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

# Bot setup

> Configure each channel's bot — its welcome, ice breakers, menu and default reply — from one page that changes with the channel you have selected.

Bot setup is where you configure the bot for one channel: the message it opens with, the
tappable prompts it offers, the menu it shows, and what it says when nothing else matches.
It sits in the sidebar under **Configurations → Bot Setup**.

**One page, four different screens.** Bot setup always shows the channel selected in the
channel selector at the top. Switch the selector from WhatsApp to Live Chat and the page
becomes something else entirely — a WhatsApp number and a website widget have almost nothing
in common to configure. If you are looking at the wrong settings, you have the wrong channel
selected, not the wrong page. Your selection sticks between visits.

<Note>
  **Bot Setup isn't available for this channel** means exactly that. The page only exists for
  WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and Live Chat. Select one of those from the channel
  selector. If you select SMS or another channel, the page tells you the channel has no
  channel-specific bot setup. You also need access to integrations to see the sidebar item at
  all — ask a workspace admin if it isn't there. See [Team members](/account/team-members).
</Note>

## Bot setup and Automation are different jobs

They work together, and it helps to know which way round.

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Automation" icon="diagram-project" href="/automation/overview">
    The flows themselves — the conversations you build step by step in the flow builder, and
    the keywords and triggers that start them.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Bot setup" icon="sliders">
    The channel's front door. What a first-time contact sees before any flow runs — the
    welcome, the ice breakers and the menu.
  </Card>
</Columns>

Bot setup is also a way *into* your flows. Ice breakers and persistent-menu items can each be
set to **Start flow**, and the picker lists your active flows for that channel. That is how a
first-time contact gets from a tap to a real conversation without typing a keyword.

<Note>
  There is no master on/off switch for the bot. Each feature has its own toggle — welcome,
  default reply, persistent menu. To stop the bot for one person mid-conversation, pause it on
  that contact from the [Inbox](/inbox/overview), not here.
</Note>

## What you configure, by channel

### WhatsApp

WhatsApp gets its own screen, **WhatsApp Cloud API Configuration**, with five tabs:

| Tab                           | What it covers                                                                                                                                                                 |
| ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Configuration**             | The number itself — phone number, verified name, registration, connect and disconnect                                                                                          |
| **Profile**                   | The business profile customers see on WhatsApp, including the photo                                                                                                            |
| **Commerce**                  | **Show catalog** and **Enable cart**                                                                                                                                           |
| **Conversational Components** | **Show a welcome message to new conversations**, **Ice breakers** (up to 4 tappable prompts for first-time customers) and **Commands** (slash commands like `/menu`, up to 30) |
| **Calling**                   | **Enable voice calling**, so customers can call the number and you can call back from the inbox                                                                                |

WhatsApp does not use the welcome / default reply / persistent menu model the other channels
share. Everything of that kind lives on **Conversational Components** instead: the welcome
toggle, the ice breakers and the commands.

<Note>
  Message templates are not here. They have their own place in the sidebar — see
  [Message templates](/broadcasts/message-templates).
</Note>

### Facebook and Instagram

Both share one screen with four sections and a **Live preview** that shows how a first-time
visitor sees the bot.

* **Welcome** — the message a first-time contact opens with, and a toggle to turn it on.
* **Ice breakers** — up to four suggested questions shown to first-time visitors. Each sends a
  **Text reply** or starts a flow. On Instagram they appear on mobile only.
* **Persistent menu** — **Show a persistent menu in the conversation**, with submenus if you
  need them.

Saving pushes the ice breakers and menu straight to your connected Facebook Page or Instagram
account. The welcome is pushed to Facebook only — Instagram has no Get Started or greeting to
push it to. Turning the persistent menu off and saving removes it from Messenger or Instagram.
If the sync fails, the page says so when you save — check [Logs](/troubleshooting/logs).

<Warning>
  The fourth section, **Default reply**, has no effect on Facebook or Instagram. It saves, but
  nothing on those channels ever sends it. It is a Telegram feature — see below.
</Warning>

### Telegram

Telegram uses the same four sections with Telegram wording:

* **Welcome** — **Send a welcome message when someone taps Start (/start)**.
* **Default reply** — **Reply automatically when no keyword or flow matches**. Write the
  message and choose **Every time** or **Once per 24 hours per contact**. Telegram is the only
  channel where this section does anything.
* **Ice breakers** — suggested questions shown as quick-reply buttons under the welcome
  message. Tapping one sends its reply or starts a flow.
* **Persistent menu** — each item becomes a `/command` in the bot's ☰ menu next to the message
  box. Saving syncs the command list to Telegram.

