum.com](https://app.medplum.com/Bot)
- Tutorials on how to write bots can be found [here](/content/docs/bots/index.html)
- Reference implementations of common bots can be found [here](https://github.com/medplum/medplum-demo-bots)
- Command Line Interface (CLI) documentation for testing and deploying bots can be found [here](/content/docs/bots/bots-in-production/index.html)

## Triggering Bots

Bots can be triggered the following ways:

- **Via subscription**: [subscriptions](/content/docs/bots/bot-basics#executing-automatically-using-a-subscription/index.html) are webhooks that are triggered when FHIR resources are created or updated and can trigger bots.
- **POST to $execute endpoint**: each bot exposes an API endpoint and a POST to that endpoint will trigger the bot.
- **Via Questionnaire**: you can link a questionnaire to a bot and when the questionnaire is filled out, the bot can [process the response](/content/docs/bots/bot-for-questionnaire-response/index.html).

A detailed guide on these scenarios can be found in our [bots tutorials](/content/docs/bots/bot-basics#executing-a-bot/index.html).

## FHIR Resources

| Resource | App Link | Create New | API Documentation |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Bot | [View All](https://app.medplum.com/Bot) | [Create New](https://app.medplum.com/Bot/new) | [CLI](/content/docs/bots/bots-in-production/index.html) |
| Subscription | [View All](https://app.medplum.com/Subscription) | [Create New](https://app.medplum.com/Subscription/new) | [API](/content/docs/api/fhir/resources/subscription/index.html) |
| Questionnaire | [View All](https://app.medplum.com/Questionnaire) | [Create New](https://app.medplum.com/Questionnaire/new) | [API](/content/docs/api/fhir/resources/questionnaire/index.html) |
| QuestionnaireResponse | [View All](https://app.medplum.com/QuestionnaireResponse) | Created programmatically | [API](/content/docs/api/fhir/resources/questionnaireresponse/index.html) |
| AuditEvent | [View All](https://app.medplum.com/AuditEvent) | Created automatically | [API](/content/docs/api/fhir/resources/auditevent/index.html) |

## System Diagram

This diagram shows how bots fit into the overall system architecture.

## Demos and Reference Material

- [Bot Tutorials](/content/docs/bots/index.html)
- [Subscriptions](/content/docs/subscriptions/index.html) - these are like webhooks
- [Sample Bot Repository](https://github.com/medplum/medplum-demo-bots) on Github
- [Bots](https://app.medplum.com/admin/bots) in the admin panel
- [Secrets](https://app.medplum.com/admin/secrets) in the admin panel
- [Bot Commits](https://github.com/medplum/medplum/search?q=Bot&type=commits) on Github
- [Example Bot in Mock Library](https://github.com/medplum/medplum/blob/main/packages/mock/src/mocks/bot.ts)