A simple way to connect and integrate Dialogflow and Twilio to create Whatsapp Chatbots
Step 1 - Open the Google Console for Cloud Functions (here) and make sure you have the Google Project of your Dialogflow chatbot selected.
Step 2 - Click on "Create Function" to open the interface for function creation.
Step 3- Set the name of the function (twilio-conector is a good option)
Step 4- On the Source Code option, select Inline Editor .
Step 5- In the index.js tab, copy and paste the code from the index.js file in this repository.
Step 6- In the package.json tab, copy and paste the code from the package.json file in this repository.
Step 7 - Set the Function to Execute field to "TwilioWebhook"
Step 8 - Click on the Dropdown "Variables, Networking and Advanced Settings"
Step 9 - In the Enviroment Variables section, look for Runtime Enviroment Variables and click on "Add Variable"
Step 10 - Add variables called:
-
projectId (the project ID found on your Dialogflow's agent settings page)
-
accountSid (your twilio account Sid value, found on the main dashboard of your Twilio project)
-
authToken (the authentication token for your Twilio acconut, found on the main dashboard of your Twilio project)
Step 11 - Click on "Create". In 1-2 minutes your integration will be up and running.
Step 12 - Click on your created function. Open the Trigger tab and copy the URL.
Step 13 - In your Twilio Sandbox configuration (link), paste the URL into the "when a message comes in" field and click save.
Step 14 - Activate the Cloud Build API, you can find her here
Step 15 - Test your chatbot. You should now be able to talk to your Dialogflow chatbot through the Twilio Sandbox's WhatsApp number.
You can also send media files such as Images, Audios, PDFs and Videos. To do so, add a "Custom Payload" response in your Dialogflow intent with the code:
{
"mediaUrl": "<<YOUR URL>>"
}
You can optionally include a text paramater to send a message alongside the image:
{
"mediaUrl": "<<YOUR URL>>",
"text": "<<YOUR MESSAGE>>"
}
See here Twilio's documentation to learn more about the limitations for sending media files.