About

AkaNinja is an intelligent, conversational, and context-aware assistant integrated directly into akaBot Studio. Serving as a co-pilot for RPA developers, AkaNinja allows you to communicate using natural language to explain workflow logic, configure activities, troubleshoot errors, and write expressions, facilitating a faster and smoother automation design process.

Capabilities

Regardless of the specific workflow or activity you are building, AkaNinja provides key developer-focused capabilities:

• Context-Aware Assistance: AkaNinja doesn't just answer general questions; it understands the context of your current project, variables, arguments, selected activities, or error outputs to provide tailored solutions.
• Workflow Design Guidance: Get instant recommendations on how to structure your automation processes, including which activities to use and how to chain them for specific tasks.
• Activity Explanation: Learn about akaBot activities, their properties, input/output requirements, and how to configure them.
• Error Troubleshooting & Debugging: Provide logs or error messages, and AkaNinja will analyze the root cause and guide you through the precise steps to resolve the issue.
• Expression Generation: Generate VB.Net or C# expressions (e.g., string manipulation, LINQ, date formatting) tailored to your variables and data types.

Configuration

Before using AkaNinja, configure the AI provider in Studio. The same setting is shared with Natural Language to Expression Code.

Open the AI Integration tab

1. Open akaBot Studio.
2. Go to Options (Backstage / Home → Options).
3. Select the AI Integration tab.
4. In Provider, choose one of the following:
   • AI Hub
   • Akabot Cloud AI Server (Cloudflare Worker)

Provider: AI Hub

Use AI Hub when Studio talks to Center through a connected Agent.

1. In AI Integration, set Provider to AI Hub.
2. Open akaBot Agent.
3. Go to Connect and connect the Agent to your Center (same organization / environment used by Studio).
4. Confirm the Agent stays connected while you chat with AkaNinja.

If the Agent is not connected or not assigned correctly, Studio cannot authenticate to AI Hub and AkaNinja requests will fail (for example, access denied / invalid Center token errors).

Provider: Akabot Cloud AI Server (Cloudflare)

Use Akabot Cloud AI Server when Studio calls a Cloudflare Worker endpoint over the internet.

1. In AI Integration, set Provider to Akabot Cloud AI Server.
2. Enter the API Endpoint (Worker URL). This field appears only when this provider is selected.
3. Ensure the PC has internet access to that endpoint.
4. Save / apply Options.

The API endpoint powers AI features, including expression generation and AkaNinja Chatbot assistance.

NOTE

• AI Hub: Requires a connected Agent to Center. Internet-only access is not enough if Agent is disconnected.
• Akabot Cloud AI Server: Requires a valid Worker URL and outbound internet access.

User Interface (UI) Overview

The AkaNinja panel is docked on the right-hand side of akaBot Studio, sharing the pane area with Properties, Outline, and Locals.

UI Components Reference

1. AkaNinja Tab: Click this tab to open or toggle the AkaNinja conversational panel.
2. Header & Quota Indicator: Displays the feature name and your daily usage status (e.g., Daily usage: 1/15 prompts used). AkaNinja has a default daily quota of 15 prompts.
3. Chat Area / Conversation History: Displays initial greeting, suggested prompt templates, and the ongoing dialogue thread.
4. Input Field: The text box where you type your questions, instructions, or prompts.
5. Context Tag Menu: Triggered automatically when you type @ in the input field. It lets you link specific context elements from your active project.
6. Send Button: Transmits your prompt and active context to the AkaNinja service.

Context Tags Reference (@)

Using context tags ensures the AI receives precise data. You can reference the following elements:

Tag	Reference Target	Description
@variables	Active Workflow Variables	References variables defined in the currently open workflow.
@arguments	Active Workflow Arguments	References arguments defined in the currently open workflow.
@activity	Selected Activity	References the property configuration of the activity currently selected in the Designer.
@output	Output / Execution Logs	References the latest logs, execution messages, and error traces.
@[filename].xaml	Specific Workflow File	References the underlying code/structure of a specific workflow file (e.g., @Main.xaml).

Step-by-Step Guide

Follow these steps to interact with AkaNinja during your automation development:

Step 1: Configure AI Integration

Complete Configuration first (Options → AI Integration).

