Create a WhatsApp agent

Create an agent, tell it what to do, choose its language, knowledge and tools, set opening hours, and test it before it answers real customers.

What you will achieve

You will create a WhatsApp agent, set it up, test it, and switch it on for one of your numbers.

Prerequisites

A workspace that has bought credit. Each agent needs a WhatsApp slot of its own ($20, bought once); you can buy it while creating the agent.
A WhatsApp number you can scan (you link it while creating the agent).

Create it

Open WhatsApp agents and press New agent.
Type a name such as Front desk and press Next, then scan the code with your phone. See Link a WhatsApp number.
Press Done. The agent opens. It starts Not published, so nobody can reach it yet.

There is no Save button. Each change is saved a moment after you make it; the line under the name says Saving… and then All changes saved. The name at the top of the page can be edited in place.

Publish and unpublish

Publish at the top right switches the agent on for customers. It needs a connected number, so if there is none yet the button explains that and stays off. Unpublish switches it off again after a confirmation; its settings are kept, and customers who write get no answer. The same switch is the Status toggle in the WhatsApp agents list, where you can also filter by All agents, Active and Inactive.

The tabs of an agent

Assistant. The agent itself, with Try it beside it:
- Instructions. What the agent does and knows is the main instruction: who it is, what it may and may not do, what to say about prices or hours. The Opening line is sent once to a customer your business has never written to. Business name and Address are given to the agent so it can answer questions about them.
- Language and model. Language can follow the customer (the default) or be fixed. Time zone is used for opening hours and for dates. Choose the Language model that writes the replies, and Creativity: lower is more predictable, higher is more varied.
- Voice notes. See Voice notes.
Conversations. The chats of this agent only. See Conversations.
Analytics. The figures of this agent only. See Analytics and costs.
Knowledge. The knowledge bases the agent may search to answer. Press Choose knowledge and tick them; create them first under Knowledge in the sidebar. See Create a knowledge base.
Tools. Like a voice agent's Tools tab: Built-in switches, and Your tools with an Add tool button. See Tools overview.
- Collect details with a form. Choose a Form and the agent collects those details during the chat. With Save answers as the customer gives them off, the form is filled in from the whole conversation when it ends.
- Webhook. Sends each message and each finished conversation to your own system.
Advanced.
- Number. The number this agent answers on, and its Show QR, Reconnect, Disconnect and Delete buttons.
- Opening hours. Switch on Only answer during opening hours, set the hours for each day, and write the Message outside opening hours, which is sent to a customer who writes while you are closed (at most once every 12 hours).
- Your team. Pause after you reply (minutes) is how long the agent stays out of a chat after you write in it yourself. Conversation ends after (minutes quiet) decides when a chat counts as finished.
- Delete agent. Removes the agent. Its number is unlinked from your phone and its slot is free again. Past conversations are kept.

Use your connected apps in a chat

A WhatsApp agent can use the apps you connected under Integrations, the same way a voice agent does. On the agent's Tools tab choose Add tool, Integration, pick the app and an action, then Save. For example:

Email. Search, read and reply to email, send a follow-up or save a draft, with Gmail or Outlook.
Calendars and meetings. Book, list and cancel events on Google Calendar, Calendly or Outlook, and make a Google Meet link.
CRM. Save a lead, add a note, look a customer up, update a contact or create a task in HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho CRM, Pipedrive or GoHighLevel.
Orders, records and tasks. Look up an order in Shopify, log a chat in Google Sheets, Airtable or Notion, open a ticket in Jira Service Management, create a task in Asana, tell your team on Slack, save a file to OneDrive, or start an n8n workflow.

The agent waits for the app's answer before it writes back, and uses the account you connected. The full list of actions is in Connected-app tools.

Think about who is writing. A WhatsApp agent answers every customer who messages its number, so anyone could cause what its tools do. Give it actions that are safe for that: booking, logging, lookups that need the customer to prove who they are (an order needs its number and email). Keep mailbox-reading actions off an agent on your public number.

Test it

Use Try it beside the settings. You write as a customer, and the agent answers with the saved settings: the same instructions, knowledge and tools. Nothing is sent to anyone, but each answer is charged like a real reply. Tools and hand-overs are shown under the answer.