Another random idea from some random comment on a podcast this morning; “Can I do some AI genertaed response to a Whatsapp message?”. Turns out - yep, you can and the test setup is quite easy. The setup I got workingfor the WhatsApp bot using the Meta Cloud API, AWS Lambda, and API Gateway.
I’m documenting the exact steps here for future reference, or if I want to rebuild this somewhere else.
What I Built
A WhatsApp bot that:
- Responds automatically to incoming messages with a Hello Gee message
- Is deployed as a Python function in AWS Lambda
- Sends messages back through the Meta Cloud API
- Uses a test number provided by Meta (for now)
Stack
- WhatsApp Cloud API (via Meta)
- AWS Lambda (Python 3.13)
- API Gateway (REST + proxy integration)
- requests for outbound calls to Meta
Step-by-Step Setup
1. Meta Developer Setup
- Created a Meta Developer App
- Enabled the WhatsApp product
- Got:
- A test number
- A temporary access token (valid 23h)
- Phone number ID
- Added my personal number as a test recipient
- Verified it by entering the code Meta sent via WhatsApp
2. Created the Lambda Function
Used Python 3.13.
mkdir teambot-lambda
cd teambot-lambda
pip install requests -t .Wrote lambda_function.py to:
- Handle GET requests (for webhook verification)
- Parse POST requests from Meta
- Send back a
"hello gee"message via Meta’s messaging API
Zipped it:
zip -r function.zip .Uploaded to AWS Lambda.
Set environment variables:
WHATSAPP_TOKENPHONE_NUMBER_ID
3. API Gateway Setup
Important: used REST API, not HTTP API.
- Created a new resource:
/webhook - Method:
ANY - Enabled Lambda proxy integration
- Deployed to
/prodstage
Endpoint looked like:
https://abc123.execute-api.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/prod/webhook4. Webhook Verification
In Meta Developer Portal:
- Went to WhatsApp > Configuration > Webhooks
- Entered:
- Callback URL: the API Gateway URL
- Verify Token:
teambot123
Added webhook GET logic in the Lambda to echo back hub.challenge.
Meta confirmed the webhook ✅
5. Subscribed to Message Events
In Webhooks → Manage:
- Subscribed to
messages - Also added
message_status
6. Test Message Loop
Sent “hi” to the test number.
Lambda received the message and replied with:
"hello gee"
Confirmed everything working via:
- WhatsApp test chat
- CloudWatch logs (good visibility into events + response status codes)
Next Steps
Will expand this to:
- Pull input data from Google Sheets
- Add OpenAI GPT Response
But for now — the core pipeline is live. WhatsApp in, Lambda logic, WhatsApp out.
TeamBot is alive. 🧠📲