How to Set up an AI agent to answer DMs
Create an AI agent that answers Instagram and Messenger DMs in your own words, test it in the chat, then put it to work with the AI reply step.
Keyword replies cover the questions you expect. An AI agent covers the rest: it answers from what you tell it, in your tone, and hands the chat to your team when it shouldn't decide.
What you need
- Pro or Agency to use the built-in model, with no API key needed
- On Starter, a key from an AI provider such as OpenAI, Anthropic or Google
Steps
- 1
Create an agent
Open AI and click Create agent. Your first agent is called Front desk and comes with starter instructions and rules you can keep or rewrite.
app.awwtomation.com/ai
app.awwtomation.com/ai
- 2
Tell it what it knows
Fill in the three boxes on the right. Instructions say who it is and how it sounds. Knowledge holds the facts: prices, sizes, delivery charges, returns. Rules are the lines it must never cross. The agent only states facts that are written here.
app.awwtomation.com/ai
- 3
Pick the model and add link buttons
Under Model, Awwtomation AI needs no key. Add up to three Link buttons: the agent can offer them in a reply, and it can't send any other link. If the model fails is the reply sent when the model doesn't answer.
app.awwtomation.com/ai
- 4
Save and try it
Click Save, then message it in Test chat the way a customer would. Change the knowledge, save and ask again until the answers are right.
app.awwtomation.com/ai
- 5
Use Let AI handle the conversation
In Automations, click Browse templates and pick Let AI handle the conversation. It answers any DM with your agent.
app.awwtomation.com/automations
- 6
Set up the AI reply step
Click the AI reply step. Pick the Agent, say what it should do here in What it should do here, and set Replies before moving on. Done carries on when the chat is finished; Needs a human tags the chat and tells the person someone will reply.
app.awwtomation.com/automations
- 7
Go live
Click Go live. Chats the agent hands over show up in the Inbox for your team.
app.awwtomation.com/automations
What the agent will and won't do
- It replies in English or Romanised Nepali, in short plain messages.
- It only uses facts from your instructions and knowledge, and never invents a price or a promise.
- It only shares links from your link buttons.
- It hands over to a person when it can't help, and your team picks the chat up in the inbox.
Questions
Do I need an API key?
Not on Pro or Agency: the built in Awwtomation AI is included, with 3,000 replies a month on Pro and 15,000 on Agency. Starter agents use your own key.
Can I use it on comments?
Yes. The Answer comment questions with AI template answers a question under a post in the DM, written by your agent.
Try it on your account
Build it now. Nothing is sent until you pick a plan.