Application initiated conversations for chatbots

Techniques for described for invoking a chatbot in a chatbot system, in response to an event notification from a software application. The event notification can be sent to the chatbot system based on the software application determining that one or more conditions associated with an event are satisfied. In certain embodiments, the event notification contains information indicating a dialog flow state for starting a new conversation between a particular chatbot and a user. The event notification can also identify the user and/or the particular chatbot. In some instances, a prompt is output to the user requesting the user to confirm a start of the new conversation. Whether the prompt is output or not can depend on whether there is an existing conversation between the user and a chatbot in the chatbot system.