alexlsalt / wellbean-twilio-hackathon

Welcome! wellbean is my submission for the April 2020 Twilio hackathon. It's an app that generates automatic Whatsapp reminders for users to stay in touch with loved ones. Enjoy!

Geek Repo:Geek Repo

Github PK Tool:Github PK Tool

Wellbean bean

Wellbean App x Twilio Hackathon

Created and developed by Alex Morton

Welcome! wellbean is my submission for the April 2020 Twilio hackathon. It's an app that generates automatic Whatsapp reminders for users to stay in touch with loved ones. Enjoy!

About

During this period of self-isolation, I realized it's a great opportunity to stay in touch more frequently with friends and loved ones. I thought it would be a great idea to create an app that allowed me to input certain indivuduals and receive automated reminders for when to contact them, based on my own preferences.

I found that just a simple message reminder would help so much in keeping in touch with friends and family.

How it works

Run locally, the app is not set up to run on full time requirements. In other words, if a user wants to be reminded 'Daily' to call one of their contacts, the app will send a message about once every 20 seconds.

Live demo: https://www.loom.com/share/36e0660de36f42f2aedb9623bab1876b

Below is the timetable for when users would receive Twilio messages via Whatsapp based on their contact frequency settings:

Frequency chosen Actual time elapsed between message sends
Daily one message every 20 seconds
Twice a Week one message every 40 seconds
Weekly one message every 60 seconds
Every Two Weeks one message every 80 seconds
Monthly one message every 100 seconds

Adding contacts and reminder frequencies

Receiving automated suggestions via Whatsapp

Features

  • Node.js web server using Express.js
  • User interface to set up contact reminders
  • Project specific environment variables using .env files

Set up

Requirements

Twilio account settings

wellbean will give you a ready-made starting point for generating your own stay-in-touch reminders. Before we begin, we need to collect all the config values we need to run the application:

Config value Description
Account sid Your primary Twilio account identifier - find this in the console.
Auth token Used to authenticate - just like the above, you'll find this here.
Your Whatsapp number You'll need to add your Whatsapp account phone number in E.164 format.
The Twilio whatsapp number You will have this once you set up your Whatsapp Sandbox within Twilio.

Note: To run the app locally and receive Whatsapp alerts, you'll need to authorize the Whatsapp sandbox to send alerts to your Whatsapp number. To authorize testing, head to your Whatsapp Sandbox for instructions on how to set up your testing sandbox.

Local development

  1. Clone this repository to your local machine and then cd into it

git clone https://github.com/alexlsalt/wellbean-twilio-hackathon.git cd wellbean-twilio-hackathon

  1. Install dependencies

npm install

  1. Edit the .env file to include the necessary environment variables - your Twilio account ID, Twilio auth token, and the phone numbers to add into the app. Reminder: To run the app locally and receive Whatsapp alerts, you'll need to authorize the Whatsapp sandbox to send alerts to your Whatsapp number. To authorize testing and add the Twilio Whatsapp number to your .env file, head to your Whatsapp Sandbox for instructions on how to set up your testing sandbox.

  2. Once your set up is complete, start the app by running

node app

  1. Head to your local port 3000 (http://127.0.0.1:3000/) to view the app.

  2. Once you've submitted three contacts, wait about 20 seconds, and you will start receiving your simulated Whatsapp reminders. (Your reminders will also be logged into your terminal while the program is running.)

  3. Important: To close out of the app and end the message queue and sending, you must end the node process within your terminal by pressing Ctrl + C

Licenses

MIT

Disclaimier

No warranty expressed or implied. Software is as is.

About

Welcome! wellbean is my submission for the April 2020 Twilio hackathon. It's an app that generates automatic Whatsapp reminders for users to stay in touch with loved ones. Enjoy!

License:MIT License


Languages

Language:JavaScript 42.8%Language:CSS 39.2%Language:HTML 18.0%