Scottish Inner Hebrides Ferries Chatbot

A Spring Boot-based chatbot service that provides ferry information and booking assistance for the Scottish Inner Hebrides region.

Prerequisites

Required Software

• Java Development Kit (JDK) 24 or later
• Maven 3.9+ or Gradle 8.5+
• Spring Boot 3.2+
• Spring AI dependencies
• An IDE (IntelliJ IDEA recommended)

Environment Setup

1. Java Installation

   • Download and install JDK 24 from Oracle or use OpenJDK
   • Set JAVA_HOME environment variable
   • Add Java to your system PATH

2. Build Tool

   • Install Maven or Gradle
   • Add to system PATH
   • Verify installation:

     mvn -version
     # or
     gradle -version
     

3. IDE Setup

   • Install IntelliJ IDEA (Community or Ultimate Edition)
   • Install the following plugins:
     • Spring Boot
     • Java
     • Maven/Gradle

4. Spring AI Configuration

   • Ensure you have the necessary Spring AI dependencies in your pom.xml or build.gradle
   • Configure your AI provider credentials in application.properties or application.yml

5. Storage Requirements

   • Create a directory called bookings in the root of this folder
   • Ensure write permissions for the bookings directory (for storing booking information)

API Keys

1. ANTHROPIC_API_KEY - https://docs.anthropic.com/en/api/admin-api/apikeys/get-api-key
2. BRAVE_API_KEY - https://brave.com/search/api/

Pass the api keys as environment variables into the application

Overview

This service implements a customer support chatbot specifically designed to assist users with:

• Ferry route information in the Scottish Inner Hebrides
• Weather updates for destinations
• Local activities and destination information
• Ferry booking assistance

Features

• Real-time chat support
• Destination information
• Weather updates
• Ferry booking system with validation for:
  • Passenger capacity
  • Vehicle restrictions
  • Route availability
  • Booking information collection

Technical Stack

• Java
• Spring Boot
• Spring AI ChatClient
• RESTful API

Booking Requirements

To make a booking, the following information is required:

• First name
• Last name
• Email
• Phone number
• Number of passengers
• Number of cars (if applicable)
• Travel date
• Origin port
• Destination port

Service Limitations

The chatbot is specifically designed to handle:

• Scottish Inner Hebrides ferry-related queries only
• Ferry transport information
• Destination information within the Scottish Inner Hebrides
• Current weather information for supported destinations

Queries outside these scope will receive a standardized response indicating the service limitations.

Error Handling

The service includes validation for common booking scenarios:

• Invalid routes
• Car restrictions on specific routes
• Passenger capacity limits
• Vehicle capacity limits

Getting Started

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone [repository-url]
   

2. Navigate to the project directory:

   cd scottish-inner-hebrides-ferries
   

3. Configure application properties:

   • Create application.properties or application.yml in src/main/resources
   • Add necessary configurations for Spring AI and other services

4. Build the project:

   mvn clean install
   # or
   gradle build
   

5. Run the application:

   mvn spring-boot:run
   # or
   gradle bootRun