Zobot with Plugs

Zobot with Plugs

Hello, I am having a problem with Zobot using Plugs.

Here is my current flow:



When I run the flow, I should immediately see the messages from the initial cards (Send Message cards), then after running the plug, and finally, see the messages after the plug is executed.

However, my plug can take a few seconds to execute, as it retrieves data from external systems. To highlight this behavior, I built a plug that makes a request to the public API https://httpbin.org/delay/10, which intentionally waits 10 seconds to return a response. Here is the code for my “ExperimentalDelay” plug:



When this happens, Zobot does not display the first two messages immediately. The bot forces the plug to run, which takes 10 seconds, and only after that does it display the initial and final messages of the flow one after the other.

This is not the right experience, as I want to display a message to the user that the bot is searching for information and may take a few seconds. And only after the plug executes, display the messages that come after the plug execution.

Below is a link to a video showing two identical Zobots running side by side, the first with the plug and the second without the plug.
https://workdrive.obrasonline.com.br/external/5a319327400288ab02375fbfff2fff04d2c11d554af162df87e3578c2837a3ca

FYI: I tried to open a ticket, but I didn't receive any convincing answers. I was told that I had to insert an input card before the plug, which doesn't make sense, since the user would need to interact to proceed with the execution of the Plug. If anyone has a solution for this, it would be very interesting, since it appears to be a limitation.

Best regards