Create a Powerful ChatGPT WhatsApp Bot with Firebase Cloud Functions and OpenAI API -Part1
Are you ready to create a powerful ChatGPT WhatsApp bot that can automate conversations and engage with users in natural language? If so, you’re in the right place! In this tutorial, I’ll guide you step-by-step through the process of building your own ChatGPT bot using Firebase Cloud Functions and the OpenAI API.As an example, I will introduce you to my own WhatsApp chatGPT bot called Sotia, which you can access here: https://wa.link/99sxxa
With ChatGPT’s advanced language capabilities, you can create a bot that can truly engage with users in a natural way. Here’s what we’ll cover:
Section 1: I’ll guide you through the process of setting up your ChatGPT bot on the Meta Developer Dashboard, including creating a new WhatsApp Business account and generating the required credentials.
Section 2: You’ll learn how to set up webhooks using Firebase Cloud Functions to receive messages from WhatsApp and respond to them in real-time.
Section 3: I’ll show you how to implement the OpenAI API to generate responses, enabling your bot to engage with users using natural language processing and advanced AI capabilities.
By the end of this tutorial, you’ll have a fully functional ChatGPT WhatsApp bot that can engage with users on WhatsApp using natural language processing and advanced AI capabilities. Let’s get started!
Prerequisites
Before we dive in, there are a few prerequisites you’ll need to meet:
- A basic understanding of JavaScript and Node.js
- A Facebook Developer account to access the WhatsApp Business API. If you don’t have one yet, you can create an account here.
- A Google account to create a Firebase project and access Firebase services. If you don’t have one yet, you can create an account here.
- An OpenAI API key to integrate with the ChatGPT model. If you don’t have one yet, you can sign up for an API key here.
- The Firebase CLI installed on your local machine
Section 1: Generate credentials
Generating credentials is the first step to get started, once you’re logged into your Meta Developer account head to https://developers.facebook.com/apps and click on “Create app” and select Business as the app type.
Next, fill in the name of your app, your email address and select the business/page that you want to associate with the App
In your new app’s dashboard, scroll down to the “Add a Product” section and click on the “Set Up” button under the WhatsApp icon.
After setting up WhatsApp, navigate to the “Settings” tab under the WhatsApp section in your app’s dashboard. In this section, you will have a test phone number, a phone number ID, a whatsapp business account ID and an api token generated for you. Take note of these as we will use them in the coming sections.
Next, let’s add a phone number to use for receiving messages.
just click on select recipient and add your own whatsapp number as shown in the screenshots below. If it’s the first time adding your phone number to Meta Platforms, you will receive an OTP from Facebook Business that prompts you to verify that you actually own the number
Let’s test if everything up to this section is working smoothly. To do this, simply click the Send button and wait for a message to appear in your WhatsApp inbox from your test number. If you receive the message, then congratulations! You’ve successfully set up your bot in the developer console.
Please stay tuned for the second part of this article, where I will will guide you through the process of setting up webhooks to receive messages from WhatsApp and respond to them in real-time using Firebase Cloud Functions.
