# Node SDK > Install the Thalovant Node SDK for JavaScript services, scripts, bots, and agents. Source: https://docs.thalovant.com/developers/sdks/node/ --- Use the Node SDK when your client or agent runs in JavaScript or TypeScript. The package name is `@thalovant/sdk`. Node.js 20 or newer is required. ## Install Install the package with `npm install @thalovant/sdk`: Pin the version when you need a reproducible build. The current one is in [Supported Versions](/developers/sdks/#supported-versions). ## First Request ```ts const api = new ThalovantControlPlane(); const publicHubs = await api.listPublicHubs({ limit: 1 }); const [hub] = publicHubs.data as Array<{ id: string; slug: string; title: string }>; console.log(hub.title, hub.slug); await api.login("you@example.com", "password"); const result = await api.createClientIdentity(hub.id, { name: "node-demo-client", preferredProtocols: ["wss", "https", "mqtt"], }); const client = new ThalovantClient(result.identity, { protocol: "wss" }); try { const reply = await client.ask("Tell me a short clean joke."); console.log(reply.text); } finally { await client.close(); } ``` `new ThalovantControlPlane()` uses `https://api.thalovant.com` by default. Keep `result.identity` secret. Authenticated API actions require API access on the workspace. ## Sign In With MFA Accounts with multi-factor authentication enabled must include a TOTP code or a one-time recovery code with the login. Without one, the API rejects the sign-in with HTTP 401 and code `mfa_required`. Both options are sent only when provided. MFA support needs SDK 0.2.23 or newer. ```ts await api.login("you@example.com", "password", { otpCode: "123456" }); // Or use a one-time recovery code instead: await api.login("you@example.com", "password", { recoveryCode: "abcd-efgh-ijkl" }); ``` ## Sign In Without A Password Device login asks your browser to approve the sign-in, so scripts, bots, and agents never handle your password. The SDK prints a short code and the address `https://dash.thalovant.com/activate`, opens that page when it can, and waits while you approve the request in the dashboard with your normal sign-in, including Google sign-in or MFA. On approval the SDK holds a scoped, revocable API token. Device login needs SDK 0.2.25 or newer. Approving the request needs a paid workspace plan; a free plan gets HTTP 402. ```ts // Prints: To sign in, visit https://dash.thalovant.com/activate and enter the code XXXX-XXXX const token = await api.loginWithBrowser({ clientName: "my-laptop" }); // api.accessToken is now set, exactly like after api.login(...). const page = await api.listHubs({ limit: 50 }); ``` Manage the resulting token on the dashboard's [API Tokens page](/account/api-tokens/). ## Authenticate With An API Token Pass a stored API token when the process should start authenticated, such as CI jobs and services. Mint one on the [API Tokens page](/account/api-tokens/) or with `loginWithBrowser`; the page shows scopes, expiry, and last use, and can revoke the token at any time. ```ts const api = new ThalovantControlPlane("https://api.thalovant.com", { accessToken: process.env.THALOVANT_API_TOKEN, }); // Ready immediately; no login call needed. const page = await api.listHubs({ limit: 50 }); ``` ## Use The SDK In A Browser The SDK also runs in browsers behind a bundler. This needs SDK 0.2.24 or newer. The control plane, including `login`, `listPublicHubs`, `createClientIdentity`, memory, and analytics, uses the global `fetch`. `ThalovantClient` works over the `wss` and `https` protocols using the global `WebSocket`. The package ships a `browser` map alongside its `exports` entry, so bundlers such as esbuild, webpack, Vite, and Rollup pick browser-safe modules automatically and never pull `ws`, `mqtt`, or `node:` builtins into web bundles. Bundle it like any other dependency: ```bash esbuild app.js --bundle --platform=browser --outfile=dist/app.js ``` ```ts // app.js — runs in the browser after bundling const api = new ThalovantControlPlane(); await api.login(email, password); const result = await api.createClientIdentity(hubId, { name: "web-kiosk" }); const client = new ThalovantClient(result.identity, { protocol: "wss" }); try { const reply = await client.ask("Hello from the browser."); console.log(reply.text); } finally { await client.close(); } ``` Browser caveats: - The `mqtt` protocol stays Node-only. Constructing the MQTT transport in a browser throws `ThalovantUnsupportedProtocolError` with a clear message; use `wss` or `https` instead. - Identity files and YAML configs stay Node-only. `ThalovantIdentity.fromFile()`, `fromConfig()`, and `defaultConfigPath()` throw in browsers; construct `ThalovantIdentity` from an in-memory object, such as the result of `createClientIdentity`. - In browsers the SDK keeps its keys in `localStorage`, under the namespace `thalovant:noise` by default. Anything stored there is readable by scripts on that origin. Preserve this state across page loads and use a separate namespace and identity for each independently active tab. The browser queue coordinates only one page; it does not serialize changes