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How to have Otto answer WhatsApp and Discord

Connect your WhatsApp Business number or your own Discord app on Calls & support. Otto answers customers from what you wrote about your business, and anything it cannot answer comes to you.

Updated 2026-10-28

If your customers talk to you on WhatsApp or in a Discord server, Otto can answer them there. It answers from what you wrote on the Knowledge page, under About the business, and never invents prices, hours or promises, and never agrees to a booking, refund or discount. When it cannot answer, or someone asks for a person, the conversation is marked Needs a person and you get a notice.

Both are on the Calls & support page. They work whether or not you have an Otto phone line. Only an owner or admin can connect or disconnect them.

WhatsApp

You need a WhatsApp Business number on the WhatsApp Business Platform, in your own Meta business account.

  1. On Calls & support, press Connect WhatsApp.
  2. Follow the four steps shown: make an app at developers.facebook.com with WhatsApp added, then copy the Phone number ID, a permanent access token (from a system user with the whatsapp_business_messaging permission) and the app's App secret.
  3. Paste them and press Connect. Otto checks them with Meta before keeping anything.
  4. Otto then shows a Callback URL and a Verify token. In your Meta app, open WhatsApp → Configuration → Webhook, paste both, press Verify and save, and subscribe to messages.
  5. When a customer first messages you, the panel changes to Messages are reaching Otto.

Good to know:

  • WhatsApp only allows a reply within 24 hours of the customer's last message. After that, Otto shows why the reply box is closed. Answer from the WhatsApp Business app, or wait for them to write again.
  • Otto only answers customers who wrote to you first. It never starts a WhatsApp conversation.
  • Photos, voice messages and files are not read: the conversation comes to you instead.
  • Someone who writes STOP gets nothing more until they write START.

Discord

Customers type /ask and their question in your Discord server. The answer is only shown to the person who asked.

  1. On Calls & support, press Connect Discord.
  2. At discord.com/developers, make a New Application. Copy the Application ID and Public Key from its General Information page, and the bot token from its Bot page (Reset Token shows it).
  3. Paste them and press Connect. Otto checks the token with Discord and adds the /ask command.
  4. Copy the Interactions Endpoint URL Otto shows into your app's General Information page and save it.
  5. Press Add to my Discord server and choose your server.

Good to know:

  • Discord allows an answer within 15 minutes of the question. While Otto's draft waits for your approval, the person sees "… will answer here shortly". After 15 minutes, reply to them in Discord yourself.
  • Otto answers /ask only. It does not read the rest of your server's messages.

Approving replies

By default every reply Otto writes waits in Reviews until someone approves it. To let Otto send them straight away, change Replying to a WhatsApp message or Replying on Discord to automatic under Settings → Rules. You can also type your own reply in any conversation.

If it doesn't work

  • While connecting, "Meta did not accept those details" or "Discord did not accept those details": one of the pasted values is wrong or has expired. Copy it again.
  • "That WhatsApp number is already connected to another business in Otto." A number or Discord app can belong to one business only.
  • The panel still says Waiting for the first message or Waiting for Discord: check the webhook or endpoint address was saved in your app exactly as shown.