WhatsApp

Connect the WhatsApp Business number your business already uses. Your agent answers incoming WhatsApp messages. You keep using the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, and your team can step in from Chat Logs at any time.

Before you connect

1. You are on a paid plan. WhatsApp is included on every paid plan.
2. Your number is in the WhatsApp Business app. Personal WhatsApp numbers can't connect.
3. The app on your phone is up to date. Keep the phone nearby. You scan a QR code with it during setup.

Connect your number

1. Open your agent and go to the Channels tab.
2. Find WhatsApp and click Connect. A Meta window opens.
3. Log in to Facebook if asked.
4. Choose or create your business portfolio and your WhatsApp Business account.
5. Enter the WhatsApp Business number you already use.
6. Scan the QR code with the WhatsApp Business app on your phone.
7. Finish the steps in the Meta window. Back in Agentkit, the WhatsApp card shows your phone number and verified name.

Recent chats from the WhatsApp Business app are imported only if you choose to share chat history during Meta signup. Meta asks for your choice during setup.

How your agent replies

• The agent answers incoming WhatsApp messages with the same knowledge and instructions it uses everywhere else.
• It understands photos, documents and voice notes.
• Every sender becomes a contact with their phone number and WhatsApp profile name. See Contacts.

To give WhatsApp its own instructions or limit which actions it can use, open the agent's AI tab. In Channel behavior, select WhatsApp, choose Use channel instructions, and click Apply channel settings.

Step in as a human

• Reply from your phone. When you answer a customer in the WhatsApp Business app, the agent pauses for that conversation. Your reply also shows in Chat Logs.
• Reply from Chat Logs. Open the WhatsApp conversation and click Take over, or type in the reply box and click Send reply. Sending a reply also pauses the agent for that conversation.
• Hand it back. Click Resume AI in Chat Logs. The agent stays paused until someone does.

The 24-hour window

WhatsApp lets a business reply freely for 24 hours after the customer's last message. Replies inside this window are free.

After the window closes, the reply box in Chat Logs is replaced by Send a template. Choose an approved template, fill in its variables and send it to contact the customer again. Templates are created and approved in WhatsApp Manager. Meta bills template messages to your own WhatsApp Business account.

Once the customer replies, a new 24-hour window opens and normal replies work again. Sending a template pauses the agent for that chat. It stays paused until someone clicks Resume AI.

Turn WhatsApp off

Turn off the WhatsApp switch on the Channels tab. The agent stops answering on WhatsApp. To turn it back on, click Connect and finish the Meta window again.

Troubleshooting

The card shows Reconnect

Red text under the WhatsApp card explains what happened. If Meta disconnected the number, open the WhatsApp Business app on your phone first. Then click Reconnect and finish the Meta window again.

"The Meta signup window closed before finishing"

The Meta window was closed before every step was done. Click Connect and go through it again.

"This number is already connected to another agent"

One WhatsApp number connects to one agent. Contact support to move it.