across tabs. If browser storage is unavailable or a write fails, newly written state lasts only for that page; a later page load may be refused by a hub that pinned the previous client key. Restore the original state or provision a replacement client identity instead of automatically resetting pins. - A client identity remains secret even for a public hub. Obtain it at runtime for the authorized user or device; never embed a shared identity, API token, or password in the shipped JavaScript bundle. Request an approved [SDK origin](/developers/sdk-origins/) before calling the API from a customer-owned browser domain. ## Use A Saved Identity ```ts const client = await ThalovantClient.fromConfig({ profile: "prod", protocol: "wss" }); try { const reply = await client.ask("What can this hub do?"); console.log(reply.text); } finally { await client.close(); } ``` Raw identity files work too: ```ts const client = await ThalovantClient.fromIdentityFile("_identity.json"); try { const reply = await client.ask("What can this hub do?"); console.log(reply.text); } finally { await client.close(); } ``` Environment variables work too: ```ts const client = ThalovantClient.fromEnv(); ``` ## Where The SDK Keeps Its Keys The SDK connects over WSS, HTTPS, or MQTT over TLS in Node.js; browser builds use WSS and HTTPS. Every connection is encrypted and authenticated before anything is sent. The optional `noiseStateDir` works on the client constructor and on `fromIdentityFile`, `fromConfig`, and `fromEnv`. In Node.js it is the private directory where the SDK keeps its keys and the hub identities it has recorded; keep it between restarts. In browsers the same option names a `localStorage` namespace rather than a path. Use a distinct identity for each client process that runs at the same time. MQTT requires a TLS endpoint. Setting `tls: true` upgrades `mqtt://` to `mqtts://` and `ws://` to `wss://`; unsupported or plaintext effective schemes are refused before broker credentials are sent. MQTT connection, subscription, authentication, and online presence share the connect timeout. HTTPS failure cleanup also stays within its original connect deadline. ```typescript const client = await ThalovantClient.fromIdentityFile("identity.json", { protocol: "https", noiseStateDir: "/path/to/private/persistent/sdk-state", }); ``` HTTPS keeps its session across reconnects and cleans up its previous connection before opening a new one. After the broker connection is lost, MQTT authenticates again. `healthcheck().handshakeComplete` stays false until authentication finishes; an open socket or a successful HTTP response alone is not enough. `connect(timeoutMs?, signal?)` uses one deadline for queued cleanup, connection setup and authenticated readiness, with a 6,000 ms default. `close(timeoutMs?)` bounds its caller's wait with the same default. If close times out, cleanup still owns the connection. `await client.waitForClosed()` observes the actual most recent cleanup, without a timeout, and retains its failure. Wait for that cleanup before reusing the identity. Use fresh request IDs for Ask and fresh query IDs for Query; generated IDs are the default. An overlapping collector with the same ID is rejected on the same client. The namespaces are independent. Do not reuse an ID for a later logical operation, even after cancellation: a delayed reply can still carry it. Reuse a session ID for conversation context. Node writes its saved keys atomically across processes. Damaged saved keys stop the operation without resetting what was saved. If a crashed process leaves `.noise-state.lock` behind, confirm the process has stopped before removing only the lock file, and keep the key files. This lock does not coordinate live hub sessions or browser tabs. ## Choose A Protocol ```ts const identity = result.identity; console.log(identity.enabledProtocols()); console.log(identity.endpointFor("wss")); console.log(identity.endpointFor("https")); console.log(identity.endpointFor("mqtt")); for (const protocol of ["wss", "https", "mqtt"] as const) { if (!identity.supportsProtocol(protocol)) continue; if (protocol === "mqtt" && !identity.mqtt) continue; const client = new ThalovantClient(identity, { protocol }); try { const reply = await client.ask(`Reply over ${protocol}.`); console.log(protocol, reply.text); } finally { await client.close(); } } ``` MQTT requires the `identity.mqtt` broker credentials returned for that client. For broker details, see [MQTT](/developers/mqtt/). ## Add Context ```ts const context = buildClientContext({}, { userId: "user-42", userName: "Ada", source: "checkout-kiosk", platform: "kiosk", locale: "en-US", channel: "chat", }); const reply = await client.ask("Show the next instruction.", { context }); console.log(reply.text); ``` ## Listen For Events ```ts const sub = client.on(EVENT_SPEAK, event => { console.log(event.text); }); try { await client.ask("Say the current status."); } finally { sub.close(); } ``` Register the listener before sending so it can observe fast replies. `ask()` also correlates its own response; the subscription observes matching bus events while