WhatsApp Bot

Create a new app

After creating your Meta Developer Account, select "My App >> Create an app".

Select Other in "What do you want your app to do" section.

"Select Other" on What do you want your app to do section.

Select Business

"Select Business" - the type of app you want to create and use for your business.

Create App details

Give your app a name, enter a contact email, and connect it with your business account.

Add WhatsApp to your app

In your app, add the WhatsApp product.

First, you'll need to select a business profile if you already have one setup. Then continue.

Note: If you don't have a business profile set up, then you'll be met with a different screen. From here, just let the platform guide you through the process of setting up a business profile.

Then after adding the WhatsApp product you'll be redirected to the quickstart page

Clone the WhatsApp Bot - Verification template

This workflow is required to verify the webhook endpoint as your setting it in the Meta dashboard. Next enter the verify token, this can be any text or number you want to use, just take note of it as you'll need it later. Then ship 🚀 your workflow and copy the endpoint URL.

Save the webhook in Meta

To connect the WhatsApp API to BuildShip, you need to configure a webhook. In your Meta Developer Account, go to "WhatsApp" >> "Configuration" >> "Edit Webhook". Enter the endpoint URL you copied from step 1 as well as the verify token you saved earlier. Then click "Verify" and "Save".

Subscribe to messaging notifications

To receive all messaging events from WhatsApp in BuildShip, you need to subscribe to messaging on webhooks. Click "Manage" (Webhook fields) and subscribe to messages.

Test setup with test message

First, go to "WhatsApp" >> "API Setup".

• For the From number, select the test number that Meta provides.
• For the To number, select a number from the recipient phone number list or add your own if not listed.
• Then click send message to test if you're receiving a message from WhatsApp. If it works, you'll receive a Hello World message from WhatsApp.

Clone the WhatsApp Bot - Auto Reply template

The WhatsApp Bot - Auto Reply template uses the WhatsApp Bot trigger to verify incoming messages webhook payload from the WhatsApp Webhook by Meta. It then uses the Claude AI to automatically generate and send responses to the incoming messages.

Get App ID and App Secret

On the Meta dahsboard, go to your app and click App settings where you'll find your App ID and App Secret.

Note: Your app must be verified by Meta before obtaining App ID and App secret.

Configuring the WhatsApp Bot trigger

Trigger Inputs:

• Path: This field specifies the endpoint path for receiving webhook requests from the WhatsApp API. The default value is /handle-webhook.

  ℹ️

  This path needs to be the same as the path specified in the WhatsApp Verification (opens in a new tab) workflow on the Meta Developer Platform.

• Method: This field indicates the HTTP method to be used for the webhook requests. It is set to POST, which is the required method for receiving webhook data from the WhatsApp Cloud API.

• App ID: (mentioned in previous step) This field requires entering the App ID provided by the WhatsApp Business Manager Cloud API (opens in a new tab). It is a unique identifier for your application, displayed on top of your Meta App Dashboard.

• App Secret: (mentioned in previous step) This field requires entering the App Secret provided by the WhatsApp Business Manager Cloud API (opens in a new tab). It is a secret key used for authentication and securing communication with the WhatsApp Cloud API.

Configuring the Claude AI Text Generator node

The Claude AI Text Generator node is used to generate automatic responses to incoming messages. You'll need to select your Anthropic API key or create a new one.

Configuring the Auto-Responder node

The Auto-Responder node is used to send the generated response to the incoming message. The only field you need to enter is the Access Token. You can use the temporary access token provided by Meta for testing purposes.

In the Meta dashboard, you can get this by going to WhatsApp >> API Setup >> Temporary access token.

Testing the bot

First, ship 🚀 your workflow.

If everything is set up correctly, you can now test the bot by sending a message to the test WhatsApp phone number which you can obtain in the Meta dashboard from WhatsApp >> API setup.

Then you should receive an automatic response generated by Claude AI ✅.

If you don't receive a response, check the workflow for any errors, and make sure you followed all the steps correctly.