Agent bots
| Item | Details |
|—|—|
| Who it is for | Administrators |
| Menu location | Settings → Bots |
| Plan dependency | Requires Agent Bots |
An Agent Bot pushes messages to your own service (or Dialogflow, etc.) over a webhook, and that external program decides the reply. Like Captain it is a non-human assignee — do not let both fight for auto-reply on the same inbox.
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1. When to use it
– You already have an in-house dialogue engine
– You want Dialogflow or another third-party NLU (Dialogflow can also be connected per inbox under Integrations)
– You need fully custom buttons / API flows
If you only need “answer from help docs”, prefer Captain and skip running your own model.
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2. Configuration outline
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Settings → Bots → Add.
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Enter name and webhook URL (HTTPS required).
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The system issues a token for sending messages — store it in your server secret store.
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Set the bot as an inbox assignee / subscribe to events per the docs.
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Verify with a test conversation: inbound hits your URL, replies appear in the workspace.
Webhooks should respond within a few seconds; long work must be asynchronous. Validate Chatips signatures when the docs require it, to block forged requests.
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3. Conversation status
While a bot is assignee, status is often Pending. To hand over: remove the bot assignee, set Open if needed, and assign an agent. Captain’s “hand over” tool is similar.
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4. Frequently asked questions
Events arrive but replies do not show? Wrong token, wrong account / conversation ID, or message payload does not match the API.
Duplicate replies? Bot, automation and Captain all sending. Keep a single auto path.
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