Chat/messaging system

[michelem09]

We need a structured chat/messaging system to let user discuss between them, in different channels (trollbox, task level, project level, 1to1, etc...).

They can send attachments as well as emoji.
Also bot can dialogue on it, notifying users about new activities and more.

Can we find a service with strong API and customisation to do this or should we develop it from scratch?

To look at:

• https://sendbird.com/
• https://www.upwork.com/hiring/for-clients/in-app-messaging/
• https://smooch.io/
• https://firebase.google.com/products/in-app-messaging/
• https://medium.com/@hpux/how-to-build-a-real-chat-system-for-your-startup-bdbfce744e2b
• https://www.twilio.com/chat

[giacd]

The chat feature can be done in many different ways, and I believe we should aim to the minimum-viable-chat feature at the beginning, because we want to focus on the payment-stellar layer and other prominent features.

So, I gave a look to the Twilio-Chat capabilities and I like their Whatsapp APIs, so I was wondering if we should start focusing exactly on this. What I have in mind is providing only the Whatsapp integration at the beginning: creators and professionals will be able to chat and interact via Whatsapp, and be notified via email for any interaction according to their notification preferences. Then we can grow from there. What do you think?

[michelem09]

I tried Whatsapp API in sandbox and they are pretty cool and very simple to integrate, the problem is that they are not public yet and you need to get approval from Whatsapp https://www.twilio.com/docs/sms/whatsapp/api#enabling-whatsapp-with-a-twilio-number

I just sent request, we will see.