Overview
ConversaLabs offers two ways to automate replies intelligently:
- Support bots: bots connected to an inbox that handle the conversation first, answer structured questions, and hand off to a human when needed.
- Captain: the platform's AI layer. Captain assistants answer based on your knowledge (documents and responses), and the copilot helps agents draft replies and resolve faster.
Together, they reduce the volume reaching agents and improve the consistency and speed of support.
Prerequisites
- The Captain and/or bots capability enabled for your account (optional, enabled by plan/flag). If it isn't in the menu, talk to an administrator.
- Admin permission to configure assistants, the knowledge base, and bots.
- A connected inbox where the AI will operate.
- Content to feed the knowledge: documents, help pages, or question/answer pairs.
Step by step
On the Bots page, start from a Maestro model or use Add Bot in the empty state to configure a webhook integration.
- Open the Captain area and create an assistant.
- Feed the assistant's knowledge:
- add documents (or sync pages) for the AI to consult;
- register responses (question-and-answer pairs) for frequent questions.
- Define the assistant's behavior (tone, scope, and when to hand off to a human).
- Connect the assistant/bot to the desired inbox.
- Enable the copilot so agents get suggestions inside the conversation.
- Test with real questions and tune the knowledge based on the answers.
Settings & options
- Assistants: the AI's "personality" and scope; each assistant can serve specific inboxes.
- Documents: the knowledge base the AI uses to answer; these can be synced from pages.
- Responses: question/answer pairs that reinforce frequent questions and standardize messages.
- Copilot: an assistant for the agent — it suggests replies and summarizes the conversation inside the workspace.
- Handoff to a human: define when the AI should transfer the conversation to an agent.
- Receive messages during human handling: for an external webhook bot, enable Keep receiving messages when an assignee is present only when the integration needs to preserve context. The option is off by default, applies to every linked inbox, and does not authorize the bot to reply over the agent. Maestro always receives events and uses its own pause policy.
- Inbox automatic responder: when you link a support bot or Captain assistant, that choice becomes the only responder allowed to send automated replies for the inbox. In a hybrid inbox, the choice covers the Cloud + Web pair. Existing links remain for configuration and auditing, but the responder that was not selected stays silent.
Use cases
- First-line support: the assistant answers common questions 24/7 and only escalates what's needed.
- Qualification: the bot collects initial information before passing the contact to a rep.
- Agent support: the copilot suggests the reply from your knowledge, speeding up handling.
- Consistency: standardized responses prevent inconsistencies between agents.
Tips, limits & best practices
- AI quality depends on the knowledge: keep documents and responses up to date.
- Always offer a clear path to talk to a human.
- Start with a narrow scope (a few topics) and expand as you gain confidence in the answers.
- Periodically review conversations where the AI acted to spot knowledge gaps.
- Bot vs. Flow Builder: use bot/Captain for knowledge-based replies (natural language); use the Flow Builder for structured dialogues with steps and integrations.
- The length of a Captain reply follows the limit of the conversation's transport: up to 65,536 characters on WhatsApp Web without a hybrid pairing; up to 4,096 on WhatsApp Cloud, in a hybrid inbox and in a WhatsApp channel conversation. A longer reply is rewritten to fit; if it still does not fit, the conversation is handed over to a human.
Troubleshooting
- The AI didn't reply: confirm the assistant/bot is active and connected to the right inbox.
- Bot and Captain are linked, but only one replies: this is intentional. Link the responder that should take over again to update the inbox's explicit choice; the other remains silent to prevent duplicate replies.
- Inaccurate answers: the knowledge may be incomplete or outdated — add documents and responses and refine the scope.
- The conversation wasn't handed off: review the handoff-to-human rule.
- The external bot stops receiving after assignment: edit the bot and enable assigned-conversation delivery. First ensure the integration checks the assignee and stays silent while the human handles it.
- I don't see Captain: the capability may not be enabled for the account or your access role.