Automations

Automations are the no-code way to handle inbound WhatsApp conversations. Each automation is a trigger plus a chain of actions, built visually on the automations canvas in the dashboard (/automations). They run inside Wabery, so you don’t need a server, a webhook, or a deploy to reply to customers.

Start with automations. They cover most of what an agent needs — welcome messages, keyword menus, collecting details with a Flow, waiting for a reply, following up after a delay, and handing off to a human. Reach for a hosted function only when a step genuinely needs custom code, and prefer running that function from an automation (see Run Function) rather than making the whole agent code-first.

Triggers

An automation fires on the first trigger that matches an inbound message. Evaluation order is first-match-wins:

Trigger	Fires when
Welcome	The contact’s first-ever message to this project.
Keyword	The message matches one of the automation’s keywords (e.g. book, hours, price).
Any message	A catch-all for any inbound message that no keyword caught.

Actions

After a trigger matches, Wabery walks the chain of actions in order.

Action	What it does
Send Reply	Sends a text reply. Supports variables like {{customer_name}} and up to three quick-reply buttons.
Send Flow	Sends a published WhatsApp Flow to collect structured input (booking details, an order form, lead questions).
Run Function	Calls a hosted function inline and uses its result. See Run Function.
Delay	Waits a set time, then continues the chain later (e.g. a next-day follow-up).
Wait for Reply	Pauses until the contact replies, captures what they said, and can branch on matched options.
Pause Replies	Turns on handoff: stops native automations, external webhooks, and public API outbound sends for that conversation.
Condition	Branches the chain based on the contact or the message.

Examples

• Keyword reply — Keyword hours → Send Reply with your opening times.
• Menu — Keyword help → Send Reply with quick-reply buttons (Book, Prices, Talk to a human).
• Collect details — Welcome → Send Reply (a greeting) → Send Flow (a booking form).
• Ask and branch — Keyword book → Send Reply (“Are you a new customer?”) → Wait for Reply → Condition → different paths for yes / no.
• Follow up later — After a Flow submission → Delay 1 day → Send Reply (“How did everything go?”).
• Escalate — Keyword refund → Pause Replies so a teammate takes over.

Run Function

The Run Function action calls one of your project’s deployed hosted functions in the middle of an automation. This is how you bring in live data — real availability, an order status, a price quote — without turning the whole agent into code. The function runs with a timeout, and if it fails the automation simply continues, so a broken function never wedges the conversation.

A function returns an output object. What the automation does with it depends on the action’s result mode:

Result mode	Behavior
Set variables (default)	Merges output into the conversation’s variables so later replies can use them. Give it a name like order to expose {{order_status}}, {{order_eta}}; leave the name empty to use the output field names directly.
Reply with output	Sends a field from output back to the customer. Defaults to reply, then message, then text, or name the field explicitly.
Side effect	Runs the function for its effect only (log a lead, notify a system) and ignores the output.

A typical shape: Keyword status → Run Function lookupOrder (set variables as order) → Send Reply Your order is {{order_status}}, arriving {{order_eta}}.

Variables

Send Reply and the reply text of a Run Function support {{variable}} placeholders:

Variable	Value
{{business_name}}	Your organization name.
{{customer_name}}	The contact’s name (falls back to “there”).
{{business_phone}}	Your business phone, if set.
{{business_address}}	Your business address, if set.
{{captured_reply}}	The customer’s message captured by a Wait for Reply action.
{{captured_option}}	The matched option label from a Wait for Reply action.

Any field returned by a Run Function action in Set variables mode is also available as a {{...}} placeholder in later actions.

Routing mode

Automations only run when the project routes inbound messages to Wabery’s in-app handling. If a project is set to external routing, every inbound message is forwarded to your webhook instead and automations are paused — your webhook owns the reply logic. See routing modes to switch. The automations canvas shows a banner when a project is on external routing.

Config as code

Automations are part of a project’s configuration and can be exported, validated, diffed, and applied alongside webhooks and flows. See the CLI for the config export/apply workflow, or build and edit them visually on the automations canvas in the dashboard.