Automations

Visual playbooks that actually branch

Chain triggers, filters, HTTP calls, quick-reply buttons, and agent hand-offs on a live canvas. Each button in a quick-reply message becomes its own output — the flow continues down whichever branch the customer picked.

#The editor

Every automation is a graph of nodes connected by edges. A node is either a trigger (starts the flow), an action (does something), or a condition (branches). Open the editor at/dashboard/automations/<id>.

Basics

Click + Add node to open the palette; nodes are grouped by channel (WhatsApp / Instagram / Generic).
Drag from a source handle (right side of a node) to a target handle (left side of another) to create an edge.
Click a node to open its config panel on the right.
Toggle Active in the top-left to enable / disable the automation without deleting it.
Hit Save (top-right) to persist changes. Nothing runs until you save.

#Triggers

A trigger listens for a specific event. Every automation needs at least one.

Trigger	Fires on	Config
WhatsApp · Keyword	Inbound WA DM matching keyword rules	instanceId (or any), keywords, matchMode, caseSensitive
WhatsApp · Any Message	Every inbound WA DM	instanceId (or any)
WhatsApp · New Contact	First message from a phone we haven't seen	instanceId (or any)
Instagram · DM	Inbound IG DM — filter by keyword or any	accountId, filterMode (any/keyword), keywords
Instagram · New Contact	First IG DM from a new IGSID	accountId
Instagram · Post	New comment on a selected post	accountId, mediaId (or any), keywords (optional)

Match modes for keyword triggers

contains (default) — the message contains the keyword anywhere.
exact — the whole message equals the keyword (trimmed).
starts — the message starts with the keyword.
regex — the message matches the JavaScript regex you entered.

Multiple keywords go on one line, comma-separated. Any match fires the trigger.

#Actions

Actions do work. Wire an action node after a trigger — or after another action — via edges.

Action	Purpose
WhatsApp · Send Message	Send text (with optional media) via the current WA instance.
WhatsApp · Send Poll	Send a native poll with 2–12 options — each option becomes a branch handle.
Instagram · Send DM	Send a text / media / quick-reply DM. Each quick-reply becomes a branch handle.
Instagram · Reply Comment	Post a public comment reply.
Instagram · Hide Comment	Hide the triggering comment.
Instagram · Delete Comment	Delete the triggering comment.
AI Agent Reply	Route this trigger to a specific AI agent — overrides the channel default.
Add Tag	Tag the CRM contact for later filtering.
Set User Field	Save a value on a custom contact field.
HTTP Request	Call any external API. Store the response in a variable for downstream nodes.
Wait / Delay	Sleep for N seconds inside the flow.
Condition	Branch true/false on a message/tag/status check.

#Variables in text fields

Every text field in every action supports variable placeholders. The chip palette above each input shows what's available for that specific node — click a chip to insert it at the caret.

From the trigger

Depending on the upstream trigger, these placeholders resolve at run time:

{{name}} / {{username}} — contact display name / IG @handle.
{{message}} / {{comment}} — the text of the triggering message or comment.
{{post_url}} — link to the post (comment triggers only).

From HTTP nodes

Every HTTP Request node has an Output variable field (e.g. apiResponse). Its value is the parsed response body — reference the whole thing with {{apiResponse}}, or reach into it with dotted paths:

template

Hi {{name}}! Your latest order status is {{apiResponse.data.status}} — arriving on {{apiResponse.data.eta}}.

The chip palette on downstream nodes automatically shows every HTTP variable reachable via the graph.

#The HTTP Request node in depth

Modeled after n8n's HTTP node — clean toggles for each section:

Method: GET/POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE/HEAD.
URL: variable-aware (embed {{...}}).
Send Query Parameters: toggle-on shows a key/value list appended to the URL as ?a=b&c=d.
Send Headers: toggle-on shows a key/value list. Legacy newline strings are still parsed.
Send Body: toggle-on lets you pick a body type — JSON, Raw text, or Form URL-encoded.

JSON body editor

When body type is JSON:

Line-number gutter.
Live JSON validation — red border + inline error when the body is malformed, green “Valid JSON” when clean.
Format button — pretty-prints and preserves any {{variables}} you've inserted.
Content-Type: application/json is added automatically when body is JSON.

Failure semantics: on timeout / non-2xx / network error, the run still continues. The variable holds null, and two extras appear alongside: {{apiResponse}}_status (HTTP status code) and {{apiResponse}}_error (error message). Use them in a Condition node to branch on failure.

#Branching on quick-reply buttons

Instagram DM quick replies and WhatsApp polls both support per-option branching. Every button/option on the node gets its own output handle on the right side; wire each to a different downstream node and the flow continues from the branch the customer picked.

How it works

Add options

On the DM/Poll node, add quick replies (IG) or poll options (WA). Each option becomes a violet handle on the right edge of the node.

Wire branches

Drag from each handle to whatever action should run when that option is picked. Options with no wire simply do nothing when tapped.

Save + let it fire

Save the automation. When the trigger fires, alChatBot sends the DM/poll and parks the flow. As soon as the customer replies with a matching option label (or votes), the flow resumes down the corresponding branch. Wait states expire after 1 hour if no reply comes.

Example — post-comment menu

flow

[IG · Post] (keyword: "+")
        ↓
[IG · Send DM]
   text:        "Hi {{username}}! What would you like to know?"
   buttons:     ["Menu", "Order Status", "Contact Support"]
        ↓                   ↓                    ↓
   [Menu branch]      [Order branch]     [Support branch]
   Send catalog PDF   HTTP: fetch status  Ping operator

#Handing off to an AI agent

The AI Agent Reply node picks a specific agent and lets it answer the current trigger — overriding whatever agent the channel is normally bound to.

Common uses:

An ad-specific agent: automation triggers on ad-click referrer → AI Agent Reply routes to a bespoke sales agent.
A comment-answering agent: IG Post trigger → AI Agent Reply routes to an agent tuned for public replies, delivered via the comment→DM route.

The agent's answer is delivered through the normal channel — WhatsApp DM, Instagram DM, or comment-to-DM depending on where the trigger fired.

#Conditions

Branch the flow on a check. A Condition node has two output handles — true (green) and false (red).

field: message / tag / status.
operator: contains / equals / not_equals.
value: what to compare against.

Use a Condition after an HTTP node to branch on the status: {{apiResponse}}_status equals 200 → success flow; otherwise → error flow.

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