Build a Postpartum Health Chatbot

Build a no-code AI chatbot for postpartum health guidance using Botpress.

Introduction

30 Second Summary

New mothers in Bangladesh often struggle to find accessible, culturally relevant health guidance during the critical postpartum period. Trusted information about nutrition, sleep, and newborn care is hard to come by in local languages like Bengali or Banglish.

In this project, you will build MaaCare AI, a free AI chatbot that provides empathetic postpartum health guidance tailored to Bangladeshi mothers. You'll design it entirely on Botpress with no coding required.

What You'll Build

A fully functional AI-powered postpartum health companion chatbot with a custom persona, a Knowledge Base powered by RAG, safety guardrails for emergencies, and a live shareable link for instant demos.

By the end of this project, you'll have:

A configured AI agent with a custom system prompt that defines an empathetic Bangladeshi maternal health persona.
A Knowledge Base populated with postpartum care guidelines and local Bangladeshi nutritional information that grounds your chatbot's responses in credible data.
A published chatbot accessible via a shareable link, ready for hackathon demos or early user testing.
Secret Mission: Add crisis detection logic that identifies mental health emergency keywords and triggers an immediate response with Bangladesh helpline numbers.

Are there any prerequisites?

None at all. This project includes full setup instructions for every tool you need. You only need a web browser and an internet connection to get started.

Before We Start

Before We Start...

Create Your Botpress Account and First Bot

To build MaaCare AI, you need a platform that can power intelligent conversations without writing any code. Botpress is a no-code AI chatbot platform that handles everything from building to deployment in the browser.

In this step, you will create a free Botpress account and set up your first bot. This gives you a workspace with a visual canvas where your chatbot's logic lives.

In this step, get ready to:

Sign up for a free Botpress account.
Create a new bot named MaaCare AI.
Explore the Studio interface and locate the Autonomous Node.

Sign up for Botpress

Botpress offers a free plan that includes 100 conversations per month and $5 of monthly AI Spend credit. No credit card is required to get started.

Open your browser and go to botpress.com.
Click Get started for free to create your account.
Sign up using your email or an existing Google/GitHub account.
After signing up, Botpress may launch an onboarding wizard that asks about your use case. Click Skip to go directly to Botpress Studio, where you will have full control over your bot from scratch.

You should now land in your Botpress Workspace. This is the home screen where all your bots are managed.

What is a Workspace?

A Workspace in Botpress is the environment where you organize and manage your AI agent projects. Each Workspace can contain multiple bots, and you can manage permissions, usage, and billing from here.

Not seeing the Workspace?

If the onboarding wizard created a bot automatically, you can still access your Workspace by clicking your workspace name in the upper-left corner of the screen.

help me find my Botpress Workspace after signing up

Create a new bot

Now that you have a Workspace, you can create the bot that will become MaaCare AI.

In your Workspace, click + Create Bot.
Enter MaaCare AI as the bot name.
If Botpress shows a template selection or onboarding flow, click Skip to start from scratch with a blank bot.
Botpress will create your bot and open it in the Studio.

Why start from scratch?

Starting from scratch gives you full control over the bot's design and behavior. You will write a custom persona and connect your own Knowledge Base, so a pre-made template would only get in the way.

Explore the Studio interface

The Studio is where you build and test your bot. It uses a visual drag-and-drop canvas to represent the steps your bot follows during a conversation.

Look at the center of the screen. You should see the Main Workflow canvas with nodes connected by lines.
Locate the Autonomous Node in the middle of the workflow. This is the AI-powered brain of your bot.
Notice the Search Knowledge card already configured inside the Autonomous Node. This means your bot is already set up to search any Knowledge Bases you connect later.

What is an Autonomous Node?

An Autonomous Node uses a Large Language Model (LLM) to decide what your bot should say and which tools it should use. Unlike a standard node that executes steps one by one, the Autonomous Node can understand conversation context and generate intelligent responses.

By default, every new bot has an Autonomous Node in its Main Workflow with a Search Knowledge card that searches all your Knowledge Bases automatically.

The default Main Workflow contains three nodes: a Start Node that begins the conversation, the Autonomous Node that generates AI responses, and an End Node that closes the conversation.

Your Botpress account is ready and MaaCare AI has a home. Next up, you will write the persona instructions that tell this Autonomous Node exactly how to behave as a postpartum health companion.

Configure the AI Persona with a System Prompt

Your bot exists, but it has no personality yet. Right now it will respond with generic AI answers that have no awareness of Bangladeshi culture, postpartum health, or the Bengali language.

