AI automation · Concept
Coaching Parent Chatbot
A WhatsApp assistant for a coaching centre: parents ask about attendance, tests and remarks and get an answer built from real records.
- Status
- Concept / demo
- Role
- Designed & built the workflow
- Year
- 2026
- Type
- n8n workflow · 27 nodes
- Stack
- n8nWhatsApp APIGoogle SheetsOpenAI
The problem
Coaching centres answer the same parent questions all day on WhatsApp: was my child present, what did they score, what did the teacher say. It is a perfect job for a chatbot.
But a normal AI chatbot is risky here. It can invent marks, mix up two students, or tell a stranger about someone else's child. For a school, one wrong answer is worse than no answer.
My approach
5 decisions that shaped the build, and why each one was made.
- 01
Verify the parent first
The WhatsApp number is matched to a student record before anything else. Unknown numbers get a polite reply, can send a student ID, and the owner is alerted.
- 02
Facts from n8n, words from AI
Attendance, tests and remarks are read from Google Sheets and a code step builds the facts. The AI agent only explains them, with a calculator tool, so it never guesses a number.
- 03
Ask instead of assume
A parent with more than one child is asked "which child?" first, and anything the bot cannot answer becomes a follow-up alert for the office.
- 04
Protect the line
Wrong attempts are counted, repeat offenders are blocked, and non-text messages get a clear "text only" reply.
- 05
Everything logged
Every question and answer is written to a log sheet, so the owner can see what parents ask and check what the bot said.
What it does now
- Parent verification by phone number
- Attendance, test results and remarks on request
- "Which child?" for families with more than one student
- Owner alerts for unknown numbers and follow-ups
- Blocking after repeated wrong attempts
- Query log in Google Sheets
“Most AI mistakes are design mistakes.”
Keep the facts in code and let the model only talk. Once the AI cannot see anything it should not say, it stops being a risk and becomes a friendly front desk.