Yara
A WhatsApp-first guidance assistant for newcomers in the Netherlands.
Built by PF Design Labs for the Municipality of The Hague.
How it works
Tip: ideally use letters that contain an action or a deadline — for example "pay before 1 July" or "respond within 14 days". That's exactly where Yara shows what it can do.
The button opens WhatsApp with the activation code join concerned-written already filled in. Once you've sent it, you can start talking to Yara.
- Send one of the test letters below or take a photo of your own
- Ask about a specific topic: benefits, taxes
- Follow up with questions after Yara explains something
- Try in Dutch, English, or your own language
eneco-aanmaning.pdf
Energy company final payment reminder
ind-aanvullingen.pdf
IND request for supplementary documents
Sandbox limitations
Yara runs on the Twilio WhatsApp Sandbox, a development environment. A few things work differently here than in production.
Step 1 explains this in full. Short version: WhatsApp test numbers can only message you after you've messaged them first. In a real app this wouldn't exist, you'd just have an official WhatsApp Business number and no one would need to opt in.
The WhatsApp test number can't send messages after 24 hours since your last conversation. That's a limitation of the test environment, not Yara. Once this runs on a real WhatsApp Business number, reminders just work.
A real deployment handling actual people's documents would need an official WhatsApp Business account, proper data processing agreements, and a private hosting environment. Those steps are planned, but they don't apply to this test version.
Everything you type here is wiped every 72 hours: your conversation, your context, all of it. After a wipe, Yara won't respond until you click the button again and send the activation message. Don't send real personal details here: no names, addresses, BSN numbers, or financial data.
The code
Yara is open source. You can see everything. Curious about the code?
Click the GitHub link below.