A Survey on Model‐Driven Engineering and Domain‐Specific Languages for Chatbot Development: Requirements, Challenges and Solutions

ABSTRACT Chatbots have become widely adopted tools for improving user interactions across multiple platforms. They are advanced software applications designed to emulate human conversation across various platforms. Moreover, developing chatbots using existing platforms and frameworks presents challenges, such as the lock‐in of NLP services, and incurs substantial costs. Recently, research has introduced solutions to ease chatbot development. Many of these approaches utilise Model‐Driven Engineering (MDE) and Domain‐Specific Languages (DSLs) to automate processes and simplify implementation. Through the use of MDE and DSLs, these solutions enhance efficiency and make chatbot creation more accessible. This study aims to provide a comprehensive survey on MDE and DSLs in chatbot development, highlighting key research topics, opportunities, and challenges. The first contribution explores the primary application domains of DSLs in chatbot development and the associated challenges in their adoption. Second, this work examines the various ways in which DSLs are employed to model and develop chatbots, assessing their impact on automation and efficiency. Additionally, this study identifies the challenges and limitations of using DSLs in chatbot development. Atlast, it investigates the influence of DSL utilisation on user experience, both from the perspective of chatbot developers and end‐users, to determine how DSLs enhance the chatbot development process and interaction quality. To achieve this, a comprehensive search will be conducted across Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect for studies published between 2014 and 2024. A total of 306 publications were reviewed, of which 15 were identified as primary studies.