the request runs. ## List What The Hub Can Be Asked A connected client can list every intent its hub answers, per language, with the sentences a person says to reach each one, over its own session and with no control-plane token. See [What Can My Hub Be Asked?](/concepts/hub-intents/) for what the hub returns, which message types the connection must be allowed to publish, and what a refusal or a failed listing looks like. Since SDK 0.2.38 the calls are `client.intents(languages, options)`, which returns the inventory grouped by skill, `client.listIntents(lang, options)`, which returns the registration rows, and `client.describeIntent(skillId, intentName, lang, options)`, which returns the definitions behind one intent. ```ts const client = await ThalovantClient.fromIdentityFile("_identity.json"); try { const inventory = await client.intents(["en-us", "fr-fr"]); console.log(inventory.source, inventory.languages); for (const skill of inventory.skills) { for (const intent of skill.intents) { console.log(intent.id, intent.engine, intent.examples("fr-fr")); } } } catch (error) { if (error instanceof ThalovantPolicyDeniedError) { console.error("refused:", error.deniedType, "allowed:", error.allowed); } throw error; } finally { await client.close(); } ``` `intents()` asks `ovos.intent.list` once per language, then fills in the sentences the listing did not carry. `{ describe: false }` stops at names, engines, and enabled state. `examples(lang, limit)` prefers whole sentences to ones with a `{slot}`, then fuller wording up to eight words; `phrasesFor(lang)` returns all of them, and `inventory.asObject()` is ready for `JSON.stringify`. Language tags compare without regard to case or `_` and `-`, so `fr-fr` and `fr_FR` are one request. A hub that refuses a query rejects at once with `ThalovantPolicyDeniedError`, a `ThalovantRuntimeError` carrying `deniedType`, `code`, `reason`, and `allowed`. With the default `{ fallback: true }`, a refused or silent `ovos.intent.list` returns names only instead: `inventory.source` is `"engine-manifests"`, `inventory.denied` is `["ovos.intent.list"]`, and `inventory.hasPhrases` is false. A hub that accepts the listing and answers it with `ok: false` rejects with `ThalovantRuntimeError` carrying the hub's own error text, because a failed listing is not an empty hub. Since 0.2.39 that rejection replaces the empty list the SDK used to return. ## Useful Helpers Send one request and receive normalized text, speech, and display items. Wait for one matching hub event with a timeout. Send a button, menu, or tool action. Send a barcode, QR value, serial number, or typed exact value. For the full method list, see [SDK Functions](/developers/sdk-functions/). Use `api.getOperation(operationId)` to follow an accepted command; see [Operations](/developers/operations/). ## Provision Hubs Since SDK 0.2.28 the control plane can create hubs, runtime groups, and skill installs. Browsing the catalog with `listMarketplaceSkills()` needs `hubs:read` and works on any plan. `createHub`, `createRuntimeGroup`, `installRuntimeGroupSkill`, `releaseHub`, and `releaseRuntimeGroup` need `hubs:write` and a paid plan. ```ts const group = await api.createRuntimeGroup({ name: "kiosks" }); let hub = await api.createHub({ name: "joke-garden", runtimeGroupId: group.id as string, spec: {} }); hub = await api.getHub(hub.id as string); await api.updateHub(hub.id as string, { active: false }, { etag: hub.etag as string }); ``` `updateHub` and `deleteHub` require the hub's current etag. See [Provision Hubs](/developers/provisioning/) for the full flow, the immutable fields, and the error table. From SDK `0.3.15`, `listHubSkills`, `installHubSkill`, `updateHubSkill`, and `removeHubSkill` manage skills on one hub by id. `listHubSkills` resolves with `{ data, source, observed_at, ... }` (`for (const skill of (await api.listHubSkills("hub-id")).data)`), the writes resolve with a `HubSkillOperation`, and `{ wait: true }` polls that operation with a 120-second default polling budget (`timeoutMs`). See [Add a Skill to a Hub](/manage/add-a-skill-to-a-hub/). No new status read starts at or after the polling deadline; the polling deadline does not cancel an HTTP request already in flight. If a status read fails, the error retains the accepted operation ID so you can resume with `getOperation` without repeating the write. An underlying sanitized API error is preserved as the cause; unexpected exceptions are omitted from the displayed chain. ## Common Issues | Symptom | Check | | --- | --- | | Missing access token | Call `api.login(...)` or `api.loginWithBrowser(...)