README.md

botbuilder-adapter-whatsapp - WIP

Connect Botkit or BotBuilder to WhatsApp.

This package contains an adapter that communicates directly with the WhatsApp Client Interface, and translates messages to and from a standard format used by your bot. This package can be used alongside your favorite bot development framework to build bots that work with Whatsapp.

Install Package

Add this package to your project using npm:

npm install --save @aliyssium/botbuilder-adapter-whatsapp

Import the adapter class into your code:

const { WhatsAppAdapter } = require('botbuilder-adapter-whatsapp');

Get Started

If you are starting a brand new project, follow these instructions to create a customized application template.

Use WhatsAppAdapter in your App

WhatsAppAdapter provides a translation layer for Botkit and BotBuilder so that bot developers can connect to WhatsApp and have access to WhatsApp's Client Interface.

Botkit Basics

When used in concert with Botkit, developers need only pass the configured adapter to the Botkit constructor, as seen below. Botkit will automatically create and configure the webhook endpoints and other options necessary for communicating with WhatsApp.

Developers can then bind to Botkit's event emitting system using controller.on and controller.hears to filter and handle incoming events from the messaging platform. Learn more about Botkit's core feature →.

A full description of the WhatsAppAdapter options and example code can be found in the class reference docs.

const adapter = new WhatsAppAdapter({
	auth: process.env.WHATSAPP_AUTH
});

const controller = new Botkit({
	adapter,
	// ...other options
});

controller.on('message', async (bot, message) => {
	await bot.reply(message, 'I heard a message!');
});

BotBuilder Basics

Alternately, developers may choose to use WhatsAppAdapter with BotBuilder. With BotBuilder, the adapter is used more directly with a webserver, and all incoming events are handled as Activities.

const { WhatsAppAdapter } = require('botbuilder-adapter-whatsapp');
const restify = require('restify');

const adapter = new WhatsAppAdapter({
	auth: process.env.WHATSAPP_AUTH
});

const server = restify.createServer();

server.post('/api/messages', (req, res) => {
	adapter.processActivity(req, res, async (context) => {
		await context.sendActivity('I heard a message!');
	});
});

Botkit Extensions

In Botkit handlers, the bot worker for WhatsApp contains all of the base methods as well as the following platform-specific extensions:

controller.getInstallLink()

Returns the first step of an auth-flow that results in the Botkit application being enabled with WhatsApp.