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The moment it happens

Answer WhatsApp support questions and escalate to Slack

Customers get instant answers on WhatsApp, and anything the bot isn't confident about is posted to Slack for a person to pick up.

Runs
The moment it happens
Apps
Slack, WhatsApp Business
AI
Yes, uses the built-in AI allowance
Access
whatsapp_business_messaging; chat:write

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: when a customer messages our WhatsApp number, answer from our FAQ; if you're not confident, tell them a person will reply and post the question to #support in Slack.

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

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

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A support team that works in Slack doesn't want to sit in a WhatsApp inbox all day, but customers increasingly prefer WhatsApp. Routine questions take up time, and the important ones get lost among them.

Letting a bot answer the routine questions and post the rest to the support channel means customers get quick answers and the team only spends time on conversations that need them, from the tool they already use.

What you get out of it

  • Instant answers for common questions

    Customers aren't kept waiting for things your FAQ already covers.

  • Your team stays in Slack

    Escalations arrive in the channel the team already watches.

  • Honest about limits

    When the bot isn't sure, it says a person will reply instead of guessing.

  • Fewer repeated questions

    The team only handles questions the FAQ doesn't answer, which shows where to improve it.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. A customer messages your WhatsApp number.

  2. AI drafts an answer from your FAQ and rates how confident it is.

  3. Confident answers are sent straight back on WhatsApp.

  4. Otherwise the customer is told a person will reply, and the question is posted to your support channel in Slack.

Before it runs live

  • Connect Slack, then invite the app to the channel (type /invite @ClickRuntime there)
  • Connect WhatsApp Business
  • Paste your automation's link into the other app's webhook settings

What you get

RunsThe moment it happens
Answer WhatsApp support questions and escalate to Slackjust nowSucceeded
Slack · #support:speech_balloon: WhatsApp +447700900321: Can I move my Acme team's seats onto one invoice?

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
  • Change what the AI looks for, or how it writes the result
  • Add another app, for example also send it to Google Sheets
  • Combine it with other Slack and 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.
whatsapp_ai_support_with_slack_escalation.pyexample
from clickruntime import on_event, credentials, http, notify, ai

FAQ = "Plans start at £9/month. Cancel any time in Settings. Support hours 8-6 UK."
SCHEMA = {"type": "object", "properties": {"reply": {"type": "string"}, "confident": {"type": "boolean"}}, "required": ["reply", "confident"]}
WA = "https://graph.facebook.com/v20.0/your-phone-number-id/messages"

def wa(to, text):
    http.post(WA, headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {credentials.secret('WHATSAPP_TOKEN')}"},
              json={"messaging_product": "whatsapp", "to": to, "type": "text", "text": {"body": text}}).raise_for_status()
def incoming(event):
    changes = [c for e in (event.json or {}).get("entry", []) for c in e.get("changes", [])]
    return [(m["from"], m["text"]["body"]) for c in changes for m in c["value"].get("messages", []) if m.get("type") == "text"]

@on_event
def handle(event):
    for phone, text in incoming(event):
        r = ai.generate(text[:1500], json_schema=SCHEMA, max_output_tokens=200,
                        system=f"Answer from these facts only: {FAQ}. confident=false if unsure, a complaint, or they want a person.").json
        if r["confident"]:
            wa(phone, r["reply"])
        else:
            wa(phone, "Thanks for your message. A member of our team will reply here shortly.")
            notify.slack(f":speech_balloon: WhatsApp +{phone}: {text[:800]}", channel="#support")
    return {"ok": True}

FAQ

Common questions

How does it decide to escalate?
The AI rates its own confidence from the FAQ. Low confidence, complaints and requests for a person go to Slack.
What's in the Slack post?
The customer's number, their message and the reason for escalating.
Can the FAQ be updated?
Yes. It's plain text in the automation's settings, editable at any time.
What permissions does it need?
whatsapp_business_messaging; chat:write. Nothing else in your accounts is used.
Does it need AI?
Yes. It uses ClickRuntime's built-in AI, so you don't need an OpenAI or Anthropic key. Every plan includes a monthly 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.

Set up “Answer WhatsApp support questions and escalate to Slack” from your assistant

Copy the prompt above, or connect your assistant first. Free plan, no credit card.