🧾An intelligent automation system that turns WhatsApp into your personal receipt manager — integrating Meta WhatsApp Cloud API, Google Drive, Google Sheets, and OpenAI GPT-4o-mini via n8n.
🎥 Demo: Watch the Loom walkthrough
The AI-Powered WhatsApp Receipt Bot automates the complete invoice handling process through a conversational interface.
Workflow Summary:
User sends a receipt image via WhatsApp.
The bot automatically downloads the media using the WhatsApp Cloud API.
The image is uploaded to a Google Drive “Invoices” folder.
The file is shared publicly, generating a shareable URL.
The receipt is analyzed using OpenAI GPT-4o-mini to extract structured data:
The extracted details are appended to a Google Sheet for record-keeping.
The bot sends a human-readable summary back to WhatsApp with emojis and the invoice link.
Output Example:
🏬 Store: Big Bazaar
📝 Items: Rice, Detergent, Snacks
💳 Payment: Card
💰 Total: ₹1520.75
🔗 Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1abcXYZ/view
This system eliminates manual expense tracking, improves accuracy through OCR, and provides a seamless way to manage receipts in real time.
Scenario | Description |
---|---|
Personal Expense Management | Automatically store and categorize receipts from daily purchases. |
Business Accounting | Collect employee expense receipts through WhatsApp and centralize them in Google Sheets. |
Freelancer or Consultant Tracking | Keep a digital record of client reimbursements or software purchase receipts. |
Family Budgeting | Family members send receipts to one shared WhatsApp number, all data gets logged centrally. |
E-commerce / Delivery Teams | Drivers or delivery agents send invoices from the field to WhatsApp; data automatically goes to the accounting sheet. |
Tool | Purpose | Link |
---|---|---|
Meta Developer Account | To access WhatsApp Business Cloud API | https://developers.facebook.com/apps |
Google Cloud Account | For enabling Drive and Sheets APIs | https://console.cloud.google.com |
n8n Instance | Workflow automation engine (local or cloud) | https://app.n8n.cloud |
OpenAI API Key | For GPT-4o-mini model OCR + reasoning | https://platform.openai.com/account/api-keys |
Go to Meta Developer Dashboard → My Apps → Create App → Business type.
Add WhatsApp product under your app.
Retrieve the following from WhatsApp > Configuration:
Add these credentials in n8n → Credentials → WhatsApp API.
Verify webhook in Meta with your n8n webhook URL.
Important:
In your HTTP Node, set the header as:
Authorization: Bearer <access_token>
Replace <access_token>
with your WhatsApp Cloud API permanent token.
Without this, the workflow will fail to send or receive WhatsApp messages properly.
Create a folder named Invoices on your Google Drive.
Copy the Folder ID (found in the Drive URL).
In Google Cloud Console → APIs & Services → Enable APIs:
Go to Credentials → Create Credentials → OAuth 2.0 Client ID.
Download the credentials.json
file.
Upload this to n8n → Credentials → Google Drive OAuth2 API.
Authorize the connection on first workflow run.
store name | discription | image_url | payment | total
Generate an API key from https://platform.openai.com/account/api-keys.
Add it to n8n → Credentials → OpenAI API.
Use model gpt-4o-mini in the “Analyze Image” node.
Import the provided n8n workflow JSON.
Configure credentials for:
Activate workflow and set webhook in Meta Developer console.
Send a test receipt image to your WhatsApp Business number.
The bot will automatically:
Download → Upload → Extract → Log → Summarize → Reply
store name | discription | image_url | payment | total |
---|---|---|---|---|
Big Bazaar | Rice, Detergent, Snacks | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1abcXYZ/view | Card | 1520.75 |
A fully automated AI pipeline that transforms WhatsApp into a smart expense-tracking interface — integrating vision, automation, and natural language processing for zero-manual financial documentation.
Support & Contact:
If you face any issues during setup or execution, contact:
📧 Email: [email protected]
🔗 LinkedIn: Atharva Jaiswal