` before private API actions, or pass `accessToken` to `ThalovantControlPlane`. | | HTTP 401 with code `mfa_required` | Pass `otpCode` or `recoveryCode` in the login options. | | API access requires a paid plan | Upgrade the workspace before provisioning private resources through the API. | | Unsupported protocol | Enable that protocol on the hub and create a fresh identity. | | MQTT fails immediately | Confirm the identity has `mqtt` broker credentials, and that the client is not running in a browser bundle. | ## Fallback Handler Discovery The inventory includes `fallbacks` and `fallbacksKnown`. Use `inventory.mayAnswer("en-us")` for a conservative language check; unknown fallback support may still answer. The probe takes at most 1.5 seconds including connect, send, and wait; a confirmed empty result differs from refusal, failure, silence, or a malformed reply envelope. Accepted arrays retain usable handlers and skip invalid rows. See [fallback discovery](/concepts/hub-intents/#fallback-handlers-and-language-availability). Control-plane redirects are refused. Authenticated API calls and request bodies require HTTPS except explicit loopback development endpoints. See [API credential security](/developers/sdks/#api-credential-security). Pass an `AbortSignal` as `signal` in the options for `ask`, `query` and `waitForEvent`, or as the second argument to `connect`. Cancellation stops the caller's wait; any accepted transport work retains ownership until it finishes or fails safely. Requests are not automatically replayed. Ask uses fixed first-speech and empty-reply windows within its original deadline; Query finishes on its terminal event. ## Manage Skills Through A Hub The SDK can list, install, update, remove and inspect the history of skills on a hub's runtime group. **Every hub sharing that runtime group is affected.** A hub UUID selects the group; it does not create an isolated installation for that hub. A restricted token must cover all hubs served by the group. Reads require `hubs:inspect` (`hubs:read` includes it). Writes require `hubs:write`, an eligible paid plan and ownership. Use `latest` or a concrete released version for installation and updates. An accepted write returns an `operation_id`; acceptance does not mean the runtime has finished installing the skill. | Action | Method | |---|---| | List | `listHubSkills` | | History | `listHubSkillHistory` | | Install | `installHubSkill` | | Update | `updateHubSkill` | | Remove | `removeHubSkill` | History returns the API JSON envelope with newest-first `event` and `operation` entries, preserving nullable actor/version fields. The limit is 1–200. Use the existing wait option to follow the accepted operation. A polling failure retains its operation ID; inspect that operation instead of repeating the write. ## Request Helpers And Safe Configuration Updates *Available since `0.5.1`.* Request hints carry a recognized language, ordered intent pipeline, and caller location without changing the caller's context. Empty hints are omitted. The location helper requires a city and omits invalid or zero/zero coordinates. The hub validates language hints against its configured languages. Replies expose their reported language, ordered speech/audio events, and a count of dropped media. Embedded skill clips are limited to 4 MiB each and 16 MiB per reply, checked before retention and decoding. Audio does not extend the reply settlement window. Decoding accepts hexadecimal bytes with ASCII whitespace between bytes; it never fetches a skill-supplied URL or file path. The application owns playback. Any `play` or `Play` function below belongs to your app. ```ts const location = buildLocation({ city: "Montréal", country: "CA", latitude: 45.5, longitude: -73.5 }); const reply = await client.ask("Quel temps fait-il ?", { sttLang: "fr-ca", location }); for (const event of reply.mediaEvents ?? []) if (event.isAudio) play(event.audioBytes()); const sentences = intent.examples("en-us", 2, { speakable: true, slots: { location: "Montréal" } }); await api.updateRuntimeGroupConfig(groupId, { tts: { module: "piper" } }); // Explicit full replacement: await api.updateRuntimeGroupConfig(groupId, fullConfig, { merge: false }); ``` Guarded merging requires the `hubs:read` and `hubs:write` scopes and a paid plan. Safe merging requires an API whose configuration GET returns a valid `revision` and whose configuration PUT checks `expected_revision`. The SDK rereads and reapplies the original delta only after HTTP 412, with at most three attempts. Arrays and scalar values replace; objects merge recursively. Personas replace only when explicitly supplied. Connection failures, redirects, other statuses, and ambiguous write results are never retried. No unsafe PATCH fallback is used. Unconditional replacements must still be coordinated with other writers. Use the explicit replacement operation shown above when a complete replacement is intended, including when working with an older API. Existing code relying on replacement must opt into it when upgrading. Raw intent patterns remain the default; speakable examples remove optional parts, choose alternatives, and substitute caller-supplied slots while retaining complete-phrase priority. The audio limits use encoded-length upper bounds before decoding, so formatting whitespace consumes budget too. Like Python's `bytes.fromhex`, ASCII whitespace alone decodes to zero bytes. Bounded malformed clips remain available as event metadata and fail when decoded; they are never fetched or played automatically. Distinct audio events may intentionally repeat identical sound content. Only repeated delivery of the same event object is suppressed where object identity is available, without counting it as a dropped clip. Rendered example ranking uses the original pattern's slot presence even when sample values are supplied. Guarded merges reject integers outside JavaScript’s safe range before writing, so reading and merging cannot silently round an untouched configuration value. This validation includes supplied personas. Non-finite values and stored numeric exponents that overflow JavaScript numbers are rejected, preventing their conversion to `null` during serialization. Represent large identifiers as strings or use an SDK with lossless integers. ## Locale-Aware Intent Listings *Available since `0.6.1`.