In this step, you will give MaaCare AI its identity by writing a system prompt that defines exactly how it should behave. This prompt acts as the bot's instruction manual, telling the AI who it is, what language to speak, and what safety rules to follow.

In this step, get ready to:

Open the Autonomous Node and locate the Instructions field.
Paste a custom system prompt that defines MaaCare AI's persona and safety guardrails.
Test the bot in the Emulator and confirm it responds in Bengali/Banglish.

Open the Autonomous Node settings

The Autonomous Node is where your bot's AI brain lives. It uses an LLM to decide how to respond to each message based on instructions you provide.

In your Botpress Studio canvas, click on the Autonomous Node in your Main Workflow.
This opens its configuration menu on the right side.
Locate the Instructions field near the top. This is where you write your bot's main prompt.

What is the Instructions field?

The Instructions field is your Autonomous Node's main prompt. It tells the AI how to behave, what tone to use, and what rules to follow. The more specific you are, the better the bot's responses will be.

Write the MaaCare AI persona prompt

This system prompt will define everything about MaaCare AI: its personality, language preferences, the topics it covers, and critical safety rules for medical emergencies.

Select all existing text in the Instructions field and delete it.
Copy and paste the following system prompt into the Instructions field:

## Identity
You are MaaCare AI, an empathetic postpartum health companion designed for new mothers in Bangladesh. You behave like a trusted elder sister (আপু) who is warm, patient, and non-judgmental.

## Language Behavior
- Respond primarily in Bengali (বাংলা) or Banglish (Bengali written in English letters).
- If the user writes in English, respond in English.
- Match the user's language preference throughout the conversation.

## Responsibilities
- Acknowledge the mother's feelings before giving advice.
- Provide culturally relevant guidance on postpartum nutrition, sleep, newborn care, and breastfeeding.
- Use local Bangladeshi food names: shol mach (snakehead fish), daal (lentils), ghee (clarified butter), laal shaak (red spinach), dudh (milk), eggs, and seasonal fruits.
- Emphasize iron-rich and protein-rich foods for postpartum recovery.
- Respect cultural food practices while gently correcting harmful myths.

## Safety Rules (CRITICAL - Always Follow)
1. You are NOT a doctor. Always include this disclaimer at the end of health advice: "এটি শুধুমাত্র সাধারণ তথ্য। আপনার ডাক্তারের সাথে পরামর্শ করুন।" (This is general information only. Please consult your doctor.)
2. NEVER diagnose conditions or prescribe medications.
3. For any mention of severe bleeding, high fever, thoughts of self-harm, or harm to the baby, IMMEDIATELY provide:
   - National Emergency Helpline: 999
   - Mental Health Helpline: 16511
   - Instruction: "এখনই আপনার নিকটস্থ হাসপাতালে যান বা 999 নম্বরে কল করুন।" (Go to your nearest hospital now or call 999.)
4. Do not provide advice that contradicts standard medical guidelines.

## Topics You Can Help With
- Postpartum nutrition and diet
- Sleep management for new mothers
- Newborn care basics
- Breastfeeding guidance
- Emotional well-being (general support only)
- Recovery after delivery

## Topics You Must Decline
- Specific medical diagnoses
- Medication recommendations
- Treatment plans
- Legal or financial advice

## Response Style
- Keep responses concise and supportive.
- Use simple language that any new mother can understand.
- Break long advice into short, numbered steps when helpful.

What does this prompt do?

The Identity section gives the bot a persona as a warm elder sister figure. The Language Behavior section ensures it responds in the same language the user writes in.

The Safety Rules section is the most critical part. It forces the bot to always include medical disclaimers and immediately surface emergency helpline numbers (999 and 16511) when it detects dangerous situations like thoughts of self-harm.

The Topics sections create clear boundaries so the bot never oversteps into medical diagnosis territory.

Structured prompts get better results

Using markdown headers (## Identity, ## Safety Rules) inside your prompt helps the AI parse different sections clearly. Botpress recommends structured instructions for better decision-making.

Don't see the Instructions field?

Make sure you clicked directly on the Autonomous Node (the large node in the middle of your workflow), not on the Start Node or End Node. The Instructions field only appears for Autonomous Nodes.

If the right panel is not visible, press Cmd+E (macOS) or Ctrl+E (Windows) to toggle it open.

Still having trouble finding it? Help me locate the Instructions field in my Botpress Autonomous Node

Test in the Emulator

The Emulator lets you chat with your bot in real time without deploying it. You can verify the persona is working before moving to the next step.