<Warning>
  Keep Telegram ice breakers to **four**. The page lets you add up to eight, but saving a fifth
  is rejected and you lose the edit. Four save reliably.
</Warning>

### Live Chat

Selecting a Live Chat widget turns Bot setup into the widget customizer — **Live Chat widget**
— with a live preview beside the settings. The panels:

* **Widget**, **Design** and **Brand** — the look, the **Agent name**, and the **Greeting**.
  **Design → Version** is worth a moment: **Classic** opens straight into the conversation,
  **Home** shows a landing screen with your channels first.
* **Layout** — where the widget sits and how it presents.
* **Channels** — deep links so visitors can move the conversation to **WhatsApp**, Messenger,
  Instagram or Telegram. Lead with WhatsApp here; it is where most people would rather talk.
* **Behavior** — **Online**, **Status text**, **Launcher text**, **Offline message**, **Show
  typing indicator**, up to six **Quick replies**, and the pre-chat gates: **Require email
  before chat**, **Require name before chat**, **Require phone before chat** and **Require
  consent before chat**.
* **Install** — the one-line snippet to paste before `</body>` on every page you want the
  widget. Use **Copy snippet**.
* **Danger zone** — **Delete widget**.

<Warning>
  Deleting a widget removes the widget, its install snippet, **and all of its conversations**.
  This can't be undone.
</Warning>

There is no persistent menu or ice breaker on Live Chat — **Quick replies** in **Behavior** do
that job.

## Creating a Live Chat widget

This is the part that catches people out. Every other channel is connected from
[Integrations](/integrations/overview). A Live Chat widget is **created here, in Bot setup**,
because there is no external account to connect — you are making the channel, not linking one.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Select Live Chat">
    Open the channel selector and pick **Live Chat**. With no widget yet, it takes you straight
    to Bot setup's **New Live Chat widget** screen.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Name it">
    On **New Live Chat widget**, enter a **Widget name** — something like `Website Chat`. The
    name appears in your channel selector and the Inbox, so name it for where it lives if you
    might run more than one.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create it">
    Select **Create widget**. You land on the customizer with everything above available.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Install it">
    Set the widget up, then open **Install**, use **Copy snippet**, and paste it before
    `</body>` on every page you want the widget on.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Once the widget exists, you can return to its settings from the channel selector, or from the
widget's own menu on the accounts page. Conversations land in your
[Inbox](/inbox/overview) alongside WhatsApp and everything else. Full detail:
[Live Chat widget](/channels/livechat-widget).

## No channels yet

If your workspace has no channels at all, Contacts, Broadcasts, Automation, Meetings and
Growth show **Connect a channel first** instead of the page, with a **Set up a channel**
button. That button brings you here — which is the right destination if you want a Live Chat
widget, and the starting point for everything else via
[Channels](/channels/overview). For WhatsApp, start at
[Connect WhatsApp](/channels/whatsapp).

## Where custom fields and tags went

They are no longer in Bot setup. They belong to the whole workspace rather than one channel,
so they live in Workspace Settings now. See
[Tags and segments](/contacts/tags-and-segments).

<Accordion title="I saved, but nothing changed on Facebook, Instagram or Telegram">
  Only some of it is pushed out when you save. Facebook gets the welcome, ice breakers and
  menu; Instagram gets the ice breakers and menu; Telegram gets the menu, as its command list.
  If that push fails, the page tells you at the moment you save rather than failing quietly —
  the message points you at the logs. Open [Logs](/troubleshooting/logs) and look for the sync
  entry. Everything else — the Telegram welcome, default reply and ice breakers — is handled by
  DMLY as messages arrive, so it never appears in Telegram's own settings at all.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="The Bot Setup item is greyed out">
  The active channel isn't one Bot setup supports. Switch to WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram,
  Telegram or Live Chat in the channel selector and it opens.
</Accordion>