Receive Inbound Messages from SMS, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger

With Flex, your customers can reach you via channels like SMS, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. This page details how to configure these Twilio-supported channels.

The Flex Messaging page in the Twilio Console allows you to register a phone number with Flex to be handled for inbound SMS. When you register a number, we:

1. Link the phone number's messaging handler to Proxy.
2. Create a Flex Flow that redirects to your custom message handling. This defaults to a Studio Flow.

To manually configure SMS, you will need to update the messaging handler on the Phone Numbers page. Connect this to your 'Flex Proxy Service', and then use the Flex Flow API to create a new entry for your number.

Like SMS, all other messaging channels have a configurable webhook for processing inbound messages. You'll need to update the messaging handler for each channel you want to connect to Flex.

For WhatsApp you can configure the message handler using the WhatsApp Sandbox. If you're using WhatsApp with Flex Conversations, refer to Manage Conversations WhatsApp Addresses.

For Facebook and other channels you can configure the callback URL from the Channels Page.

Once you've found the right place in the console to configure the message handler, you can set the Incoming Message webhook to point to the Flex Proxy Service. This webhook looks like:

https://webhooks.twilio.com/v1/Accounts/ACxx/Proxy/KSxx/Webhooks/Message

Your unique URL will replace the ACxx and KSxx identifiers with your Account SID and Flex Proxy Service SID. You can find your default Flex Proxy instance SID in the Proxy section of the console. For Flex to handle your messaging channel, the channel needs to be connected to Proxy. Proxy translates all messages between Flex's chat channel (which your agent interacts with) and your messaging channel (which your customers interact with).

As with SMS, you must create a Flex Flow entity for each identity that you are connecting to Flex.

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// Download the helper library from https://www.twilio.com/docs/node/install
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const twilio = require("twilio"); // Or, for ESM: import twilio from "twilio";
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// Find your Account SID and Auth Token at twilio.com/console
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// and set the environment variables. See http://twil.io/secure
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const accountSid = process.env.TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID;
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const authToken = process.env.TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN;
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const client = twilio(accountSid, authToken);
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async function createFlexFlow() {
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  const flexFlow = await client.flexApi.v1.flexFlow.create({
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    channelType: "whatsapp",
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    chatServiceSid: "ISXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
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    friendlyName: "WhatsApp Flex Flow",
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    "integration.flowSid": "FWXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
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  });
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  console.log(flexFlow.accountSid);
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}
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createFlexFlow();

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{
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  "sid": "FOaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa",
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  "account_sid": "ACaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa",
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  "date_created": "2016-08-01T22:10:40Z",
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  "date_updated": "2016-08-01T22:10:40Z",
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  "friendly_name": "WhatsApp Flex Flow",
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  "chat_service_sid": "ISXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
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  "channel_type": "whatsapp",
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  "contact_identity": "12345",
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  "enabled": true,
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  "integration_type": "studio",
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  "integration": {
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    "flow_sid": "FWaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa",
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    "retry_count": 1
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  },
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  "long_lived": true,
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  "janitor_enabled": true,
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  "url": "https://flex-api.twilio.com/v1/FlexFlows/FOaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
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}

When Flex receives a new message, it first sends to Proxy and posts to a new Chat Channel. Afterwards, the message handler redirects to whatever destination you specified in your Flex Flow. By default this is a Studio Flow. The Studio Flow can send automated responses to your inbound message or collect any additional information before passing the conversation to an agent in Flex.

You can modify or remove existing Flex Flows from the Flex Messaging page in the Twilio Console.