Open the Emulator by pressing Cmd+E (macOS) or Ctrl+E (Windows). You can also click the chat icon on the right side of the Studio.
Type the following test message and press Enter:

আমি নতুন মা, আমার ঘুম হচ্ছে না

Wait for the bot to respond. It may take a few seconds while the AI processes your message.

You should see a response in Bengali or Banglish that acknowledges how you feel, offers gentle sleep advice, and ends with a medical disclaimer.

What should I look for in the response?

A good response will have three qualities. First, it should be empathetic and acknowledge the difficulty of sleep deprivation as a new mother. Second, it should offer practical tips in Bengali/Banglish. Third, it should end with the medical disclaimer: "এটি শুধুমাত্র সাধারণ তথ্য। আপনার ডাক্তারের সাথে পরামর্শ করুন।"

The response does not need to match these words exactly. AI responses vary each time. The key is that the bot responds in the right language with the right tone.

Bot responding in English or sounding generic?

If the bot replies in English even though you typed in Bengali, double-check that you pasted the full system prompt including the Language Behavior section. Make sure there are no extra characters or missing lines.

Try clicking New Conversation at the top of the Emulator to reset the session, then send your message again.

My bot is not responding in Bengali even though I pasted the system prompt. What should I check?

Your chatbot now has a complete personality and knows how to handle sensitive situations safely. Next up, you will give it real knowledge to draw from by building a Knowledge Base with maternal health data.

Build the Knowledge Base with Maternal Health Data

Your chatbot now has a persona and knows how to behave. But right now, it can only respond with general AI knowledge. It has no information about postpartum health, local Bangladeshi foods, or emergency helplines.

In this step, you will build a Knowledge Base that gives MaaCare AI access to curated maternal health data. This is called RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation). Instead of making up answers, the bot retrieves facts from your Knowledge Base and uses them to generate grounded, accurate responses.

In this step, get ready to:

Create a Knowledge Base with postpartum nutrition, sleep, and breastfeeding guidance.
Add emergency helpline information and warning signs.
Test that the bot references your Knowledge Base content.

Create a Knowledge Base with maternal health content

A Knowledge Base is a collection of information your bot can search when answering questions. You will create one and fill it with postpartum care guidelines tailored to Bangladeshi mothers.

In Botpress Studio, navigate to the Knowledge Base menu in the left sidebar.
Click New Knowledge Base.
Name it Postpartum Care Guidelines.
Inside your new Knowledge Base, select Rich Text to add a Rich Text source.
Select the newly created rich text file to open a blank text field.
Copy and paste the following maternal health content into the editor:

# Postpartum Nutrition Guide (প্রসবোত্তর পুষ্টি গাইড)

## Recommended Foods for New Mothers

- Shol Mach (শোল মাছ): Rich in protein, helps with wound healing after delivery.
- Daal (ডাল): Excellent source of protein and iron for postpartum recovery.
- Ghee (ঘি): Provides healthy fats essential for breast milk production.
- Laal Shaak (লাল শাক): High in iron and vitamins, helps prevent anemia.
- Eggs and milk: Easy sources of protein and calcium for bone health.

## Sleep Management Tips for New Mothers

- Sleep when your baby sleeps to maximize rest.
- Ask family members to help with nighttime feedings when possible.
- Keep your sleeping area dark and quiet.
- Aim for at least 4-5 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
- Avoid screens for 30 minutes before sleeping.

## Newborn Care Basics

- Feed your baby every 2-3 hours (8-12 times per day).
- Keep the umbilical cord stump clean and dry.
- Bathe your baby 2-3 times per week with lukewarm water.
- Watch for signs of jaundice (yellowing of skin or eyes).
- Always place baby on their back for sleeping.

## Breastfeeding Guidance

- Breastfeed exclusively for the first 6 months.
- Feed on demand whenever baby shows hunger cues (rooting, sucking hands).
- Ensure proper latch for comfortable feeding.
- Both breasts should be used during each feeding session.
- Drink plenty of water and eat nutritious foods to maintain milk supply.

Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only. Always consult your doctor or healthcare provider for personalized medical advice.

What does this content cover?

This Rich Text source gives MaaCare AI grounded information about four key postpartum topics. The nutrition section features local Bangladeshi foods (shol mach, daal, ghee, laal shaak) so the bot can give culturally relevant recommendations.

The disclaimer at the bottom trains the bot to always remind mothers to consult a real doctor. This is critical for any healthcare-related chatbot.

After pasting, confirm that all four sections (Nutrition, Sleep, Newborn Care, Breastfeeding) appear in the editor.

Content not saving?

Make sure you selected the rich text file after creating it. If you only see the Knowledge Base name but no editor, click into the rich text source to open it.

