This is a simple ChatBot that communicates via Twilio's API on WhatsApp. The Bot gives Covid statistics from the US & the UK. It also provides some positive news articles to read in light of recent times.

Users interact with WhatsApp to communicate with the ChatBot. The Bot replies to greetings along with different variations of the following questions.

• Python web framework using FastApi
• Twilio API for WhatsApp
• Automated responses and bot training with Chatterbot
• Testing with requests_mock and pytest
• Automated CI testing using Travis CI
• Project specific environment variables using .env
• Built-in API documentation with Open API docs
• One click deploy buttons for Heroku

• Python 3.8.1
• A Twilio account - sign up
• WhatsApp
• ngrok

After the above requirements have been met:

1. Clone this repository and cd into it

git clone https://github.com/ari-hacks/covid-chatbot.git
cd covid-chatbot

2. Install dependencies

pip3 install chatterbot==1.0.4
pip3 install twilio 
pip3 install pytest 
pip3 install uvicorn    
pip3 install fastapi  
pip3 install nltk   
pip3 install httpx
pip3 install requests_mock         

4. Run the application

uvicorn app.main:app --reload 

#uvicorn runs on http://127.0.0.1:8000    

5. Next we need to unzip the ngork download. Ngork creates a secure public tunnel for us to use when communicating with WhatsApp via the twilio API. From your terminal run the following command:

./ngrok http 8000

#this port must match the app port

6. After you have created your twilio account navigate to the dashboard's sandbox in the field titled when a message comes in enter the generated forwarding address from your terminal and save. The forwarding url will look like this:

7. Next follow these twilio instructions to connect your account to WhatsApp and send a message 🎉🎉🎉

You can run the tests locally by typing:

pytest

If you run into issues with nltk

#error in terminal related to ssl verification
#solution - in the terminal run the following commands, make sure you change the version of python accordingly 
>>/Applications/Python 3.8/Install Certificates.command

>>Python3

>>Import nltk

>>nltk.download() 

To try this application locally, you can deploy it to Heroku.

#check if app is running with this endpoint 
https://heroku-porject.herokuapp.com/twilio/health-check

#add this endpoint into your twilio snadbox
https://heroku-porject.herokuapp.com/twilio/bot

Please Sign up before Deploying.

MIT

No warranty expressed or implied. Software is as is.