Threadline

Channels

What it is

A channel is one place where customers can write to you, or where you reach them. Threadline supports eight kinds:

Channel What the customer uses
WhatsApp Your WhatsApp Business number.
Telegram A Telegram bot you create.
Instagram Direct messages to your Instagram professional account.
Messenger Messages to your Facebook Page.
WeChat (beta) Your WeChat Official Account.
SMS Ordinary text messages, sent through an SMS provider you choose.
Email Email, sent through your own mail server.
Website widget A chat bubble on your own website.

You can connect several channels, and more than one of the same kind, for example two WhatsApp numbers.

The problem it solves

Customers do not all use the same app. One writes on WhatsApp, another on Instagram, a third from your website, a fourth by SMS. Checking each app separately is slow, and messages get missed.

Channels bring them together:

  • One Inbox for everything. Every message from every channel lands in the same Inbox.
  • The same AI on every channel. Each channel is linked to an assistant, so the AI answers consistently, or differently where you want it to.
  • Each channel can behave differently. You can give one channel a different assistant, different business hours, or turn it off.

How it works

When you connect a channel, you give Threadline permission to receive that channel's messages and to send replies. From then on:

  1. A customer writes to you on that app.
  2. The app passes the message to Threadline.
  3. Threadline shows it in the Inbox and, if the channel has an assistant, the AI answers.
  4. The reply goes back through the same app, so the customer sees it in the chat they started.

A channel is linked to one assistant at a time. An assistant is a named setup that says which knowledge base to answer from and in what tone.

1. The Channels page: cards

Channels shows one card per connected channel. Each card gives you what you need at a glance:

On the card What it tells you
Name and type For example "Support line, WhatsApp", with the phone number.
Status Active or Paused.
Quality (WhatsApp) Meta's rating for the number: high, medium or low. A falling rating is an early warning. See Broadcast.
Limit (WhatsApp) How many people you may start conversations with in 24 hours.
Display name (WhatsApp) The business name customers see, and whether Meta has approved it.
Account and number IDs The IDs used to find the number in Meta's dashboard.
Last read When Threadline last refreshed this information (every hour, or on demand).
Templates How many templates are approved out of the total, as a link.
Assistant A picker. Change it and it saves at once.
Active in inbox A switch. Off stops replies and the AI on this channel.

The "…" menu on a card offers:

  • Check the connection: asks the platform whether your saved credentials still work, and explains in plain words if not.
  • Refresh quality and details (WhatsApp): reads the latest rating, limit and name status now.
  • Sync templates from Meta (WhatsApp).
  • Register the webhook again: asks the platform to send messages to Threadline again if they stopped arriving. (For Instagram, use Connect with Meta; for WeChat, use the WeChat console; for SMS and email there is nothing to register.)
  • Open and edit: opens the channel's own page.

Credentials on a card lets you change the keys. Leave a field blank to keep its current value.

2. Connecting a channel

Go to Channels and click Connect a channel. Choose the type, give it a name that only you see, and enter the details that channel needs.

Connect with Meta (one click)

If the person who runs your Threadline installation has set up the shared Meta app, Connect with Meta appears for WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. Click it, sign in with Facebook in Meta's own window, choose your accounts, and the channels are created for you: no tokens to copy. Your plan's channel limit still applies, and the connection is stored encrypted like a manual one.

If the button is not shown, or you prefer to do it yourself, use Manual setup in the Connect a channel window. Meta's own rules apply: the person who runs Threadline must have completed Meta's app review before the button works for others.

Manual setup guides

Each kind has its own step-by-step guide:

If a channel type is missing from the list, your plan does not include it. If the button says your plan has no channels left, you have reached your plan's Channels limit.

3. The channel page

Click a channel's name to open its page. Here is what each part does.

Settings

  • Assistant. Choose which assistant answers on this channel. With No assistant, messages still arrive in the Inbox, but the AI has nothing to answer from, so it stays silent. (A channel set up before assistants existed may show Direct knowledge base link, which keeps working.)
  • Active. When ticked, the channel receives and replies to messages. Untick it to pause the channel.

Finish setup (WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger)

This box shows a Callback URL and a Verify token. You paste these into Meta's dashboard once, so Meta knows where to send your messages. The setup guides explain exactly where.

For Telegram this is done for you. The page shows the webhook address for reference only. WeChat and SMS show their own address to paste into the provider's dashboard.

Embed snippet (website widget)

A short line of code to paste into your website. See Website Widget Setup.

Send a test message

Type a number, email address or chat ID and send a short message to check that the connection works. If it fails, the error tells you what the app refused, which is usually a wrong token.

4. Business hours

What it is

A timetable for a channel, with a message to send when you are closed.

The problem it solves

A customer who writes at midnight and hears nothing may think they are being ignored. With business hours, they immediately get a polite message telling them when you are open. You can also stop the AI from answering outside your hours, if you prefer a person to be available whenever the AI replies.

How to set it up

On the channel page, find Business hours.

  1. Turn on Enable business hours. It is off by default, which means messages are answered at any time.
  2. Enter your Timezone, for example America/New_York or Asia/Dhaka. Hours are checked in this time zone.
  3. For each day, set the opening and closing time, or mark the day Closed.
  4. Write an Away message, for example "Thanks for your message. We are open Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, and will reply then."
  5. Choose what the AI does outside hours with AI still answers outside hours:
    • On: the customer gets the away message and a normal AI answer.
    • Off: the customer gets only the away message, until you open again or a person takes over.
  6. Click Save.

For an instant, exact reply to messages outside hours, you can also use an Auto Reply.

5. Pausing a channel

Switch Active in inbox off on the card, or click Disconnect at the top of the channel page. Customers on that channel stop getting replies. Nothing is deleted. Switch it back on, or click Reconnect, to turn it back on.

Use this for a short break, such as a holiday or while you fix your content.

6. Deleting a channel

On the Channels list, open the channel's menu and choose Delete.

Deleting is permanent. It removes the channel and every conversation, contact and message ever recorded on it. If you only want replies to stop, use Disconnect instead.

Good to know

  • A person who writes to you on two channels is two separate contacts, because each channel can only message its own people. See Contacts.
  • WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger only let you send a free message within 24 hours of the customer's last message (WeChat: 48 hours). After that, WhatsApp needs an approved template. See WhatsApp Templates.
  • Changing a channel's assistant takes effect on the next message. Old conversations are not changed.
  • Most SMS channels are mainly for sending. Email can also receive: with the mailbox login (IMAP) filled in, replies appear in the Inbox. See Email.
  • Changes to channels (connected, edited, credentials changed, disconnected) are recorded in the Activity log.

Common questions

Messages arrive, but the AI never replies. Check that the channel has an assistant with a knowledge base, that the assistant is switched on, and that the channel is Active. More causes are listed in Troubleshooting.

Can two channels share one assistant? Yes. Many channels can use the same assistant.

The quality shows "Quality not read yet". Click Refresh quality and details in the card's menu. It fills in after the first read, and then every hour.

The Check the connection says my token is wrong. The access token was changed or has expired. Click Credentials on the card and paste a fresh one.