If the editor appears empty after pasting, try pasting without formatting (Cmd+Shift+V on macOS or Ctrl+Shift+V on Windows).

Help me add Rich Text content to my Botpress Knowledge Base.

Add emergency information as a second source

For a healthcare chatbot, emergency information must always be accessible. You will add a second Rich Text source so the bot can surface helpline numbers and warning signs whenever a mother is in danger.

Inside the same Postpartum Care Guidelines Knowledge Base, click Rich Text again to add a second source.
Select the newly created rich text file to open the blank editor.
Copy and paste the following emergency information:

# Emergency Information (জরুরি তথ্য)

## Bangladesh Emergency Helplines

- National Helpline: 999 (Police, Fire, Ambulance)
- Mental Health Helpline: 16511

## Warning Signs Requiring Immediate Medical Attention

- Severe bleeding (soaking through a pad in less than one hour)
- High fever (above 100.4°F / 38°C)
- Severe headache or vision changes
- Difficulty breathing
- Foul-smelling discharge
- Thoughts of self-harm or harming your baby
- Chest pain or severe abdominal pain

## What To Do In An Emergency

1. Call 999 immediately for life-threatening situations.
2. Call 16511 if you are experiencing thoughts of self-harm.
3. Go to your nearest hospital emergency department.
4. Tell a trusted family member how you are feeling.

IMPORTANT: If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 999 now. Do not wait.

Why keep emergency info in a separate source?

Separating emergency content from general health advice makes it easier to update helpline numbers or warning signs without editing the entire Knowledge Base. It also helps you verify at a glance that critical safety information is present.

Confirm that your Postpartum Care Guidelines Knowledge Base now shows two Rich Text sources.

How does the Knowledge Base connect to your bot?

The Search Knowledge Card in your Autonomous Node automatically searches all Knowledge Bases by default. You do not need to manually connect anything. Your bot is already equipped to search the content you just added.

Only seeing one source?

Make sure you added the second Rich Text source inside the same Knowledge Base (Postpartum Care Guidelines), not as a separate Knowledge Base. Look for two rich text entries listed under the same Knowledge Base name.

Help me add multiple sources to one Botpress Knowledge Base.

Test the Knowledge Base in the Emulator

Now you will verify that MaaCare AI pulls answers from your Knowledge Base content instead of generating generic responses.

Open the Emulator panel by clicking the chat icon on the right side of the Studio.
Type the following test message and press Enter:

শিশুকে কতবার বুকের দুধ খাওয়াতে হবে?

Check that the bot responds with information from your Knowledge Base. It should mention feeding every 2-3 hours or 8-12 times per day, and reference hunger cues.
Try a second test message about nutrition:

কোন কোন খাবার মায়ের জন্য ভালো?

Verify the bot mentions specific local foods from your Knowledge Base (shol mach, daal, ghee, or laal shaak) rather than giving generic nutrition advice.

How do I know it is using my Knowledge Base?

If the bot mentions specific details you wrote (like local food names or exact feeding frequencies), it is pulling from your Knowledge Base. Generic AI responses would say things like "eat healthy foods" without naming shol mach or laal shaak.

Bot giving generic answers?

If the bot is not referencing your content, try resetting the conversation in the Emulator by clicking the refresh icon. New Knowledge Base content sometimes needs a fresh conversation to take effect.

Also check that your Search Knowledge Card is configured to include your Postpartum Care Guidelines Knowledge Base. Click on the Autonomous Node, find the Search Knowledge Card, and confirm the Knowledge Base is listed under Included Knowledge Bases.

Help me troubleshoot why my bot isn't using my Knowledge Base content.

Your chatbot now has real knowledge to draw from. Next up, you will publish MaaCare AI and get a shareable link so anyone can interact with it.

Publish and Share Your Chatbot

Your MaaCare AI chatbot can answer postpartum health questions, respond in Bengali/Banglish, and pull answers from your Knowledge Base. Right now, only you can interact with it through the Emulator inside the Studio.

In this step, you'll publish your bot to the Botpress cloud and grab a shareable link. This turns your prototype into a live demo that anyone can access from their browser.

In this step, get ready to:

Publish your bot to make it accessible outside the Studio.
Get a shareable link for instant demos.
Test the live chatbot with a full conversation.

Publish your bot to the Botpress cloud

Publishing deploys your bot's configuration, persona, and Knowledge Base to the Botpress cloud. Once published, your bot can receive messages from external channels like the shareable link.

Click Publish in the top-right corner of the Studio.
Wait a few seconds for the deployment to complete. You'll see a confirmation indicating your bot is now live.

