A Facebook Messenger Bot Example in Clojure

1. Setup a Facebook Page, Facebook app, create a Page Access Token and link the app to the page by following this step-by-step guide.

2. Download the repository: lemmings-io/02-facebook-example

3. Extract it into the /lemmings/clojure/projects directory.

4. Start a new VM shell session via vagrant ssh

5. In the VM shell change into the facebook-example project directory

    cd 02-facebook-example/
   

6. Run ngrok http 3000 (read more about ngrok)

   

7. Start another new VM shell session via vagrant ssh

8. Add your Facebook Page Access Token to your environment

    export FB_PAGE_ACCESS_TOKEN="<YOUR_FB_PAGE_ACCESS_TOKEN>"
   

9. Start the local server

    lein ring server-headless
   

   

   Via the lein-ring doc: by default, this command attempts to find a free port, starting at 3000.

10. Visit the https URL as shown in step 4.
    E.g. https://0db8caac.ngrok.io

    If everything went right, you'll see "Hello Lemming :)" in your Browser 🎈

    

11. In your Facebook Developer App go to "Webhooks" in the left sidebar and add Callback URL and Verify Token accordingly:

    

12. Click "Verify and Save" and your app is connected to Facebook's Messenger API 🎈

    

13. Go to your Facebook Page and send a message and your bot echo's your input. Congratulations!💧

    

Check out the code to find out more 🙂

Note: This clojure app is ready for deployment on Heroku and based on Heroku's Clojure Getting Started Example.