The moment it happens

Reply to common WhatsApp questions with set answers

People who type 'hours', 'price' or 'menu' get your fixed answer at once, and everyone else gets your welcome menu.

Runs: The moment it happens
Apps: WhatsApp Business
AI: Not needed
Access: whatsapp_business_messaging

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: when a WhatsApp message contains 'hours', reply 'We're open 9-6 Mon-Sat'; for 'price' send our price list text; for 'menu' send the menu link; otherwise send our welcome menu.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

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First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A bakery, a salon or a small online shop gets the same WhatsApp questions all day: what are your prices, are you open on Sunday, do you have the oat milk latte syrup. Each answer is a few words, but typed by hand it interrupts whoever is serving a customer. Late replies lose sales, and a message sent after closing time waits until morning even though the answer is on the website.

When someone writes a keyword such as 'prices', 'hours' or a product name, the automation checks it against a stored list of questions and answers, and sends back the fixed text immediately. It can also send an interactive list so the customer can tap a category. No AI is involved, so the reply is always exactly what you wrote.

It is the right choice when answers must be precise and predictable.

What you get out of it

Instant answers, even at midnight
The reply is sent within a second of the question, so a customer deciding at 11 p.m. gets their price and does not drift to a competitor that answered faster.
You control every word
Because replies are fixed text rather than generated, a price, an address or an allergy note is always exactly what you approved. There is no risk of an invented answer.
Frees staff during busy hours
The person at the counter stops typing the same three answers. They can focus on customers in front of them while the phone handles routine questions. Counter staff stop being interrupted mid-sale, which helps the customer in front of them as well.
Catalog browsing by tapping
An interactive list lets customers pick a category instead of guessing a keyword. That reduces misses where someone types a word you did not anticipate. Customers also discover products they did not know to ask about, which can lift order size.
Easy to update as things change
When prices or opening hours change, you update the stored answer once, and every future reply uses it, instead of correcting a habit across several staff. That means one edit instead of retraining three people, and nobody keeps quoting last month's price by mistake.

How it works

What happens, step by step

When someone messages your WhatsApp Business number, ClickRuntime picks it up straight away.
It checks the message for words you have set answers for, such as hours, price or menu.
If one matches, it replies at once with your fixed answer.
If nothing matches, it sends your welcome menu so the person can pick what they need. No AI is involved.

Before it runs live

Connect WhatsApp Business
Paste your automation's link into the other app's webhook settings

What you get

RunsThe moment it happens

Reply to common WhatsApp questions with set answersjust nowSucceeded

WhatsApp · Customer chatCustomer: what are your hours? Northwind Café: We're open Mon–Sat, 8:00–18:00.

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.

Your own rules
Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.
Any number of apps
One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.
AI where it helps
Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.
On a schedule or on each event
Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
Add an AI step, for example to summarize, sort or draft a reply
Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
Combine it with other WhatsApp Business steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.

keyword_faq_and_catalog_auto_replies_no_ai.pyexample

from clickruntime import on_event, credentials, http

PHONE_NUMBER_ID = "123456789012345"
FAQ = {
    "hours": "We're open Mon–Sat, 8:00–18:00.",
    "price": "Coffee from $3, pastries from $2.50. Full menu: northwind.example/menu",
    "menu": "Today's menu: northwind.example/menu",
}
WELCOME = "Hi! Reply with *hours*, *price* or *menu*, or just tell us what you need."

@on_event
def handle(event):
    value = event.json["entry"][0]["changes"][0]["value"]
    if "messages" not in value:
        return {"skipped": True}
    msg = value["messages"][0]
    text = msg.get("text", {}).get("body", "").lower()
    reply = next((answer for word, answer in FAQ.items() if word in text), WELCOME)
    http.post(f"https://graph.facebook.com/v21.0/{PHONE_NUMBER_ID}/messages",
              headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {credentials.secret('WHATSAPP_TOKEN')}"},
              json={"messaging_product": "whatsapp", "to": msg["from"], "type": "text", "text": {"body": reply}})
    return {"matched": reply != WELCOME}

FAQ

Common questions

What happens if the customer types something that matches no keyword?

The automation can send a short fallback such as a menu of the keywords it understands, or stay silent so a person answers. You choose which behavior fits, and can add an email alert for unmatched messages.

Are keywords case sensitive or exact?

Matching ignores capital letters, and it can also match a keyword inside a longer sentence, so 'what are your prices?' still triggers the prices reply. Tell your AI assistant if you want stricter matching.

Does this work outside the 24-hour window?

Replies sent in response to a customer message fall inside the 24-hour window, so free-form text and lists are allowed. Starting a conversation yourself later would need an approved template instead. Tell your AI assistant if you also want closing-hours replies that differ from daytime ones.

What permissions does it need?

whatsapp_business_messaging. Nothing else in your accounts is used.

Does it need AI?

No. It runs without AI, so it doesn't use your plan's AI allowance.

How many runs does it use?

One run for each event the app sends.

Can I change how it works?

Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

The moment it happens