Chatbots in Simio: inbound WhatsApp conversation flows

A chatbot (“Bot scenario”) is a flow that starts automatically the moment a contact sends an inbound WhatsApp message matching a trigger you configure, rather than something the business sends out. It is always-on rather than scheduled. Chatbots use the same visual flow builder as automations and campaigns; refer to the automations page for shared canvas mechanics and the Scenario builder reference for the fields exposed by each node type.

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The Chatbots list

The Chatbots screen lives under Chatbots in the left sidebar and shows every bot scenario for the workspace. Left filter rail groups scenarios by status:

• Bot Scenarios
  • All bot scenarios (with total count)
  • Drafts (with count)
  • Active (with count)
  • Turned off (with count)
• AI Bots
  • AI Agents ✨ (upcoming, not yet interactive)

Toolbar above the table:

• N bot scenarios count on the left
• Search bot scenarios... input
• New chatbot primary button on the right

Columns: Pagination at the bottom (1 / 1 with prev/next arrows).

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Creating a new chatbot

Clicking New chatbot opens a New chatbot modal with: General

• Channel dropdown, defaulting to a connected account, for example Alcmeon preprod (33759623...).
• Scenario name (required text input).

Trigger for this chatbot four-card picker (exactly one selected, blue outline on the selected card): Configuration panel below the picker changes with the selected trigger:

• Incoming message: adds a required Message that will trigger this chatbot (the one you are using in your ad or your wa.me link) textarea, labeled Message body.
• Any message: no extra fields.
• WhatsApp order: shows WhatsApp order chatbots are automatically triggered when customers place orders through your WhatsApp catalog. You should have enabled WhatsApp catalog in your WhatsApp Business account.
• No phone number: shows This chatbot is triggered when a contact identified only by a BSUID (no phone number) sends an inbound message. Use this flow to ask them to share their phone number.

Footer: Create chatbot primary button (disabled until required fields are filled) and Cancel. A × close button is also available in the top-left of the panel. Creating the chatbot lands you on the Scenario tab with the trigger step already placed on the canvas (and, for “No phone number”, the Request phone number step wired in automatically).

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Entry trigger types

Set once at creation, on cards labeled exactly as follows in the product: For the “Incoming message” trigger, the exact phrase to match is typed into a required field, described in-product as “the one you are using in your ad or your wa.me link.” A keyword-triggered chatbot whose configured phrase is blank acts as a catch-all fallback: it fires for any inbound message that didn’t match a more specific keyword chatbot’s exact phrase.

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What happens if nothing matches

If an inbound message doesn’t match any active chatbot trigger, no bot answers it. If you have connected a helpdesk, the message is forwarded there so your agents can reply. See Crisp, Easiware, and Gorgias.

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Priority when a message could match more than one thing

If a contact is mid-conversation in a Wait step waiting for their reply, that takes priority over triggering any chatbot at all. Otherwise, if a message both matches a keyword-triggered chatbot and is sent by a phone-less (BSUID-only) contact with an active “No phone number” chatbot, the “No phone number” chatbot’s request for a phone number wins that turn; the matched keyword chatbot is not lost, it is simply held and fires automatically once the contact goes on to share their phone number.

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Conflict rule

Only one active chatbot may exist per “trigger slot”:

• Two active “Incoming message” chatbots cannot share the exact same phrase.
• Only one active “Any message” chatbot may exist per connected account.
• Only one active “WhatsApp order” chatbot may exist.
• Only one active “No phone number” chatbot may exist.

Activating a chatbot that conflicts with another currently-active one automatically turns the other one off; the editor shows a confirmation naming exactly which chatbot(s) will be turned off before it lets you proceed.

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Creating a chatbot

Creation asks for: channel, connected account, name, and the trigger type (plus the trigger phrase for “Incoming message”). Once created, channel, account, and trigger type are locked; only the name and, for keyword chatbots, the trigger phrase remain editable afterward, from the Details tab.

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”No phone number” chatbots

Creating a chatbot with this trigger type automatically wires in a Request phone number step immediately after the trigger. This step has no toolbar button; it only exists via this automatic creation path (and is not retroactively added if you switch an existing chatbot’s trigger type to “No phone number” after the fact). See the Request phone number step details.

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Status lifecycle

Turning a chatbot on can automatically turn off a conflicting one, per the conflict rule above.

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Editing and saving

Unlike campaigns and automations, editing and saving a chatbot’s flow only applies what actually changed: steps you removed from the canvas are deleted, steps that already existed are updated in place, and new ones are added, rather than the whole flow being rebuilt from scratch on every save. The trigger step itself can never be deleted from the canvas; only its phrase and status can change.

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Removing a chatbot

There is no archive or soft-delete concept. To stop a chatbot from responding without losing it, turn it off. To remove it entirely, delete it; this is permanent, removes every step in the flow, and cannot be undone.