Integrate WhatsApp without programming too much? Well... Depends on

When José and I set out to integrate APIs with intelligent agents, the goal was clear: to make connecting to WhatsApp (or any other platform) fast, without having to write too much code. We wanted to show that agents can handle complex flows and turn an "this should work" into something that actually works.

But of course, agents don't do magic. In order for Inpla to be able to make decisions and communicate effectively with a system, it needs context. Without context, it's like asking an LLM to make a recipe without telling you the ingredients.

Inpla in 3 steps (or how not to get lost in JSONs)

For Inpla to connect to your API and your WhatsApp, you have to follow a setup process, which sounds easy... Well, at least for us. But don't worry, here's the short version:⃣

1️Register your API:

• Upload a JSON documenting your API.
• Or at least an endpoint with a clear description.

2️⃣ Set up WhatsApp:

• Add the whatsapp_id that Meta gave you.
• Add the Meta token + the token you define to validate the Impla URL.

3️⃣ User authentication:

Inpla needs to know who's who, so it defines the endpoints to validate and authenticate users. (José made a post about this, if you didn't see it, it's about time).

Case study: Integrating woku with Inpla

In my case with woku, the API was already documented in Postman. So I decided to try Postbot (Postman's AI) to generate decent documentation. It worked well enough to export and upload to Inpla.

Here you can see part of the file I exported from Postman... Literally, I didn't change anything.

Then, I registered a number on WhatsApp, set up the Inpla URL (http://odin.inpla.ai/whatsapp/webhook), generated the tokens, and uploaded everything to Inpla from Postman. Oh, and I created two endpoints to authenticate users in Inpla. difficulty? Nothing.

Build with real needs vs. build just because

The interesting thing about all this is that we're not making software to collect features. In both Woku and Kutamma, we are solving real problems that we experience on a daily basis as technology entrepreneurs. There is nothing like validating in battle what we are creating and seeing how it evolves based on our needs and those of our customers.

Fun fact: One of the first things I wanted to do was program the interface to set up Inpla. But Paula, in her eagerness to validate before moving forward, stopped me in my tracks. The project was set up and forgotten until it is really necessary, since for now editing it through Postman is enough to move forward.