WhatsApp

WhatsApp is a freeware, cross-platform messaging and Voice over IP (VoIP) service owned by Facebook, Inc. It allows users to send text messages and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other media.

WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. It has over 2 billion active users and is available in 120 different languages.

How to connect to WhatsApp Cloud API

To connect to WhatsApp Cloud API, you need to create a WhatsApp Business account. You can do this by following the instructions in the Get started-cloud API.

In this part of integration with whatsapp, I will walk you the journey using python.

What you need

You will need a webhook to receive whatsapp messages. There are several ways this can be done. This tutorial will guide you in using ngrok or replit. In this blueprint the main library used is heyoo

Using Ngrok

Make sure you have ngrok installed in your working machine.

Quick setup

Have sarufi package installed on your machine before launching your whatsapp bot.

• Create project folder.

  Lets Make a project folder named whatsapp-bot. Navigate into it to create virtual evironment whatsapp-bot-env. Activate the environment

  Run the command to make the magic 🔥 happen.

  mkdir whatsapp-bot
  cd whatsapp-bot
  python -m venv whatsapp-bot-env
  source  whatsapp-bot-env/bin/activate

• Clone Blueprint repo

  We are going to clone a blueprint repo and install required packages in our virtual environment.

  git clone https://github.com/Neurotech-HQ/sarufi-heyoo-blueprint.git
  cd sarufi-heyoo-blueprint
  pip3 install -r requirements.txt

• Create a file named .env in your working folder to hold environment variables by running.

  touch .env

  In the file add the following. Read on how to get whatsapp creds

   SARUFI_API_KEY = Your Sarufi API KEY
   SARUFI_BOT_ID   = Your Bot Id
   WHATSAPP_TOKEN  = Your Whatsapp token
   PHONE_NUMBER_ID = whatsapp phone number id

• Once you have environment variables set, you are ready to fire 🚀 your main.py in activated virtual envirnoment.

  python3 main.py

  Then run the command below to start ngrok

  ./ngrok http 5000

  Note: keep the port number the same as used in main.py

• Finish up. After ruuning the command, you will have to copy the url ngrok provides. The url looks like https://xxxxxxxxxxx.ngrok.io

  With the provided url, follow simple steps at Setting whatsapp webhook.

  Open main.py, copy the VERIFY_TOKEN--> paste into verify token in your whatsapp cloud --> verify and save.

  We are heading a the best part of this journey. Just take time to subscribe to message topic. When done ,you are good to go... fire up your bot in whatsapp by sending text.

  🏁 When done with saving the token and url, go on to text your bot.

Using Replit

• Log into your Replit account.

  Fork the repo Whatsapp bot using sarufi API and heyoo into your account.

  Navigate to Tools--> Secrets to create environment variables. Read Getting whatsapp creds and sarufi credentials.

  Create

  Secrete key	Description
  PHONE_NUMBER_ID	Whatsapp cloud phone ID
  WHATSAPP_TOKEN	Your whatsapp token
  SARUFI_API_KEY	Your sarufi API KEY
  SARUFI_BOT_ID	Your sarufi bot id

• Run the script

  After creating the secret keys, run your main.py. A small webview window will open up with a url that looks like https://{your repl name}.{your replit username}.repl.co.

  With the url, follow simple steps at Setting whatsapp webhook.

• Final touches

  Go into your repl, copy the VERIFY_TOKEN --> paste into verify token in your whatsapp cloud --> verify and save.

  We are reaching at a good point with the set-up. Lets subscribe to message topic. When done ,you are good to go... fire 🚀 up your bot in whatsapp by sending text.

Whatsapp cloud creds

Navigate to Whatsapp-->API setup to get whatsApp cloud token and phone number ID to be used.

You will have access token and phone number id.

Getting Sarufi Credentials

To authorize our chabot, we are are going to use authorization keys from sarufi. Log in into your sarufi account. Go to your Profile on account to get Authorization keys

For Bot ID, Navigate to settings(in your bot)>> copy bot ID.

Setting whatsapp webhook

Navigate to your whatsapp cloud account --> configuration -->(Webhook) edit --> then paste the url into callback url.

For Verify token, open main.py copy the VERIFY_TOKEN --> paste into verify token in your whatsapp cloud --> verify and save.

Webhook field subscription

After veryfing and saving whatsapp webook, navigate to webhook fields --> click manage to subscribe to message topic.

How to test WhatsApp

Lets finish up by testing our bot in whatsapp.

Navigate to your whatsapp cloud account >> API setup >> scroll down to a field written To. Click manage phone number to add you phone number. Follow instructions till you finish

Click send message to start testing your bot. You will receive a message from your test number which your will use in testing your bot.

You can test WhatsApp by sending a message to your bot.

Lets test our PizzaBot

With the Pizza bot we have been working through, here is the bot responses deployed in whatsapp.

What you learned

In this tutorial, you learned how to connect Sarufi to WhatsApp Cloud API. You also learned how to configure and run WhatsApp.