Glific - Two Way Open Source Communication Platform

Pre-requisites

Understanding of middle to advanced level required: It is assumed that you're comfortable using a terminal, installing tools and other dependencies, have git and curl for the backend, and yarn and react for the frontend.

1. Software dependency - Postgres server
2. Software dependency - Erlang / Elixir
3. Backend - Download
4. External service - Gupshup. <-- Get a Free trial to get API-key
5. External service - Oban. <-- Needs 100 Euro per month (patch available to work with free version)
6. Backend - Install certificate
7. Backend - Config
8. Frontend

1. Software dependency - Postgres server

• Download and start postgres server

For Postgres, for the development server, we default to using postgres/postgres/postgres as the username/password/machine name - this is configurable.

We tested and developed against the following versions:

    - postgres : v13.x, v14.x

2. Software dependency - Erlang / Elixir

• Install Elixir using asdf (check package versions below)

For Ubuntu users, you also need to install the inotify-tools package.

We tested and developed against the following versions (please check .tool-versions in the repository for the latest version we are using):

    - erlang : 26.1.2
    - elixir : 1.15.7-otp-26

After installing the asdf core, install the Erlang and Elixir plugins.

asdf plugin add erlang https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf-erlang.git
asdf plugin-add elixir https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf-elixir.git

If you want to install the specific versions that were used for developing and testing:

asdf install erlang 26.1.2
asdf install elixir 1.15.7-otp-26
asdf global erlang 26.1.2
asdf global elixir 1.15.7-otp-26

If you get any warnings for missing packages, just install them using apt and try again.

Note: It is important to use asdf to install Erlang and Elixir.

3. Backend - Download

• Download the latest code from GitHub

git clone https://github.com/glific/glific

DO NOT run mix deps.get until the next steps are completed.

4. External service - Gupshup Create and link your Gupshup Account

Gupshup is an external service that connects to WhatsApp.

You will need to do the following:

• Create a Gupshup Account
• Create an app and select Access API
• You can name it NewNameHere "GlificTest <-- Bot Name is already in use, then use another one"
• Run the following command cp config/dev.secret.exs.txt config/dev.secret.exs
• Now, in Gupshup, find your API Key: check the top right corner and click the profile picture or inside the curl sample message
• Enter your APP name and API Key in the dev.secret.exs file using any text editor.

5. External service - Oban Pro

Oban is a cron-like library. Glific depends 100% on job processing. Oban is required before running mix for Glific to operate.

For contributors on social impact projects (including NGOs): Please get in touch with the team on Discord and get a limited-time key. Once they're provided to you, run:

For others, if you want to use the free Oban solution People have created and contributed versions of the code to allow Glific to work with the free version of Oban: #2391

mix hex.repo add oban https://getoban.pro/repo --fetch-public-key SHA256:4/abc/edf/gef+aIWPc --auth-key abcdefghi

with your keys

For production use: You must purchase a license. When purchasing, you must buy WEB+PRO. After purchasing, Go to account and run this command in glific_backend:

mix hex.repo add oban https://getoban.pro/repo --fetch-public-key SHA256:4/abc/edf/gef+aIWPc --auth-key abcdefghi

where public key "SHA256:4/abc/edf/gef+aIWPc" is replaced by your public key and auth key "abcdefghi" is replaced by your auth key.

Make sure your key is in the list:

mix hex.repo list

Name        URL                             Public key                                          Auth key
oban        https://getoban.pro/repo        SHA256:4/abc/edf/gef+aIWPc   abdedcqweasdj__KEY_AUTH__asdafasdf

If you see two key entries - caused by Oban moving from a public to a private repository - it will fail. This is what an example of failing looks like:

Name        URL                             Public key                                          Auth key
hexpm:oban  https://repo.hex.pm/repos/oban  SHA256:abc/edf/gef+aIWPc     abdedcqweasdj__KEY_AUTH__asdafasdf
oban        https://getoban.pro/repo        SHA256:4/abc/edf/gef+aIWPc   abdedcqweasdj__KEY_AUTH__asdafasdf

This is wrong. When you run mix deps.get as is, it will try to fetch from the public repository instead of the private one and fail. Simply follow the instructions below to remove the public key:

mix hex.repo remove hexpm:oban

Now, check again:

mix hex.repo list

Name        URL                             Public key                                          Auth key
oban        https://getoban.pro/repo        SHA256:4/abc/edf/gef+aIWPc   abdedcqweasdj__KEY_AUTH__asdafasdf

6. Install certificate - Use SSL for frontend and backend

Before completing the install, you need to create an SSL cert. Go to the glific_backend folder in the terminal console, and:

• Install mkcert (https://github.com/FiloSottile/mkcert)

• mkcert --install

• mkcert glific.test api.glific.test

• mkdir priv/cert

• mv glific.test* priv/cert

• cd priv/cert

• ls -1 Check that glific.test+1-key.pem and glific.test+1.pem exists.

• Check port 4001 sudo lsof -n -i:4001 | grep LISTEN should return nothing.

