Handle Incoming Conversations

We can simplify the process of managing inbound conversations by letting Twilio Conversations create new conversations for you automatically. This means that every time Twilio Conversations receives a new message from a number that is not yet participating in an existing conversation, it will create a new conversation with the message’s sender as a participant.

With the “Autocreate a Conversation” feature enabled, an incoming message from an unknown number (that is not a participant of any conversation) will create a new conversation with a participant automatically.

Create a new conversation

To test the "Autocreate a Conversation" feature, let’s send a text message to a Twilio number and see if a conversation is created.

1. Make sure that the number you send a message from is not in a conversation already. You can do so by listing all active conversations:
   
   

   twilio api:conversations:v1:conversations:list

   And then list the participants in each conversation:
   
   

   twilio api:conversations:v1:conversations:participants:list --conversation-sid=CHXXX

   If you see your number as a participant, remove it from the conversation (alternatively, you can delete the conversation):
   
   

   twilio api:conversations:v1:conversations:participants:remove --conversation-sid=CHXXX --sid=MBXXX

2. Now send a new text message to a Twilio number that is configured for Twilio Conversations.

Finally, check if a new conversation was created:

twilio api:conversations:v1:conversations:list

What we're missing from our newly created conversation is a Twilio Frontline user. That's you! You can add a Frontline user to the conversation with routing.

Inbound Routing

The diagram above shows the inbound routing process for Conversations. A customer creates a conversation by sending a message to a Twilio phone number. If the onConversationAdd webhook is enabled (e.g. in global webhooks for Conversations), it will be called before the next step.

There are three options to handle the routing of incoming conversations: Do not route, Custom routing and Pool routing. With Do not route routing, a Conversation will be created but it won't be routed.

The onConversationRoute webhook will be called after a conversation is created for routing. The onParticipantAdded webhook will be called when a participant has been added to the conversation.

1. Do Not Route

Incoming conversations won’t be routed to workers (Frontline users), but they will be visible within conversation logs.

2. Custom Routing

You can use Custom Routing to specify which customers should be routed to which Frontline users, rather than having it handled automatically.

If Custom Routing is enabled, the Custom Routing Callback URL will be called when an inbound conversation is created. You can configure the Custom Routing Callback URL in the Twilio Frontline Console.

Before routing, there are two Conversations webhooks that we will make use of for updating the conversation with customer information:

• onConversationAdd — This webhook will be called before a conversation is created. We can use this to set a friendly name and an avatar for the conversation.
• onParticipantAdded — This webhook will be called when a participant has been added to the conversation. You must add a customer_id to the participant and, optionally, a display_name and avatar. You can find all the details of these properties in the My Customers documentation.

For routing, we will use the Frontline custom routing callback:

• onConversationRoute — This webhook will be called after conversation is created for routing.

Now let’s configure a project for custom routing.

Configuring custom routing

1. Set the two webhooks in the Twilio Conversations Console. First, set the Pre-Event URL and Post-Event URL to target your webhook URL. Now select the onConversationAdd and onParticipantAdded options under Webhook Filtering:
   

   

   
   Click on Save.
   
   Twilio will now call our integration service's /callbacks/conversations endpoint for onConversationAdd and onParticipantAdded events. It will provide event information in the call’s body, and we can use it to set the conversation and participant information. In the Node.js Frontline Integration Service, you can view the file src/routes/callbacks/twilio-conversations.js to see how it is done.
   
   
2. Let’s enable custom routing using the Twilio Frontline Console. First, select Custom routing, set the Custom routing callback URL (we'll use the /callbacks/routing endpoint of the Frontline Integration Service) and click Save.
   

   

3. Now whenever a conversation is created, Twilio will call your integration service’s /callbacks/routingendpoint. It will include event information in the request body. Using that information, we will decide which Twilio Frontline user to add to the new conversation. In the Node.js Frontline Integration Service, open the file src/routes/callbacks/routing.js to view the event handler code.
   
   

4. For configuring the phone number - worker relation, let's take a closer look at the findWorkerForCustomer() function in src/providers/customers.js. This function is responsible for finding an appropriate user for the incoming conversation. In our integration service, we do this by mapping a user identity to a phone number, like so:

   {
     'whatsapp:+12345678': 'john@twilio.com'
   }

   Here, whatsapp:+12345678 is your customer’s phone number (an incoming conversation phone number) and john@twilio.com is the email address (user identity) used to identify a chat user (the Twilio Frontline user).

   To make findWorkerForCustomer() work, open src/providers/customers.js in the Frontline Integration Service and set the variable customersToWorkersMap to the mapping between your conversations-enabled Twilio number and your Twilio Frontline user identity.

5. Restart the Frontline Integration Service and create a new conversation by following the steps above. Open the app again, and you should see your new conversation!

3. Pool Routing

If Pool Routing is enabled, incoming conversations will be distributed to available Twilio Frontline Users automatically.

There are two Conversations webhooks that we will make use of:

• onConversationAdd — This webhook will be called before a conversation is created. We can use this to set a friendly name and an avatar for the conversation.
• onParticipantAdded — This webhook will be called when a participant has been added to the conversation. You must add a customer_id to the participant and, optionally, a display_name and avatar. You can find all the details of these properties in the My Customers documentation.

Now let’s configure a project for automatic routing.

1. Set the two webhooks in the Twilio Conversations Console. First, set the Pre-Event URL and Post-Event URL to target your webhook URL. Now select the onConversationAdd and onParticipantAdded options under Webhook Filtering:
   

   

   
   Click on Save.
   
   Twilio will now call our integration service’s /callback/conversations endpoint for onConversationAdd and onParticipantAdded events. It will provide event information in the call’s body, and we can use it set the conversation and participant information. Open the Frontline Integration Service file src/routes/callbacks/twilio-conversations.js to see how it is done.
   
   
2. Let’s enable user pools using the Twilio Frontline Console. First, select Pool routing and click Save. Next, click Default Pool to view the pool’s details:
   

   

3. By default, new users will be added to the default pool automatically. You can remove users from the pool if you don’t want them to join new conversations. If users temporarily don’t want to join new conversations, they can use the Frontline app to set their status to Unavailable. If there are no available users in the pool, new conversations will be queued until a Twilio Frontline User becomes available.
   

   

4. Now try creating a new conversation by texting to a Twilio phone number.

Custom Routing Callback request parameters

onConversationRoute