xmtplabs/creating-inline-actions

XMTP inline actions

Interactive button-based UI for XMTP agents following the XIP-67 specification. Users can tap buttons instead of typing commands.

When to apply

Reference these guidelines when:

• Creating interactive button menus
• Building confirmation dialogs
• Implementing selection options
• Setting up multi-menu navigation
• Handling action callbacks

Rule categories by priority

| Priority | Category | Impact | Prefix | |----------|----------|--------|--------| | 1 | ActionBuilder | CRITICAL | builder- | | 2 | Helpers | HIGH | helpers- | | 3 | App Config | MEDIUM | config- | | 4 | Validators | MEDIUM | validators- |

Quick reference

ActionBuilder (CRITICAL)

• builder-create - Create action menus with ActionBuilder
• builder-send - Send actions to conversation

Helpers (HIGH)

• helpers-confirmation - Send confirmation dialogs
• helpers-selection - Send selection menus
• helpers-navigation - Show navigation options

App Config (MEDIUM)

• config-menus - Configure multi-menu applications
• config-initialize - Initialize app from config

Validators (MEDIUM)

• validators-inbox-id - Validate inbox ID format
• validators-ethereum-address - Validate Ethereum address

Quick start

// 1. Add middleware to handle intent messages
agent.use(inlineActionsMiddleware);

// 2. Register action handlers
registerAction("my-action", async (ctx) => {
  await ctx.conversation.sendText("Action executed!");
});

// 3. Send interactive buttons
await ActionBuilder.create("my-menu", "Choose an option:")
  .add("my-action", "Click Me")
  .add("other-action", "Cancel")
  .send(ctx);

Implementation snippets

Action registry and handler:

import type { AgentMiddleware, MessageContext } from "@xmtp/agent-sdk";
import type { Intent } from "@xmtp/node-sdk";

type ActionHandler = (ctx: MessageContext) => Promise<void>;
const actionHandlers = new Map<string, ActionHandler>();

const registerAction = (id: string, handler: ActionHandler) => {
  actionHandlers.set(id, handler);
};

Inline actions middleware:

const inlineActionsMiddleware: AgentMiddleware = async (ctx, next) => {
  if (ctx.message.contentType?.typeId === "intent") {
    const intent = ctx.message.content as Intent;
    const handler = actionHandlers.get(intent.actionId);
    if (handler) await handler(ctx);
    else await ctx.conversation.sendText(`Unknown action: ${intent.actionId}`);
    return;
  }
  await next();
};

ActionBuilder class:

import { ActionStyle } from "@xmtp/node-sdk";

class ActionBuilder {
  private actions: { id: string; label: string; style?: ActionStyle }[] = [];
  constructor(private id: string, private description: string) {}
  
  static create(id: string, description: string) {
    return new ActionBuilder(id, description);
  }
  
  add(id: string, label: string, style?: ActionStyle) {
    this.actions.push({ id, label, style });
    return this;
  }
  
  async send(ctx: MessageContext) {
    await ctx.conversation.sendActions({
      id: this.id,
      description: this.description,
      actions: this.actions,
    });
  }
}

Confirmation helper:

const sendConfirmation = async (
  ctx: MessageContext, message: string,
  onYes: ActionHandler, onNo?: ActionHandler
) => {
  const ts = Date.now();
  registerAction(`yes-${ts}`, onYes);
  registerAction(`no-${ts}`, onNo || (async (c) => c.conversation.sendText("Cancelled")));
  await ActionBuilder.create(`confirm-${ts}`, message)
    .add(`yes-${ts}`, "Yes").add(`no-${ts}`, "No", ActionStyle.Danger).send(ctx);
};

How to use

Read individual rule files for detailed explanations:

rules/builder-create.md
rules/helpers-confirmation.md
rules/config-menus.md