WhatsApp Auto-Reply AI Bot — n8n Template (India FAQ Ready)`

The n8n workflow your WhatsApp Business number needs. Auto-replies to customer FAQs in English or Hindi, falls back to Gemini for anything the FAQ doesn't cover. Zero running cost on free tiers

### Your WhatsApp Business number, answering customers by itself.

You set up WhatsApp Business for your shop, clinic, or restaurant — and within a week you were answering the same five questions on repeat. Opening hours. Delivery area. Price list. Address. Appointment booking.

This template fixes that. Import one n8n workflow, paste your FAQs into a Google Sheet, and your WhatsApp number starts answering customers in English or Hindi — automatically, 24/7, for free.

### What it does

1. **Customer WhatsApps your business number.**

2. **The bot looks at your Google Sheet FAQ** and finds the closest match using fuzzy keyword matching.

3. **If it finds a match, it replies with your answer** — in English or Hindi, depending on the customer's language.

4. **If nothing matches, it asks Google Gemini** (using your entire FAQ as context) to write a sensible reply — still grounded in your actual business info, not random hallucinations.

5. **Every conversation is logged** to a "Conversations" tab on the same sheet, so you can review what customers actually ask and grow your FAQ over time.

### What you get

- **`workflow.json`** — one importable n8n workflow. 14 nodes, every one renamed and annotated with inline notes. Credentials stripped to empty placeholders. Imports into a fresh n8n workspace in 30 seconds.

- **Bilingual sample FAQ** (English + Hindi) — 15 rows covering restaurant, clinic, and retail-shop use cases. Edit to fit your business.

- **5 sample webhook payloads** for testing every code path before you go live.

- **Step-by-step install guide** with a top-5 troubleshooting section for the most common issues.

- **Six integration and swap guides**:

  - Meta WhatsApp Business Cloud API setup (with screenshots)

  - Twilio Sandbox dev path (for testing before you verify a Meta business)

  - Google Gemini API setup

  - Swap recipe: use **OpenAI** instead of Gemini

  - Swap recipe: use **Airtable** instead of Google Sheets

  - **Privacy compliance snippet** covering India's DPDP Act 2023 + Meta's automated-system disclosure requirement

- **Commercial license** — use it for your own business AND on unlimited client projects if you're a freelancer or agency.

### Running costs once installed

| Service | Free tier | Sufficient for |

|---|---|---|

| n8n | Self-host free, cloud free tier | Any small business |

| Meta WhatsApp Cloud API | 1,000 service conversations per month | Most small businesses |

| Google Sheets API | 300 reads + 60 writes per user per minute | Bots handling under 1 message per second |

| Google Gemini API (`gemini-2.0-flash`) | 1,500 requests per day | Bots handling up to ~60 unmatched questions per hour |

**Most small businesses will run this bot for zero ongoing cost.**

### Who it's for

- **Local businesses in India** — restaurants, clinics, shops, salons, tutors, real estate — who want their WhatsApp number to auto-answer common questions without hiring a support agent.

- **No-code agencies and freelancers** who set up automation for clients and want a ready-to-deploy template they can drop into projects.

- **n8n users anywhere** who need a bilingual WhatsApp FAQ bot for an existing n8n workspace.

### Who it's NOT for

- People who want a hosted SaaS product with a dashboard and monthly billing. This is a template you install on n8n.

- People who need the bot to understand voice notes, images, or PDFs. v1 is text-only (non-text messages get a polite "please type your question" reply).

- People who want to send outbound marketing broadcasts. v1 only replies to user-initiated conversations — this is deliberate, to stay inside Meta's free tier and sidestep template pre-approval.