What does publishing do?

Publishing makes your bot live for user interactions. It also saves a new version of your bot, so you can track changes and revert to earlier versions if needed.

Every time you make changes to your bot's instructions or Knowledge Base, you'll need to publish again for those changes to appear in the live version.

Get your shareable link

The shareable link is a dedicated Botpress-hosted page where anyone can chat with your bot directly in their browser. No website setup or login required.

Click Share in the upper-right corner of the Studio.
Copy the shareable link that appears. This is the URL you'll send to hackathon judges, teammates, or early testers.

Save your link somewhere safe

Paste the shareable link into a notes app or bookmark it. You'll need it for your demo and for the testing step below.

Test the live bot with a full conversation

Testing through the shareable link simulates the real user experience. Unlike the Emulator, conversations here count toward your monthly usage.

Open the shareable link in a new browser tab (or on your phone).
Send a greeting message to start the conversation.
Ask a nutrition question like "কোন কোন খাবার মায়ের জন্য ভালো?" (Which foods are good for mothers?).
Ask about sleep problems like "আমার ঘুম হচ্ছে না" (I can't sleep).
Test the safety guardrail by mentioning feeling hopeless or desperate.
Verify the bot responds with empathy, relevant Knowledge Base content, and appropriate medical disclaimers for each message.

What should I see?

For nutrition questions, the bot should mention local Bangladeshi foods like shol mach, daal, ghee, and laal shaak from your Knowledge Base.

For the safety guardrail test, the bot should acknowledge the user's feelings, provide helpline numbers (999 for National Emergency, 16511 for Mental Health), and strongly recommend seeking professional help.

Bot not responding on the shareable link?

Make sure you clicked Publish before trying the shareable link. The Share link only works after publishing.

If the bot responds but doesn't reference your Knowledge Base content, return to the Studio and confirm your Knowledge Base sources are saved. Then publish again.

Why isn't my published bot responding correctly on the shareable link?

Your chatbot is live and demo-ready. Anyone with the link can now interact with MaaCare AI directly from their browser. Next up, try the Secret Mission to add crisis detection logic that makes your bot even more impactful.

Secret mission

Add Crisis Detection Logic

Your chatbot is helpful, but what happens when someone expresses thoughts of self-harm or harming their baby? In this secret mission, you'll build a dedicated crisis detection system that immediately breaks out of normal conversation to deliver emergency helpline information when it detects distress signals in Bengali or English.

Clean Up Your Resources

This project runs entirely on Botpress's free plan, so there are no ongoing costs. Decide whether to keep your bot live, pause it, or delete it entirely.

Resources you used:

MaaCare AI bot (hosted on Botpress cloud).
Postpartum Care Guidelines Knowledge Base (stored inside the bot).
Shareable link (tied to the published bot).

Keep everything running

No action needed. Choose this if you plan to demo your bot at a hackathon or share it with others soon.

Your bot stays live at the shareable link and continues accepting conversations.
The Botpress free plan includes 100 conversations per month and $5 of AI Spend credit. These reset monthly at no charge.
Your Botpress account remains active for future projects.

Pause - I'll come back to this later

Unpublish your bot so it stops responding to new conversations, but keep all your configuration intact for later.

Return to the Botpress Studio for your MaaCare AI bot.
Avoid clicking Publish again until you are ready to go live. Your bot's shareable link will stop working once the current deployment expires or you make changes without republishing.
All your workflows, Knowledge Base content, and system prompt remain saved in the Studio for when you return.

Delete - I don't want to use this again

Remove your bot and all associated data from Botpress permanently.

Go to your Botpress Workspace home page.
Find MaaCare AI in your list of bots.
Click the three-dot menu on the bot, then select Delete.
Confirm the deletion. This removes the bot, its Knowledge Base, all conversation history, and deactivates the shareable link.

What about my Botpress account?

Deleting the bot does not delete your Botpress account. The free account has no recurring charges, so you can leave it in place for future projects without any cost.

Nice Work!

You just built a fully functional AI-powered postpartum health chatbot from scratch, entirely for free, with zero coding. MaaCare AI is live and ready to demo.

Here's what you learned:

Designed a custom AI persona with carefully engineered system prompts and healthcare safety guardrails inside a Botpress Autonomous Node.
Built a Knowledge Base that grounds AI responses in credible maternal health information using RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation).
Published and deployed a live chatbot accessible via a shareable link, ready for hackathon demos or early user testing.
Added crisis detection logic with a dedicated emergency response flow that surfaces Bangladesh helpline numbers when mental health keywords are detected.

Ready to quiz yourself?