I am trying to make a WhatsApp bot inspired by the functioning of Discord bots, the bot will work in WhatsApp groups.

I have looked up the official WhatsApp Business API but I am not sure that they will not approve my number as it is just a hobby project and not a proper "business".

There is an alternative though and that is the Twilio WhatsApp API. However, they provide you with a sandbox. I can interact with it in DMs but as the sandbox number is a business account, I cannot add it to a group like discord.

I intend to write a server in python or node.

Can anyone share a solution or workaround? Only if I could add the Twilio number to a group my problem will be solved. Though I am ready to use any other API/Solutions for this.