Digital Guides

A Python library for building interactive, state-machine-driven conversational guides on WhatsApp (via the WhatsApp Cloud API and pywa).

Overview

Digital Guides lets you define guided experiences as JSON — each state contains a list of handlers that match incoming messages and a list of actions that are sent in response. The library handles webhook parsing, pattern matching, message sending, and persistence so you can focus on the conversation flow.

Installation

pip install digitalguide

With MongoDB persistence and pywa (WhatsApp Cloud API client):

pip install "digitalguide[full]"

With image processing (PIL) and S3 storage:

pip install "digitalguide[full]" boto3 Pillow

Configuration

Create a config.ini file in your working directory:

[bot]
bot_name = my_bot_name   # used as the MongoDB database alias

[space]
space_name = my-s3-bucket
space_region = fra1
space_endpoint = https://fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com

Set S3/DigitalOcean Spaces credentials as environment variables:

export SPACES_KEY=your_access_key
export SPACES_SECRET=your_secret_key

Quick Start

1. Define states and actions as JSON

handlers_json = [
    {
        "handler": "MessageHandler",
        "filter": "regex",
        "regex": "WEITER_PATTERN",   # matches "weiter", "next", "ok", etc.
        "action": "welcome_action"
    },
    {
        "handler": "MessageHandler",
        "filter": "text",
        "action": "fallback_action"
    }
]

actions_json = [
    {"type": "message", "text": "Willkommen, {profile_name}!"},
    {"type": "message", "text": "Schreib etwas, um fortzufahren."},
    {"type": "return", "state": "next_state"}
]

2. Build handlers and actions

from digitalguide.generateStates import read_state
from digitalguide.generateActions import Action

handlers = read_state(handlers_json)
action = Action(actions_json)

3. Process an incoming webhook

The library uses pywa for WhatsApp Cloud API integration. Register a handler on your PyWa client and dispatch the incoming update through your state's handler list:

from pywa import WhatsApp
from pywa.types import Message, CallbackButton, CallbackSelection
import redis

wa = WhatsApp(
    phone_id="YOUR_PHONE_NUMBER_ID",
    token="YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN",
    server=None,           # e.g. a Flask or FastAPI app
    callback_url="https://your-domain.com/webhook",
    verify_token="YOUR_VERIFY_TOKEN",
)

r = redis.Redis()         # Redis client used to track in-flight messages

def handle_update(client: WhatsApp, update: Message | CallbackButton | CallbackSelection):
    context = {"state": "start"}   # load from your persistence layer

    for handler in handlers:
        if handler.check_update(update):
            new_state = handler.callback(client, update, context, r)
            break

update is a pywa.types.Message, CallbackButton, or CallbackSelection object delivered by pywa's webhook dispatcher. r is a Redis client used to track in-flight messages.

Action Types

Type	Description
`message`	Send a text message. Supports `reply_buttons` and interactive list via `button` + `section_title` + `rows`.
`photo`	Send an image by `url` or media `id`.
`video`	Send a video by `url`.
`audio` / `voice`	Send audio by `url` or media `id`.
`sticker`	Send a sticker by `url`.
`carousel`	Send a card carousel with `text` and `cards`.
`venue`	Send a location pin with `title`, `address`, `latitude`, `longitude`.
`poll`	Send a text poll with `question` and `options` list.
`function`	Call a special action function by `func` (`module:function_name`) with extra keyword arguments.
`return`	Transition to a new state. Must be the last item; returns `state` string to the caller.

Message placeholders

Inside text fields you can use:

{profile_name} — the user's WhatsApp display name
{echo} — the user's last message text
{any_context_key} — any value stored in the context dict

Handler Types

`MessageHandler`

Matches incoming messages. Supported filter values:

Filter	Matches
`regex`	A named pattern (e.g. `JA_PATTERN`) or a custom regex string
`text`	Any text message
`photo`	Any image message
`voice`	Any audio/voice message

Named patterns available: EMOJI_PATTERN, JA_PATTERN, NEIN_PATTERN, WEITER_PATTERN, ZURUECK_PATTERN, WOHIN_PATTERN, JAHRESZAHL_PATTERN, KOMMAZAHL_PATTERN, DATENSCHUTZ_PATTERN.

`CommandHandler`

Matches a specific command string (e.g. /start):

{"handler": "CommandHandler", "command": "start", "action": "start_action"}

`TypeHandler`

Matches by update type. Currently supports "Update".

Special Actions

from digitalguide.special_actions import contextActions, writeActions

action_functions = {
    **contextActions.whatsapp_action_functions,
    **writeActions.whatsapp_action_functions,
}

action = Action(actions_json, action_functions=action_functions)

Or reference them directly in JSON with module:function syntax:

{"type": "function", "func": "contextActions:save_text_to_context", "key": "user_answer"}

Available modules:

contextActions — save values to the session context
writeActions — persist user-sent media (photo, voice, video, document) to S3
imageActions — image overlay and GIF generation
listenfrageActions — listening/survey question tracking
schaetzfragenActions — year/decimal estimation questions with feedback

Data Persistence

When [full] dependencies are installed and MongoDB is connected, the library automatically persists:

WhatsAppUser — user profile name and WhatsApp ID (created on first interaction)
WhatsAppInteraction — every incoming message with its state and timestamp
WhatsAppUserContextState — per-user session context and current state

Connect MongoDB before processing updates:

import mongoengine
mongoengine.register_connection(alias="my_bot_name", name="my_bot_name", host="mongodb://localhost")

Running Tests

pip install "digitalguide[test]"
pytest

License

MIT

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