---
title: WhatsApp chatbots with python
description: Get started with pywce.
---

<Warning>
 Make sure to read [core section](/) before proceeding
</Warning>

Pywce is a library for creating WhatsApp chatbots using a template-driven approach.
It decouples the engine from the WhatsApp client library, allowing developers to use them independently or together.

<Info>
  You can use pywce as just another WhatsApp client library without relying on
  the template engine.
</Info>

### Setup

<Steps>
    <Step title="Install library" icon="python">
        Install latest version from vcs

        ```bash
        # async version, using await
        $ pip install git+https://github.com/DonnC/pywce.git@async
        ```

        ```bash
        # sync version
        $ pip install git+https://github.com/DonnC/pywce.git@sync
        ```
    </Step>
    <Step title="Setup config keys" icon="gear">
        Safely store your WhatsApp account config keys in a safe `.env` file for best practise

        ```env
          ACCESS_TOKEN=your-whatsapp-access-token
          PHONE_NUMBER_ID=your-phone-id
          APP_SECRET=your-dev-app-secret
          WEBHOOK_HUB_TOKEN=your-preffered-webhook-token

          START_STAGE=your-selected-initial-template-stage

          # optional, used if using file based template source e.g YAML or JSON
          TEMPLATES_DIR=folder-with-template-files
          TRIGGERS_DIR=your-trigger-folder
        ```

    </Step>
    <Step title="Configure engine settings" icon="gear">
        Examples given will be using FastApi, but any framework will do

        ```bash
        $ pip install fastapi[standard]
        ```

        Create client & engine instance

        ```python
        # config.py
        import os
        from dotenv import load_dotenv

        from pywce import Engine, client, storage, EngineConfig

        load_dotenv()

        yaml_template_storage = storage.YamlStorageManager(os.getenv("TEMPLATES_DIR"), os.getenv("TRIGGERS_DIR"))

        _wa_config = client.WhatsAppConfig(
            token=os.getenv("ACCESS_TOKEN"),
            phone_number_id=os.getenv("PHONE_NUMBER_ID"),
            hub_verification_token=os.getenv("WEBHOOK_HUB_TOKEN"),
            app_secret=os.getenv("APP_SECRET")
        )

        whatsapp = client.WhatsApp(_wa_config)

        _eng_config = EngineConfig(
            whatsapp=whatsapp,
            storage_manager=yaml_template_storage,
            start_template_stage=os.getenv("START_STAGE")
        )

        engine = Engine(config=_eng_config)
        ```

    </Step>
</Steps>