Step 2: Open the Panel

Click on the AkaNinja tab located in the bottom-right panel of akaBot Studio to open the chat interface.

Step 3: Formulate Your Query

Type your prompt in the input field. To make your request context-aware:

1. Type @ in the input field.
2. Select the appropriate tag from the popup menu (e.g., choose @activity if you are asking about configuration, or @output if you are asking about an error).
3. Continue typing your instruction in natural language.

Step 4: Send the Prompt

Click the Send button or press Enter. AkaNinja will process your question, inspect the attached context, and generate a response.

Step 5: Review and Implement

Review the suggestions, steps, or code blocks generated by the AI:

• For instructions: Follow the step-by-step UI adjustments suggested.
• For expressions/code: Click the Copy icon on the code snippet inside the chat pane and paste it directly into your activity properties or Expression Editor.

Usage Examples

Here are typical scenarios showcasing how to use AkaNinja to streamline your RPA tasks.

Troubleshooting an Error

When a workflow execution fails, you can leverage the logs in the Output panel to identify and resolve the error.

• Scenario: A Read Range activity fails during execution because the file is already open in Protected View
• Step 1: Click and select the failing Read Range activity in your Designer panel.
• Step 2: Open the AkaNinja panel.
• Step 3: Type the following prompt:

  "@output @activity How do I fix the error shown for my selected activity?"

• Step 4: Click Send. AkaNinja reads the active error message from the @output tag (e.g., IOException: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process) and identifies the properties of the @output activity.
• Step 5: Review and apply the solution provided by the AI:

This error means the file used by the activity is locked by another process. Try the following:

1. Close the file in Excel, Word, PDF readers, image viewers, or any other application.
2. Stop duplicate or parallel executions of the workflow that may access the same file. Avoid using the same file path in simultaneous branches.
3. Check for background processes such as EXCEL.EXE, WINWORD.EXE, or another bot run, and close them if they are no longer needed.
4. Use a unique output filename for each run—for example, include a timestamp or transaction ID—instead of overwriting the same file.
5. Ensure previous file activities are completed and disposed before the next activity reads, moves, renames, or deletes the file. If the workflow uses streams or custom code, close/dispose them first.
6. Add a short retry or delay before the failing activity if another application needs time to release the file.
7. Check the file path and confirm that the robot account has access to the folder. If the file is on a network or synchronized folder, copy it to a local temporary folder and process it there.

If the issue continues, identify which application is holding the file using Windows Task Manager or Resource Monitor, then close that process or change the workflow so it does not share the file.

Configuring an Activity

AkaNinja can help you configure properties and write required expressions for specific activities.

• Scenario: You want to deserialize a JSON response string into a JSON object using the Deserialize JSON activity.
• Step 1: Add and select the Deserialize JSON activity in the Designer.
• Step 2: In the Variables panel, ensure you have a string variable for the raw input (e.g., str_jsonInput) and a variable to store the result (e.g., jo_parsedData).
• Step 3: Open the AkaNinja panel and type:

  "@activity @variable Explain how to configure my selected activity to parse str_jsonInput and store the result in jo_parsedData"

• Step 4: Click Send.
• Step 5: Review the AI response and configure the properties as guided:

## Deserialize JSON <T>

The selected item is DeserializeJson<T>, configured here with T = JObject. It deserializes a JSON string into a JSON object (JObject).

## Activity body

Configure the mandatory JSON String field with the JSON content to deserialize. The documentation specifies that:

- The value is a String.
- The JSON should be written without indents.
- The JSON should be enclosed in double quotes.
- Each string inside an array should use single quotes.

Documented example:
  {'Name': 'Maria'}

You can enter the JSON directly or provide a string expression/variable containing it.

Documented properties

## Input

- JsonString (InArgument<String>) — The JSON string to deserialize. This is the same value supplied in the activity body as JSON String.

## Output

- JsonObject (OutArgument<T>) — The deserialized result. For your selected item, T is JObject, so configure this output to a JObject variable if you need to use the resulting JSON object later in the workflow.

No other documented activity actions or properties are available for this selected item.