Visual flows

In one sentence

A flow is a guided, multi-step conversation you design on a visual canvas — like a phone menu, but on WhatsApp — that can ask questions, branch on the answers, and hand off to a human.

Rules vs. flows — what’s the difference?

The key upgrade is memory. A flow remembers where each contact is in the conversation. Ravi can be on “choose a time” while Asha is on “confirm your address” — the flow tracks both independently and picks up each person exactly where they left off.

What a flow looks like

You build flows by connecting nodes (steps) on a canvas. A simple “book a table” flow:

Common node types:

• Send a message (text, media, or buttons).
• Ask a question and wait for the reply.
• Branch based on what they said.
• Hand off to a human (stops the flow, assigns an agent).
• Save an answer to a contact field.

Building and publishing

1. Go to Flows → New flow and lay out your nodes on the canvas.
2. Set the trigger (e.g. a keyword, or a button tap).
3. Publish it — only published flows run for real customers.

Design for the “escape hatch”: always give people a way to reach a human (a “talk to us” option that hands off). Even the best flow can’t answer everything, and a graceful handoff beats a frustrated customer looping in a menu.

Handing off to a human

When a flow reaches a handoff node, it stops driving and the conversation becomes a normal Inbox chat for your team — with all the context the flow collected. From that point a human is in control (and, per Who answers?, bots stay quiet).

How this connects

• Flows are one of the responders arbitrated in Who answers?.
• A running flow can pause to let a human take over, then you’re back in the normal Inbox model.
• Answers a flow collects can be saved to contact fields.

Next: answers that aren’t scripted — the AI assistant →.