nephews

human tech support

About

nephews creates a link between people that struggle with tech and volunteers that are willing to help them. For users like the elderly, nephews looks just like a phone number they can call in order to get help. For volunteers, it is just an online form they can sign up to. No need to install anything. When somebody needs help, the system will look for matching available volunteers, send them an SMS notification, and he who accepts the notification first will have the phone call redirected to them.

How it works

This web-app consists of a Node.js back end using Express.js and a React.js front end. Twilio's Messaging API (SMS) is used for validation and deletion of accounts, and for availability confirmations. Twilio's Voice API is used to handle incoming calls, to transcribe messages and to start new calls between users and volunteers, while hiding the caller's identity.

User dials the nephews number
User is asked to explain their problem while their message is recorded and transcribed
The transcription is used to filter potential volunteers by language and topic
Selected volunteers are notified by SMS. They can review the recorded message to decide if they can help
When a volunteer confirms their availability, a new call is created between them and the user

Features

Node.js web server using Express.js
Simple call filtering module based on topics found in transcribed calls
Client website using modern React.js with hooks and SCSS styles
MongoDB database for storing user and call data, accessed via Mongoose
Phone number available for users in need of basic tech support
Registration form for volunteers, with accounts validated via SMS
Configurable environment variables using .env file in the server (dotenv) and .env.local in the front end.

API Routes

Route	Method	Body/Query	Result
/provider	POST	provider	Registers a new provider (volunteer) and submits an SMS with a validation code
/provider	DELETE	provider id	Starts the provider deletion process
/provider/id	GET	action	Confirms a previously started action (validate or delete)
/call	POST	call	Handles an incoming call, provides instructions and starts the recording and transcription
/transcription	POST	transcription	Tries to interpret a transcription to filter a call and notify providers by SMS
/call/id	GET	provider id	Starts a new call between a user and the provider who accepted the request

How to use it

Create a Twilio account
Purchase a phone number that can handle SMS anc Voice
Configure your phone number with a Webhook that points to your server url + /call when calls come in
Prepare a MongoDB database
Set up your environment variables in both front and back end
Use NPM commands to run locally or deploy the service

Set up

Requirements

A server running Node.js
An Atlas account or access to some other MongoDB database
A Twilio account - sign up

Configuration

You can copy client/.env.local.example and server/.env.example to client/.env.local and server/.env respectively and modify them to create your configuration. These are the necessary values:

Server side (.env)

Config Value	Description
NES_CLIENTURL	Public facing website URL
NES_PORT	Port where the server should run
NES_SERVER	Server URL (including :port if needed)
NES_DBUSER	Database user
NES_DBPASS	Database password
NES_DBSERVER	Database server
NES_DBNAME	Database name
NES_TWACCOUNTSID	Your primary Twilio account identifier - find this in the Console
NES_TWAUTHTOKEN	Used to authenticate - just like the above, you'll find this here
NES_TWNUMBER	A Twilio phone capable of Voice and SMS - you can get one here

Client side (.env.local)

Config Value	Description
REACT_APP_SERVER	Server URL (including :port if needed)
REACT_APP_ENV	production or development mode
REACT_APP_DEPLOY	Directory to deploy the website
REACT_APP_PHONE	Public-facing phone number

Local development

After the above requirements have been met:

Clone this repository and cd into it

git clone git@github.com:juanirache/nephews.git
cd nephews

Install server dependencies and start it

cd server
npm install
npm start

Install client dependencies and start front end

cd ../client
npm install
npm start

Navigate to your development url

Cloud deployment

Build the server and keep it running

cd server
npm run build

Deploy front end

cd ../client
npm run deploy

In order to make the website available to the public you might have to do some additional server setup, for example using Apache. Check with your hosting provider.

Testing

You can test the backend modules like so:

cd server
npm run test

Contributing

This template is open source and welcomes contributions.

Visit the project on GitHub

To-Do

Enhance validation/confirmation with time-limited keys
Allow provider to set busy or available times
Support additional languages in transcriptions (with Gather)
Record relevant portion of call while using Gather
Use vocabulary databases and APIs to enhance topic filtering
Service quality monitoring (including recording calls with the necessary legal background)
Potentially allow multiple calls per user
More comprehensive testing
Add real terms and conditions and legal docs
Authenticate webhook endpoint
Better error handling
Protect from brute force
Protect from smsing/calling wrong numbers

License

MIT

Disclaimer

No warranty expressed or implied. Software is as is.

JuanIrache/nephews