WhatsApp group chat with your vector database — no Facebook Business required
Enable smart, real-time answers in your WhatsApp groups using a custom webhook, Pinecone vector database, and no Facebook Business setup.
> 🟡 **Note:** This template uses a *custom WhatsApp webhook*. It does **not** use the official WhatsApp Business API.
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## 👥 Who is this for?
This workflow is designed for individuals and teams who want to enable smart WhatsApp group automation — without going through Meta’s official WhatsApp Business API. Ideal for small businesses, internal teams, communities, and personal power users.
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## ❓ What problem is this solving?
Setting up WhatsApp bots with intelligent responses often requires approval from Meta and a verified business account. This workflow removes those barriers by using a self-hosted webhook to handle incoming messages and respond using a document-trained AI via Pinecone.
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## ⚙️ What this workflow does
- Connects a regular WhatsApp number to a custom webhook
- Adds the bot to any group chat (it stays silent unless mentioned)
- Indexes documents from Google Drive into Pinecone
- Responds with intelligent, context-aware answers from your custom knowledge base
- Auto-updates its knowledge every minute as the document changes
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## 🛠️ Setup
### Step 1: Connect Google Drive
- Set up your [Google Drive credentials in n8n](https://docs.n8n.io/integrations/builtin/credentials/google/)
### Step 2: Configure Pinecone
1. Create an index in Pinecone
- **Dimension:** `1536`
2. Select this index in **both** Pinecone nodes
3. Click **Test Workflow** to ingest your document into Pinecone
### Step 3: Get Access to the WhatsApp Webhook
- Fill out [this form to request access](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd-bW5tSJu_rRvJ4NmFrxXSAwaNbO7MbGJtUIS-mBA23B7BWQ/viewform?usp=dialog)
- You’ll receive a WhatsApp confirmation for linking
### Step 4: Test WhatsApp Integration
- ✅ *One-on-one test:* Send a message from another number
- 👥 *Group test:* Add the bot to a group; it will only respond when tagged
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## 🧩 How to customize this workflow
- Modify the **system prompt** inside the AI agent node to control tone and behavior
- Update the connected Google Doc to match your specific domain (e.g. FAQs, SOPs, product manuals)
- Adjust the Pinecone sync frequency if you want updates more or less often
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## 📚 Use cases
- **Customer Support**: Instant, intelligent replies in WhatsApp without live agents
- **Team Knowledge Bot**: Tag the bot for quick access to SOPs and internal docs
- **Community Groups**: Automate common questions while keeping noise low
- **Personal AI Assistant**: A WhatsApp chatbot trained on your notes and files
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## 📝 Sticky Note Suggestion
💬 **What this template does:**
> Enables an AI bot in your WhatsApp group that answers questions based on a Google Doc you provide. It uses a custom webhook, Google Drive, and Pinecone.
🔧 **Requirements:**
> Google Drive account
> Pinecone account with an index (dimension 1536)
> Access to the custom WhatsApp webhook (see setup steps)