• Check hosts file grep glific /etc/hosts

  if it returns nothing, add these 3 lines to the hosts file:
  127.0.0.1 glific.test 
  127.0.0.1 api.glific.test
  127.0.0.1 postgres
  

For Windows the steps is as follows:

• Install mkcert (https://github.com/FiloSottile/mkcert)

• Run the following command to install the local CA certificates: mkcert --install

• mkcert glific.test api.glific.test

• mkdir priv/cert

• move glific.test* priv/cert

• cd priv/cert

• dir Check that glific.test+1-key.pem and glific.test+1.pem exists.

• Check port 4001 netstat -ano | findstr :4001 should return nothing.

• Check hosts file bytype %SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts | findstr glific

  if returns nothing
  add these three lines in your hosts file
  127.0.0.1 glific.test
  127.0.0.1 api.glific.test
  127.0.0.1 postgres
  

7. Backend - Config

• Run: cp config/.env.dev.txt config/.env.dev

• Run mix deps.get if this fails try mix local.hex --force followed by mix deps.get

  if you see the error below, then your Oban key is wrong or failing. Check step 5 or contact Oban.

  ❯ mix deps.get Failed to fetch record for 'hexpm:oban/oban_pro' from registry (using cache instead) This could be because the package does not exist, it was spelled incorrectly or you don't have permissions to it Failed to fetch record for 'hexpm:oban/oban_web' from registry (using cache instead) This could be because the package does not exist, it was spelled incorrectly or you don't have permissions to it ** (Mix) Unknown package oban_pro in lockfile

• Run mix setup At this point, you may get an error saying password authentication failed for user "postgres", in which case, you need to configure the postgres server properly:

createuser postgres -s # needed for more recent versions of postgres on MacOSgit
sudo -u postgres psql
ALTER USER postgres WITH PASSWORD 'postgres';

Exit the PostgreSQL terminal by typing \q and pressing Enter. Run mix setup again.

• Run iex -S mix phx.server
• Inside the iex (you might need to hit enter/return to see the prompt)
  • Update HSM templates by running the following command:
  • Glific.Templates.sync_hsms_from_bsp(1)

Now you can visit https://glific.test:4001 from your browser.

For Windows the steps is as follows:

• Copy the file: cp config/dev.secret.exs.txt config/dev.secret.exs

• Copy the file: cp config/.env.dev.txt config/.env.dev. You may not need to edit the default values for DB URL and hostnames in this file if they look suitable for your needs.

• Run this on the command prompt:

  cd <path-to-glific-backend>
  set /p=DUMMY < config\.env.dev
  

  Replace with the actual path to the glific_backend directory. This will load the environment variables from the .env.dev file.

• Run mix deps.get if this fails try mix local.hex --force followed by mix deps.get

  if you see the error below, then your Oban key is wrong or failing. Check step 5 or contact Oban.

  ❯ mix deps.get Failed to fetch record for 'hexpm:oban/oban_pro' from registry (using cache instead) This could be because the package does not exist, it was spelled incorrectly or you don't have permissions to it Failed to fetch record for 'hexpm:oban/oban_web' from registry (using cache instead) This could be because the package does not exist, it was spelled incorrectly or you don't have permissions to it ** (Mix) Unknown package oban_pro in lockfile

• Run mix setup

• Run iex -S mix phx.server

• Inside the iex (you might need to hit enter/return to see the prompt)

  • Update HSM templates by running the following command:
  • Glific.Templates.sync_hsms_from_bsp(1)

Now you can visit https://glific.test:4001 from your browser.

8. Front-end - Install glific front-end

You cannot do much from the glific backend unless you are an API developer. To see Glific in its glory, please install Glific Frontend

Front-end credentials

• Phone 917834811114
• Password Secret1234!

Optional - Using NGROK

• Install ngrok
• Start ngrok to proxy port 4000:
  • Start the backend server: mix phx.server
  • $ ngrok http 4000 --host-header=glific.test:4000 (do this in a new window))
  • Remember the URL it assigns you, something like: https://9f6a7c7822d2.ngrok.io
• Goto the app settings section, Dashboard -> {{your_appname}} -> Settings.
• On that page, Search for Manage your Template messaging settings and enable it
• Goto app webhooks section, Dashboard -> {{your_appname}} -> Webhooks.
• Enter your callback URL that ngrok gave you, add: /gupshup to the end. Something like: https://9f6a7c7822d2.ngrok.io/gupshup/.
• Click Set. It should give you a Callback set successfully message. If not, check the above steps.
• Save the number +917834811114 on whatsapp and send a message PROXY {{your_appname}}.

Updating your instance

Run the following commands to update your codebase from the Glific repository.

• Ensure you are in the top-level directory of the Glific API code.
• Get the latest code from master: git switch master && git pull
• Ensure you have not modified any files in this directory, by running: git status
• Run the setup command: mix deps.get, compile, ecto.migrate

Documentation

• User Guide
• API docs (Postman)
• Code Documentation
• Recipes - Code samples for some common use cases in Glific.

Learn more

Glific

• Demo Video
• One Pager
• Product Features
• Glific Blogs
• Google Drive

Chat with us

• Chat on Discord

Funders

Thanks to our generous funders over the past few years who have funded this project:

• Project Tech4Dev
• The Agency Fund
• Cisco
• Omidyar Network India
• FOSS United