Handle an incoming message

Note:

Before you can get started, you need to do the following:

Set all Conversation API configuration settings.
Python and a familiarity with how to create a new file.
PIP (package installer for Python) and a familiarity with how to install Python modules.
Flask and a familiarity with how to set up a Flask environment and app.
ngrok. You'll use ngrok to open a tunnel to your local server.

Using the Conversation API, you can receive and respond to messages from any channel you have configured. This tutorial shows you how to set up a Flask application using Python that receives and responds to messages.

Note:

This tutorial is easier to accomplish if you have already completed the steps for sending a message.

Steps:

Set up your Flask Python application
Configure your Conversation API webhook
Test the application

Set up your Flask Python application

Create a new folder where you want your app project and open a command prompt to that location.
Create a new environment with the following command:
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```
py -3 -m venv venv
```
Activate the environment using the following command:
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```
venv/Scripts/activate
```
Install the Flask and requests modules by executing the following commands:
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```
pip install Flask
pip install requests
```

Modify your application

Note:

This tutorial uses basic authentication for testing purposes. We recommend OAuth 2.0 authentication in a production environment. Read more about authentication methods here.

In your project folder, create a new file named app.py. Populate that file with the provided "app.py" code found on this page. This code starts a server that listens for incoming messages. It then sends a text message in response.

Note:

This sample code is configured for the US region. If your Conversation API app wasn't created in the US region, replace all instances of https://us.conversation.api.sinch.com with https://eu.conversation.api.sinch.com in the sample code.

Assign your values to the following parameters:

Parameter	Your value
`accessKey`	Find your access key on your Sinch dashboard.
`accessSecret`	Find your access secret on your Sinch dashboard. Note: Access secrets are only available during initial key creation.

Save the file.

Start your web server and set up a tunnel

Start the server by executing the following command:
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```
flask run
```
By default, your web server is started on port 5000.
Now you need to open a tunnel to the server you just set up. We are using ngrok for this. If you don't have ngrok installed already you can install it with the following command:
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```
npm install ngrok -g
```
Open a terminal or command prompt and enter:
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```
ngrok http 5000
```
Copy the HTTPS address that ends with .ngrok.io.

Configure your webhook

In order for your application to receive messages from Conversation API, you must configure a webhook in your Conversation API app. For detailed instructions on configuring a webhook, click here.

Set your webhook URL to the HTTP address you copied in the previous step.
Assign the following triggers:
- CONVERSATION_START
- CONVERSATION_STOP
- EVENT_DELIVERY
- EVENT_INBOUND
- MESSAGE_DELIVERY
- MESSAGE_INBOUND
- UNSUPPORTED

Test the application

Now that your server is running and your webhook is configured, you can test the application.

From your messaging platform, send your Conversation API app a message. You will receive a message back in response on the messaging platform.

Additional resources

Read the links below to learn more: