Export Chatbot - WhatsApp / SMS

Deploy your chatbot on WhatsApp / SMS through Twilio

Deploy your chatbot using WhatsApp SMS through Twilio. We provide a webhook to receive and send messages through Twilio.

Step 1: Navigation

First, on the export page, ensure that the chatbot is deployed (if the button says "Undeploy").

Next, on the "Export" tab in the chatbot wizard, navigate to the "WhatsApp / SMS" sub-tab. On this page, we provide a Twilio Webhook URL. Additionally, we provide fields to input your Twilio Account SID and Twilio Auth Token (instructions later on how to find this on the Twilio website).

Step 2: Set up the Twilio (WhatsApp used as an example)

1. Navigate to Twilio and make an account. We will first set up the WhatsApp / SMS chatbot in a sandboxed environment before connecting to an official business profile (discussed at the very end on this article).

2. On the left hand bar, under "messaging", navigate to "try it out", and then "Send a WhatsApp message".

1. Follow the instructions on the page (send a message to the provided number or scan the QR code).

2. Navigate to the subtab "Sandbox settings". Under "when a message comes in", paste in the twilio webhook URL from step 1. Ensure you replace ENTER_PRIVATE_KEY and ENTER_PUBLIC_KEY with your actual private and public keys, respectively.

   1. You can find your private and public keys by clicking on the circle in the top right of your VectorShift app and navigating to "Settings".

   2. The "Method" should be "POST" (the default).

   3. Leave the status callback URL blank.

3. Click "Save".

4. Navigate back to "Sandbox" sub-tab, and finish all the steps.

5. You should be able to now send a message in the created WhatsApp channel and receive a message from the connected VectorShift pipeline.

   1. When a message is sent, Twilio will make a request to the webhook URL

Step 3: Input your Twilio Account SID and Twilio Auth Token in the VectorShift platform.

In your Twilio home page, find your Account SID and Auth token. Copy and paste these values and input the values in the respective fields in the "WhatsApp / SMS" sub-tab in the chatbot wizard (see image above).

Step 4: Connect chatbot to official business profile.

You will need to apply for a business profile. To do this, fill out the Twilio’s WhatsApp Request Form.