Build A WhatsApp Bot Using Python

Build A WhatsApp Bot Using Python With Source Code

Introduction :

In this article, we will learn how to Build A WhatsApp Bot Using Python Bot using Python. A WhatsApp bot is a software application capable of communicating with users in both written and spoken formats. Our bot will use the Twilio API to connect with WhatsApp and perform tasks like sending and receiving messages, notifications, and more.

We’ll use the Python library Flask to handle incoming and outgoing messages and Ngrok to expose our Flask application to the public internet so that Twilio can communicate with it.

Required Modules and Packages:

To build this WhatsApp bot, you will need the following:

A Twilio Account: Sign up at Twilio and get a phone number with WhatsApp enabled.
Python 3.9 or Newer: Make sure you have Python installed on your system.
Flask: A lightweight web framework for Python that will be used to handle incoming HTTP requests from Twilio.
Ngrok: A tool that will help expose your Flask application running on your local machine to the internet.

How To Run The Code :

Follow these steps to set up and run the WhatsApp bot:

Step 1: Set up a Twilio account by visiting Twilio WhatsApp. Sign up and verify your email ID and phone number.

Step 2: Once logged in, navigate to the Develop section in the left menu, select Messaging, and then choose Try it out -> Send a WhatsApp message. This will take you to a page for setting up the WhatsApp Sandbox.

Step 3: Configure the WhatsApp Sandbox by sending a message to the provided WhatsApp number (+14155238886) with a unique security code like join <secret-code>.

Step 4: Once you send the security code, you will receive a confirmation message in WhatsApp.

Step 5: Open the terminal and run the following commands to create a directory for the bot, set up a virtual environment, and install the required packages:

Create a Directory and Navigate to It:
```
mkdir whatsapp-bot && cd whatsapp-bot
```

Create and Activate a Python Virtual Environment:

python3 -m venv bot-env && source bot-env/bin/activate

Install Twilio, Flask, and Requests:
```
pip install twilio flask requests
```

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Source Code:

Here is the Python script to create the WhatsApp bot. Make sure you have installed the necessary modules listed above. The script uses Flask to create a web server that listens for incoming messages from WhatsApp via the Twilio API.

				
					from flask import Flask, request
from twilio.twiml.messaging_response import MessagingResponse
import requests
from googlesearch import search  # Additional import for google search

# Initialize Flask app
app = Flask(__name__)

# Define bot response logic
@app.route("/bot", methods=['POST'])
def bot():
    # Get user message
    user_msg = request.values.get('Body', '').lower()
    
    # Create Twilio Messaging Response
    response = MessagingResponse()

    # Check for user query and respond
    if 'help' in user_msg:
        msg = response.message("This is a WhatsApp bot to provide quick answers! Please type your query to get started.")
    else:
        # Perform a Google search for the user's query
        result = []
        for i in search(user_msg, num=5, stop=5, pause=2):
            result.append(i)
        
        # Send the search results back to the user
        msg = response.message("\n".join(result))
    
    return str(response)

# Run Flask app
if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run(port=5000, debug=True)

Improved Code Details

Flask Setup: The script initializes a Flask application and sets up a single route /bot that listens for incoming HTTP POST requests from Twilio.
Receiving Messages: The script captures the incoming message from WhatsApp using request.values.get('Body', '') and stores it in the user_msg variable.
Responding to Messages: The script checks if the user’s message contains certain keywords (like ‘help’) and responds with predefined messages. If the user asks a specific question, the script performs a Google search using the googlesearch package to find the top 5 relevant URLs and sends them back to the user.
Sending Responses: The MessagingResponse object from the Twilio library is used to send the response back to WhatsApp.

How to Run the Bot

Run the Python Script:
```
python main.py
```
Start Ngrok Server: In a separate terminal window, run:
```
ngrok http 5000
```
This command will expose the Flask application to the internet, allowing Twilio to connect to it.
Set Up the Forwarding URL: Copy the forwarding URL provided by Ngrok (it will look like http://<random-string>.ngrok.io) and paste it into the WhatsApp Sandbox settings at Twilio Sandbox Settings.

Testing the WhatsApp Bot

Now that everything is set up, send a WhatsApp message to the Twilio number. The bot will receive your message, perform a Google search for the text you sent, and reply with the top 5 results.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully built a WhatsApp bot using Python, Flask, and Twilio. This bot can receive messages, perform tasks like web searches, and send automated responses. You can further expand the bot’s capabilities by adding more complex logic, integrating it with different APIs, or connecting it to a database to store user data.

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