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Learn AI19 May 202630 min

Module 9: Bot Teardown & Free Tier Strategy

Learn to preserve your chatbot configurations for free tier rotation and efficient bot management.

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openElara Team
openElara

The final module: preserving your work and staying within free tier limits through strategic bot rotation.

Why Rotate Bots?

Zapier free tier limits:

  • Number of chatbots
  • Knowledge base size
  • Monthly queries

Rotation strategy: Save your bot configs locally → delete cloud bot → create new bot with saved config when needed.

The Bot Bundle Concept

A “bot bundle” is a local folder containing everything to recreate a chatbot:

chatbot-bundles/
├── scrapy-tutor-v1/
│   ├── directive.md           # Copy of chatbot directive
│   ├── directive-original.md  # Original TOML source
│   └── knowledge-base/         # All KB markdown files
│       ├── selectors.md
│       ├── spiders.md
│       └── ...
├── zapier-specialist-v1/
│   ├── directive.md
│   └── knowledge-base/
│       ├── troubleshooting.md
│       └── ...

Step-by-Step: Teardown Process

Step 1: Export Directive

  1. Go to your chatbot settings
  2. Copy the directive text
  3. Save to directive.md in your bundle folder

Step 2: Copy Knowledge Base Files

If you still have local copies (you should!), verify they’re complete. If not:

  1. Re-scrape the source content
  2. Or check if Zapier allows KB download

Step 3: Document Version

Create bot-info.md:

# Bot Info: Scrapy Tutor v1

## Created: 2026-05-19
## Source: docs.scrapy.org (scraped 2026-05-19)
## Files: 15 markdown files

## Directive Summary
- Role: Scrapy tutor for beginners
- Tone: Patient, encouraging
- Special: Code examples in triple backticks

## Status
- Active / Archived
- Notes: [any issues or improvements planned]

Step 4: Delete from Zapier

  1. Go to chatbot settings
  2. Find delete/remove option
  3. Confirm deletion

Note: This frees up your free tier slot.

Step-by-Step: Rebuild Process

When you need the bot again:

Step 1: Create New Bot

  1. Zapier dashboard → New Chatbot
  2. Name it: Scrapy Tutor (or Scrapy Tutor v2)

Step 2: Upload Knowledge Base

  1. Upload files from knowledge-base/ folder
  2. Wait for processing

Step 3: Apply Directive

  1. Copy text from directive.md
  2. Paste into chatbot directive field
  3. Save

Time: ~5 minutes to rebuild a bot.

Rotation Schedule Example

Week Active Bot Archived Bots
1 Scrapy Tutor Zapier Specialist
2 Zapier Specialist Scrapy Tutor
3 Scrapy Tutor (rebuild if needed)

Local Backup Strategy

Minimum

  • directive.md (the critical piece)
  • List of KB source URLs
  • Full knowledge-base/ folder
  • bot-info.md with metadata
  • directive-original.toml (TOML source)

Complete

  • Everything above plus:
  • test-questions.md (your test suite)
  • improvements.md (planned changes)

Key Takeaways

  1. Bot bundles = local folder with directive + KB
  2. Rotation = delete cloud bot, rebuild from local when needed
  3. 5 minutes to rebuild a bot from bundle
  4. Free tier friendly = never pay for chatbot storage

Course Complete!

You’ve learned:

  • ✅ Markdown & TOML for AI communication
  • ✅ Python & Scrapy setup
  • ✅ Web scraping for knowledge bases
  • ✅ Building chatbots with directives
  • ✅ RAG & token management
  • ✅ Data privacy considerations
  • ✅ Capstone project execution
  • ✅ Free tier rotation strategy

Next Steps

  • Practice with a new topic
  • Explore self-hosted AI options
  • Contact openElara for managed AI solutions

Course by openElara - Your digital startup incubator for self-hosted enterprise technology.