> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://reseller-docs.wamatrix.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Build WhatsApp Chatbots with the Visual Flow Builder

> Create automated WhatsApp conversation flows using the visual chatbot builder — keyword triggers, decision trees, AI responses, and live agent handoffs.

The chatbot builder lets your clients create automated WhatsApp conversation flows without writing a single line of code. Bots can answer FAQs, qualify leads, collect information, and hand off to a live agent — all inside the WhatsApp thread, delivering a seamless experience for the end customer.

## Bot Flow Concepts

Before building a flow, it helps to understand the core building blocks:

* **Trigger** — What starts the bot. A trigger can be a specific keyword the customer sends (e.g. "hi", "pricing", "support"), any new incoming conversation, or a message received outside of business hours.
* **Step** — A single action in the flow. Each step does one thing: send a message, ask a question, evaluate a condition and branch, call a webhook, or collect a variable.
* **Variable** — Data collected during the conversation and stored for later use — for example, the customer's name, email address, or order number. Variables can personalize responses and be saved back to the contact record.
* **Handoff** — Transfers the active conversation from the bot to a live agent in the Team Inbox, along with all conversation context so the agent can pick up without asking the customer to repeat themselves.

## Creating a Bot Flow

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Chatbots module">
    Go to **Chatbots → New Flow**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Name and assign the flow">
    Give the flow a descriptive name and select the WhatsApp channel it applies to. A flow only intercepts conversations on its assigned channel.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the trigger">
    Choose **Keyword** and enter one or more trigger words (e.g. "hi", "pricing", "support"), or select **Any New Conversation** to capture every new incoming chat.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Build the flow on the visual canvas">
    Add steps by dragging and dropping blocks onto the canvas:

    * **Send Message** — send a text, image, video, or document
    * **Ask Question** — prompt the customer for input and save their response to a variable
    * **Branch** — split the flow based on a condition (e.g. variable value, contact tag)
    * **Set Variable** — manually assign a value to a variable
    * **Assign to Agent** — trigger a handoff to a specific agent or team
    * **Webhook** — call an external URL with conversation data
  </Step>

  <Step title="Connect the blocks">
    Draw arrows between blocks to define the conversation path. Branch blocks create multiple outgoing paths based on conditions.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Test the flow">
    Click **Test Flow** to simulate the conversation in a preview panel. Walk through each path to verify the logic before going live.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Activate the flow">
    Toggle the flow to **Active**. It will immediately begin intercepting conversations that match the trigger conditions.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## AI-Assisted Responses

Flows can include an **AI step** that generates a contextual, natural-language reply using your choice of AI model — ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. The AI step can be pointed at a knowledge base (a set of documents or FAQs you upload) or driven by a custom prompt you define.

This lets the bot handle open-ended questions — product details, policy questions, troubleshooting — that are too varied to script manually. When the AI step reaches its confidence threshold or the customer's query falls outside its scope, the flow automatically hands off to a human agent with the full conversation history intact.

## Keyword Triggers

<Note>
  Keyword triggers are **case-insensitive** and match partial words by default — so a trigger of "price" will fire if the customer types "pricing", "Price list", or "what's the price?". Use **Exact Match** mode if you need the trigger to fire only on a precise word or phrase. Multiple keywords can be assigned to the same flow, so you don't need a separate flow for every variation of a word.
</Note>

<Tip>
  Always end every bot flow with either a **human handoff step** or a clear opt-out message such as "Type STOP to unsubscribe." This keeps your client compliant with WhatsApp's messaging guidelines and ensures customers are never left in a dead-end conversation with no way to reach a person.
</Tip>