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Connecting a chatbot

What it is: the setup that lets an assistant answer your WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram messages first, and step aside when your team joins in. Once connected, it behaves as described in The assistant (chatbot).

You need to be an admin, and your WhatsApp / Facebook / Instagram accounts should already be connected.

The Chatbot card on the Integrations page

Before you start​

Ask whoever supplies your assistant for one thing: the web address it listens on. It looks like https://your-bot.example/hook. Everything else is created here.

Connecting​

  1. Go to Settings → Integrations and open the WhatsApp & Social tab.
  2. Scroll to Chatbot.
  3. Type a name you will recognise later, e.g. Reception assistant.
  4. Paste the web address from your supplier.
  5. Click Create key.
  6. A yellow box shows an API key and a webhook secret. Copy both and send them to your supplier through something secure — not email.
  7. Click I have copied them.
warning

The key and secret are shown once. If you lose them, revoke the entry and create a new one — they cannot be looked up again.

Your assistant now appears in the list, with its web address underneath and the time it was last active.

Checking it works​

Send a message to your clinic from your own phone, on WhatsApp or Messenger. It should be answered within a few seconds, and the conversation shows a Bot active badge in Conversations.

If nothing happens, check the entry in the list — if last active stays empty, your supplier has not connected yet.

Turning it off​

Click Revoke next to the entry. The assistant stops answering straight away and every conversation comes back to your team. Nothing in your inbox is lost.

Revoking is also what you do if the key is ever shared by mistake. Revoke, then create a new one.

When the assistant steps aside​

You do not have to configure this — it happens on its own:

  • Anyone on your team replying takes the conversation over.
  • A patient asking for a person — human, agent, reception, person, someone real — pulls your team in before the assistant sees the message.
  • The assistant can hand over by itself when it is unsure.

A conversation a person took over stays with your team until someone clicks Hand back.

For your supplier​

Your supplier does not need a Facebook or WhatsApp login — messages reach them through us, and their replies go back the same way. The technical contract (webhook format, signature check, replying, handing over) is in the Bot API guide; ask us for it, or point them at /api/docs on your clinic's address.

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