Messenger
Requirements
You will need a Facebook app and a Facebook page to connect your bot to messenger
Enabling Messenger in Botpress Cloud Dashboard
Go to the chatbot settings in your cloud dashboard and enable messenger. We will get the APP ID, App Secret, Verify Token, Page ID and Access Token from the following steps.
Create a Facebook App
To create a Facebook App, log in to your Facebook account and go to the Facebook for Developers website (opens in a new tab). Select My Apps from the top menu, and create a new app. For more details and assistance, visit the Facebook developer documentation (opens in a new tab)
Create a Facebook Page
If you do not already have a Facebook page you will need to create one. You can find details on how to create a new Facebook page here (opens in a new tab)
To link your chatbot to a pre-existing page, you must have an administrator or developer role
Channel Configuration
API version
The messenger channel is made to interact with version 12.0 or higher of the Messenger API. It is not the default version so it must be changed in your app's settings
- Go to your Facebook App
- In the left sidebar, expand the Settings menu and select Advanced
- In the Upgrade API version section, select v12.0 or higher as the API version
- Click on Save changes
Add Messenger Product
Messenger is not added by default in your Facebook App, so it must be added manually
- In the left sidebar, click on Add Product
- In the Facebook Messenger section click Set Up
App Id and Secret
The app id and secret are used to validate webhook requests
- In the left sidebar, expand the Settings menu and select Basic. Here you can find the App ID and App Secret
- Click on the Show button in the App Secret text box. Copy the App Id and App Secret to your channel configuration
Page Id and Access Token
The page id and access token are used to send messages to the Messenger API
- In the left sidebar, expand the Messenger menu and select Settings
- In the Access Tokens section, click Add or remove Pages and add your facebook page
- Copy the number under your page name and paste it in your Page Id channel configuration
- Click on Generate token. Copy this token and paste it in the Access Token channel configuration
Verify Token
The verify token is used by facebook to verify that you are the real owner of the provided webhook
You can generate any random alphanumerical string for this configuration. Paste it in your Verify Token channel configuration
Save Configuration
Channel configuration is complete, you can now click Save. It is important to save your configuration before configuring the webhook, otherwise Messenger will be unable to validate the webhook url
Webhook Configuration
To receive messages from Messenger, you will need to setup a webhook
- Go to your Facebook App.
- In the left sidebar, expand the Messenger menu and select Settings
- In the Webhooks section, click Add Callback URL
- Copy paste the webhook url provided in the channel configuration UI
- Copy paste the verify token you generated earlier
- Click on Verify and save. Make sure your channel configuration was saved before doing this step, otherwise the webhook validation will fail
- Click on Add subscriptions and add
messages
andmessaging_postbacks
to your webhook
Submit your App for Meta Approval
When your app is in Development Mode, your bot will work for admins, developers, and testers of the app. After your app is approved and made public, it will work for the general public.
Read more about the App Approval process (opens in a new tab)
Send Greeting/Welcome Message
You can create a customised greeting from your Page that will appear in Facebook messages and in the Messenger app when someone begins a conversation with your Page for the first time. Your Page's greeting will appear before any messages are sent.
Read more about the Messenger Greeting/Welcome Message (opens in a new tab)