Dynamic Options Display Through API Call in MSG91 Bot

Introduction

Dynamic options in a chatbot allow you to fetch and display real-time data to users based on their selections, rather than relying on static options. This makes the bot more intelligent, interactive, and personalized, creating a smoother user experience. By dynamically fetching options via an API call, you can handle a wide range of use cases — from country → state selections to product catalogs — without manually updating the bot.

This approach is a game changer for chatbots:

• Users see only relevant, up-to-date options.

• It reduces manual maintenance and errors.

• It enables more complex conversational flows with minimal effort.

In this guide, we’ll demonstrate how to implement dynamic option display in MSG91 by letting users select a country (India, USA, China) and fetching 5 corresponding states through an API call.

Step 1: Create a Dummy Bot

1. Go to the MSG91 Bot panel.

2. Create a new bot named “Country → State Selector”.

3. Add the first message card:

   • Message: “Select a country:”

   • Options: India, USA, China

4. Save the user response in a variable:

   country_selected
   

Step 2: Set Up API Call Using Plugin Node

Refer to the image attached

1. Add a Plugin node from the Connections section to call a dummy API that fetches random states for the selected country.

   • Alternatively, you can use an API node for the same task.

2. Once you click Get Response, you can view the API response
   

   

3. Save the entire response in a variable named:

   states
   

   • Variable type: Array

4. Drag a Message Card and select List type for the body content.

5. Configure Dynamic Option Buttons:

   • Select Variable: states (this stores the API response in array format)

   • JSON Path for Title: state (each object in the array has the key state storing the state name)

   • Description: Skip this since we don’t have any description field.
     

Step 3: Display Dynamic Options

• When the user sees the message card, they will now see 5 dynamic options corresponding to the selected country.

• Save the user selection in a variable:

  state_selected
  

Step 4: Iteration and Refresh

• Every time a new country is selected, make a fresh API call.

• Ensure states overwrites the previous response.

• Always maintain the format as array of objects with key state.

Step 5: Using the Selected State

• Use state_selected for further logic or API calls.
  Example:

  "You selected {{state_selected}} from {{country_selected}}."
  

5. Output

Everytime user selects a country the bot fetches API response and display it to the end user

For any further queries you can reach out to us at support@msg91.com