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Who can use this?
  • Owners and Admins, and roles that can update bots and channels, to change settings.
  • Anyone who needs to work out why a bot behaved unexpectedly.
Most bot problems come from two places: who the conversation is assigned to, and the bot’s wait time. For the full picture, see How conversations reach a bot and Bot wait time and drop-off. For Chat AI Agents, see Chat AI Agent FAQs.

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The bot doesn’t start or doesn’t reply

A bot only replies in a conversation assigned to it. Check in this order:
1

Is the conversation already open with someone?

An open conversation keeps its owner, whether that’s a team member, a team, or Unassigned, so the bot doesn’t start. Resolve the conversation and try again. To take over an open chat, use reply settings with override or Trigger agent in the inbox.
2

Is the bot the channel's default?

Check the channel’s Assignment Rules: Assign New Conversation to should be Agents, with your bot selected. See Set the default bot.
3

Is an override sending the chat to a person?

Under Assignment Rules, the “reassign to the same user” and “assign to the contact owner” overrides win over the bot.
4

Is the flow published?

Drafts never run.
5

Does the keyword match the whole message?

“hi” matches “Hi” but not “hi there”. Use Regex Match for partial matches. See Keyword matching.
That’s expected. While a conversation is open, new messages stay with its current owner, and the bot doesn’t start. Once it’s resolved, the next message opens a new conversation that the default bot can pick up.When testing from your own phone, resolve the test conversation before each test.
1

Check where replies go

In the template’s Configurations → Reply Settings, or the broadcast’s Broadcast reply settings, check that Assign to is set to your bot.
2

Check the override

If the chat may already be open with someone, tick Override the current assignments?.
3

Check a flow matches the button

The bot needs a flow whose keyword or Payload matches the button.
4

Check how the customer replied

Reply settings work when the contact taps a button or swipes to reply. For broadcasts, a plain-text reply also counts if it comes within 7 days.
See Send button replies to a bot.
An ad flow belongs to a bot, so the ad conversation has to reach that bot first.
  1. Make that bot the channel’s default bot.
  2. In the CTWA Ad Based flow, check For Specific Ads and the Ad Id, or use For Any Ads.
  3. If the lead already had an open chat with a team member, the ad flow won’t start.
  • The whole message must equal the keyword. Capitals are ignored unless Case Match is on.
  • For “contains” matches, use Regex Match.
  • “stop” can’t be a keyword. It’s reserved for marketing opt-out.
  • The conversation must be assigned to the bot. See the first question on this page.
When more than one published flow matches, the most recently created one runs. Keep keywords distinct across flows. Ad, form and order flows are checked before keyword flows. See Which flow wins.
While a flow is waiting for an answer, the customer’s message is treated as that answer. Another flow’s keyword won’t interrupt it.Replying to the message that started the flow starts matching again. You can also move the customer yourself with Trigger agent in the inbox.

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The bot stops, times out or closes early

1

Check flow-level drop-off

If Enable flow-level drop-off is on in this flow, its wait time replaces the bot’s.
2

Check for the 3-minute default

New bots wait 3 minutes, then run Unassign Conversation.
3

Check the flow itself

A Resolve Conversation node, or a flow-finish action, closes the chat on purpose.
4

Check when the conversation started

A conversation keeps the bot wait time it started with. Test a new wait time on a new conversation.
Auto resolve chat and agent fallback don’t act while a bot is handling the chat.If every setting matches and the chat still closes early, contact support. See When to contact support.
Nudges add to the wait. The wait time starts after the last nudge. See Nudge before dropping off.
The bot only runs its timeout actions if the customer didn’t reply and nobody took over. Check that What should the agent do after the designated wait time? has at least one action.If your settings are right, contact support. See When to contact support.
A team member or another bot took over, or the chat was already resolved. In both cases the bot skips the message.

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Handoff and assignment

Check two places:
  1. The Assign Conversation node in the flow.
  2. What actions should the agent take after the flow completion? in the flow’s settings (Edit Flow).
  • When the bot assigns to a team, the team’s own Assignment Rules decide who gets it. With Round-robin, it goes to the next available member. With Unassign, it goes to Unassigned.
  • A flow-finish action set to Unassign Conversation undoes the handoff.
  • Check the node points at the team or person you expect.
Under the channel’s Assignment Rules, Override the above rule and reassign the conversation to the same user who previously handled the conversation is ticked. Returning customers go straight to the team member who helped them last time.
Common causes:
  • The bot’s wait time ran out, and the default action is Unassign Conversation.
  • None of the bot’s flows matched the customer’s next message, so the bot let go.
  • The flow assigned to a team whose assignment rule is Unassign.

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Integrations inside a flow

A WhatsApp list message shows at most 10 rows. Split longer lists into pages, or into more than one step. See Send Nodes.
A connected app’s login can expire or lose permissions. Reconnect the integration, then run the flow again. See Connectors.

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When to contact support

If your settings match what you expected and the bot still behaves differently, email support@gallabox.com with:
  • the bot name and the flow name,
  • a sample contact number where it happened,
  • roughly when it happened (the time of the bot’s last message helps most), and
  • what you expected and what happened instead.