LSBot Now Supports Private Messages & More New Features

We’re happy to announce the rollout of several new features that are available immediately for Launch School students using LSBot. First and foremost, LSBot is now available for direct messaging! The ability to use LSBot privately is undoubtedly the most anticipated update, but it’s not all we’ve been working on. Read on to hear about all of the new features out now:

• Direct messaging with LSBot
• Smart Prompts via Slack shortcuts
• Progress tracking for your queries
• Query Classification: A peek “under the hood”

In this article, we’ll dive into these new features and explore how they benefit students. Plus, we’ll give you a behind-the-scenes look at query classification and how it improves LSBot’s responses.

For concise instructions and images, you can always reference the LSBot User Guide.

LSBot in Your DMs

You’ve asked, and we’ve listened. While we love seeing the community fostered in our public LSBot channels, we understand that it can be intimidating to ask questions openly. With private messaging, you can now feel more comfortable using LSBot for anything — quick clarifications, in-depth debugging, or even questions you might think are too basic to ask in public.

Direct messaging with LSBot works similarly to posting in an #lsbot- channel, with a few key differences. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Search for LSBot as you would search for a fellow student to DM. You can also find LSBot underneath the list of “Apps” at the bottom of the left-hand navigation panel in Slack.
2. Send a message as you would in a public channel, except you no longer need to tag LSBot. LSBot will automatically respond to your message.
3. Continue the conversation in the thread. Just like in our public #lsbot- channels, LSBot will respond to your query in a thread. Start a new thread when you want to transition to a new topic or if LSBot has any unexpected or unhelpful behavior.

We hope you’ll give it a try and let us know how it goes!

Smart Prompts

This new feature helps you quickly format messages whose structure we see frequently. If you want your code reviewed for clarity, best practices, and errors, for example, you can call upon this new shortcut to have a form you can quickly fill out rather than typing out instructions for LSBot. This is also a great way to explore what LSBot can do, especially if you’re new to the scene.

To access Smart Prompts, you’ll use Slack’s “shortcuts” or “slash commands.” Both of these will allow you to access the same pop-up form. From any channel, type a forward slash (/), and a list of commands will appear. Select “Ask LSBot,” and a pop-up will prompt you to choose the type of question, the destination, and your message content.

The first time you use Smart Prompts, “Ask LSBot” may not appear in the list of shortcuts. If you don’t see it, start typing after the slash — entering “/ask” should bring up the shortcut you need.

You can also access Smart Prompts by clicking on the shortcut icon in the message box:

This is just a quick overview — refer to the LSBot User Guide for detailed instructions and demos.

Progress Tracker

It takes time to generate responses from LSBot, so we’ve added a progress tracker to give you insight into what’s happening behind the scenes. Now, when you send a message, you’ll see a step-by-step breakdown of how your query is being processed:

This small but useful addition gives you a clearer view of LSBot’s workflow. Additionally, you can now see how your query has been classified. If you’ve asked for a code review but your query has been classified as “Explain a concept,” you know that LSBot hasn’t quite gotten the point of what you’re asking. This can help you to refine your queries and give insight into when LSBot needs more guidance.

Query Classification

For those curious about LSBot’s inner workings, we’d like to introduce a new backend feature that’s making a big difference. While you won’t see query classification directly in the interface — aside from in the progress tracker, as showcased above — it plays a major role in improving the relevance and precision of LSBot’s responses.

To talk about query classification, let’s take a look at the steps that LSBot follows to process your queries:

1. You ask a question — LSBot receives your prompt (e.g., “What is variable shadowing?”).
2. LSBot searches for relevant Launch School content — LSBot will find the most relevant Launch School-specific information. This can come from the curriculum itself or other LS assets like podcast transcripts, Reddit threads, FAQs, and more.
3. Response Generation — The retrieved information, along with specific instructions, is passed along to generate a well-informed answer.

Now, let’s discuss where query classification fits into this picture. When using LSBot, most queries fit neatly into a handful of categories. A few that come to mind without writing an exhaustive list:

• Explaining concepts — “What is variable shadowing?”
• Code reviews — “Critique my solution…”
• Practice problem generation — “Create five problems…”
• Debugging help — “I’m getting this error when…”

Query classification means that we add a step between #1 and #2 where we use AI to “classify” your query into a specific category. The result of this classification is that every step in the process thereafter is improved. We can retrieve more relevant information, give more precise instructions for that type of task, and leave out irrelevant information. You can imagine how this improves the response quality!

As an example, imagine asking LSBot to review your code. With query classification, it will now prioritize checking syntax and best practices rather than retrieving theoretical explanations.

While this explanation only scratches the surface, it hopefully gives you a bit of insight into one of the many ways we’re working to improve LSBot and create a more impactful tool.

Enjoy the New Features!

We’re excited for you to explore LSBot’s new features. With every update, LSBot is becoming an even more powerful study tool. Our goal is to make your interactions more seamless, helpful, and personalized to your needs. As always, we look forward to hearing your feedback — let us know how LSBot is working for you and what we can improve next!