An agent can answer your customers on WhatsApp, on your own WhatsApp Business number. Customers message the number as usual, and the agent replies.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”You need your number on Meta’s WhatsApp Business Platform (the Cloud API):
- a Meta app with the WhatsApp product added, at developers.facebook.com,
- a WhatsApp Business Account with your phone number added and registered in it,
- a system user in Meta Business Settings with access to the app and the account.
A number already used in the WhatsApp Business app on a phone has to be moved to the platform first. Meta’s own setup guide explains how.
Connect a number
Section titled “Connect a number”- In Meta’s app dashboard, open WhatsApp → API Setup, and copy the WhatsApp Business Account ID and the Phone number ID.
- In Meta Business Settings → System users, generate a permanent token for the app with the
whatsapp_business_messagingandwhatsapp_business_managementpermissions. - In the app dashboard → App settings → Basic, copy the App secret.
- In backcrew, open the agent’s page → Embed → WhatsApp, paste all four and click Connect number.
backcrew checks them with Meta: the token and the app secret must belong together, and the number must be in that account. It then lets the app receive the account’s messages. It keeps the token and the app secret in a secret store (never in its database), and never shows them again.
- The card now shows a Callback URL and a Verify token. In Meta’s app dashboard, open WhatsApp → Configuration → Webhook → Edit, paste both and click Verify and save.
- Next to Webhook fields, click Manage and subscribe to messages.
- Send your number a message from your phone. The agent answers.
How the agent behaves
Section titled “How the agent behaves”- It answers text messages. Each person who messages the number is one conversation with the agent, and has their own memory if the agent uses memory.
- Images, voice notes, videos, documents, locations and stickers get a polite note asking for a text message. They don’t cost anything. Reactions get no reply.
- Long replies are split to fit WhatsApp’s message size, and each reply quotes the message it answers.
- When the workspace runs out of credits or reaches its monthly limit, the number replies that the assistant isn’t available right now. People never see your balance or internal errors.
The 24-hour window
Section titled “The 24-hour window”WhatsApp lets a business send a free-form message to someone only within 24 hours of their last message. The agent only ever replies to a message someone just sent, so its replies are always inside that window.
If Meta delivers a message late, more than 24 hours after it was sent (for example after an outage), the agent doesn’t answer it and nothing is charged. The agent’s activity notes it. backcrew doesn’t send WhatsApp template messages, the only kind allowed outside the window.
What it costs
Section titled “What it costs”Each message the agent answers costs credits like any other request (see Credits). Meta’s own WhatsApp fees are separate: Meta bills them to your WhatsApp Business Account, under your account’s payment settings. They aren’t paid with credits, and backcrew doesn’t add anything to them.
Security
Section titled “Security”- Every delivery from Meta is signed with your app secret. backcrew refuses anything unsigned or signed with another secret, so nobody else can make the agent answer.
- Only messages to the connected number are answered, even if your account has other numbers.
- Meta resends messages it thinks were missed. backcrew answers (and charges) each message once.
- Customers’ phone numbers aren’t stored by backcrew or passed to the agent. Each conversation is identified by a one-way code made from the number. If you keep conversation transcripts, they show WhatsApp conversations too.
Turn it off or disconnect
Section titled “Turn it off or disconnect”- Off keeps the number connected but replies that the assistant is turned off, and nothing is charged.
- Disconnect number stops it answering at once and deletes the token and app secret from backcrew. Your number and Meta app stay as they are: change the webhook in Meta if something else should receive the messages.
- Deleting the agent disconnects its number too.
Each number answers up to 30 messages a minute across everyone messaging it.
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”- Meta says the callback URL couldn’t be verified. Check you pasted this agent’s Verify token exactly, with no spaces.
- The card says “no messages yet” after you sent a message. Check the webhook is subscribed to messages, and that the number in your message is the connected one.
- “Meta didn’t accept these details”. Check the token is a system user’s permanent token with both permissions, and that the app secret is this app’s.