Chat Bot

Objective

Have a working text-message bot that replies in a conversation Requirements:

  • Basic understanding of requests/response
  • Comprehension of Javascript basics like using variables and if-statements.
  • Twilio account (free to create one).

  • Phone number to test. You can set up a free phone number through Google Voice.

    Example here: https://glitch.com/~not911-bot. This is a chat bot that allows you to get information found from not911.nyc

Instructions

  1. Come up with an idea for a chat bot. Chat bots are essentially programs that communicate through messages. In this case, you will be building a chat bot that can be accessed through a phone number. Here are some ideas of useful bots:
    • Pride Event Bot - tells you the nearest and latest pride event.
    • Resist Bot - automatically sends letters to your local statehouse and more.
    • Hangman game Play hangman through text messages.
    • Chat bots don’t need to be serious. They can be fun like a chat bot that plays a guessing game, tic-tac-toe, or tells you whether today you should wear pants or shorts. Some other ideas are bots that tell you when the next MTA train is arriving at a station or a bot that generates a poem for you.
  2. Design and build an chat bot using the Twilio API. You can follow the Twilio guide with Node.js to learn how to set up a Twilio account with your node server. It is recommended
    • Design: It’s recommended that you either map out the conversation or create a diagram of possible text messages. Example: design-example
  3. Start building your bot either on your local computer or on a virtual environment like Glitch or Repl. Some caveats when trying your bot out with Twilio’s API:
    • If developing locally, you will need to use a port-fowarding tool (Twilio uses web hooks). Glitch makes this easy because its web server is always running. Check the troubleshooting section for instructions on how to use ngrok.

Troubleshooting

Using ngrok

If you are running your chat bot on your local environment (running on localhost), you will need a way to forward your port to a public URL. For an overview of how ngrok works with Twilio, you can check this video out.You can use ngrok to do this:

  1. Download and install ngrok by following instructions here: https://ngrok.com/download
  2. In a terminal window, use ngrok http 80 except replace 80 with the port number you are using for your node server. This command will start a session that forwards your local port to a public URL. It should print out some information about the session including a link that looks like https://test.ngrok.io. Keep your Terminal window open.
  3. Login to Twilio and go to Messaging -> Services and create a Messaging Service. Fill out the name of the service and click Skip Setup on the bottom of the page.
  4. Once the service is setup, click on Integrations and Check Send a webhook and copy/paste the URL from your Terminal session. For Fallback URL you can just use https://www.google.com. Then click Save Changes.
  5. Your local Node server should now be able to receive Twilio messages. When you are done using Node server, you can close your Terminal window.