* Sentence listings use bundled `thalovant-languages` 0.2.1 data and match Python 0.6.8 with its listing extra. Language selection follows OVOS regional distances, so a request for `fr-CA` can use a registered `fr-FR` locale. ```typescript const examples = intent.examples("fr-CA", 2, { sentence: true }); const text = asSentence("what time is it", "en-US"); const sample = speakable("play {song}", {}, "en-US"); ``` Sentence rendering implies speakable rendering. Explicit slot values override locale samples. Complete phrases rank before prefixes and slot patterns; empty and duplicate rendered examples do not consume the limit. Unlimited raw examples keep registration order. Unknown locales retain bare text and slot names. Existing example methods remain available. Use `ListingRules` to provide a complete custom data snapshot or select bare rendering without locale data. No network request is needed to load the bundled rules. See the repository README for custom-rule construction and regex error handling. The listing data now describes 270 languages, including regional overrides. Spanish `qué hora es` becomes `Qué hora es?`, and French `coupe le son` becomes `Coupe le son.`. Languages without rules, such as `tlh`, remain bare. ## Managed Sessions And Inventory Caches `HubSession` owns one reusable hub connection. Supply a factory that returns a connected client and cleans up a failed or cancelled connection attempt. Event subscriptions survive client replacement. Go and Rust expose a persistent event stream; the other managed SDKs expose subscription handles. Close the session when its owner shuts down; close waits for accepted operations and is terminal. Background connection attempts back off for 10, 20, 40, 80, then 120 seconds. Foreground calls can try immediately. Your application owns probe scheduling: use the reported probe delay (60 seconds while held, 5 seconds while down). The SDK never replays an accepted Ask or Emit after a lost response, because an Ask can trigger an action. A request timeout applies to the underlying operation; waiting for the session and your connection factory are separate budgets. ```ts const session = new HubSession(connectClient, { warm: false }); try { const reply = await session.ask("What is the weather?"); } finally { await session.close(); } ``` `Inventory`, `Skill`, and `Intent` provide a presentable view separate from the runtime's native intent inventory. Unknown catalogue locales remain unknown; phrases observed for a language do not prove catalogue support. Examples choose the closest supported locale. A nonpositive limit returns the raw phrase pool (Rust uses zero for its unsigned limit). Cache JSON includes explicit intent language order so serialization cannot change the default example language. `InventoryCache` is optional, defaults to a one-hour TTL, and returns a miss for invalid, expired, or unreadable data. Writes use private, unique scratch files and atomic replacement. POSIX cache files are owner-readable/writable; Windows uses the user's directory ACLs. Cache keys separate mode, identity path, and the full normalized hub hostname. Never use inventory caches to store credentials. Node browsers use origin-local storage; do not share that storage namespace across unrelated users. `OriginPreference` gives a preferred address its own short connection budget and cools it down after a failure. In non-Python SDKs the factory must implement the address binding on its own transport, retain the public host for TLS/SNI, and finish failed-attempt cleanup before returning. Transport/platform restrictions still apply. This helper does not change global DNS or disable TLS validation. ## Reply Claims A reply exposes `reply.pipelineIds`, `reply.skillIds` and `reply.claimed`. Pipeline and skill IDs are nonempty strings in first-seen order, with duplicates removed. A successful reply with only pipeline IDs containing the case-sensitive text `fallback` reports an unclaimed reply. Any non-fallback stage makes a successful reply claimed. Successful replies from older hubs without stage stamps remain claimed. Failed or unhandled replies are never claimed. Malformed non-string stamps are ignored. Use this as a hint when deciding whether to continue a conversation. Fallback text and the existing success status are retained. These stamps are not verified peer identity and must not authorize actions.