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Auto-reply

Platforms: TikTok, Instagram, Threads · Plan: Pro and above

info

Auto-reply checks your accounts' DMs and new comments at the interval you set, answers them with your keyword rules, AI or a fallback line, and hands the ones it cannot answer to you on the follow-up desk. It is not instant: replies go out on the next check, at most every 10 minutes.

Auto-reply is not under Scripts. It has its own page, Auto-reply in the left sidebar, where you set up profiles and follow up on conversations. It cannot be started through the Local API either.

Before You Start​

  • Plan: Pro or higher. On Starter the page shows an upgrade screen. If your plan drops below Pro, your profiles stop, but their conversations stay on the desk, and the profiles start again when you upgrade.
  • Devices and accounts: Connect the phones and add their accounts under Accounts. To answer every account on a phone, each account needs its username and app package (clone apps count as separate packages).
  • App language: Auto-reply has been checked on the English interface of TikTok, Instagram and Threads. Set those apps to English on the phones.
  • AI (optional): AI replies use the model set up for the AI Assistant. Keyword rules and the fallback line work without it.

Quick Start​

  1. Open Auto-reply in the left sidebar. The first time, it shows the three steps and whether your devices, accounts and AI model are ready.
  2. Pick a template, Online shop, Bookings or Thank and welcome, or start from a blank profile. Templates only fill in rules and reply lines; replace the product details with your own.
  3. In Basics, name the profile and choose its platforms.
  4. In Scope, choose groups (By group) or devices (Pick devices), and whether to answer Only the account signed in or Every account of the platform on the device, switching between them.
  5. Adjust Reply rules, and try customer messages in the Rule tester on the right. Nothing is sent from the tester.
  6. Click Save and switch on. A new profile starts as a dry run: it drafts replies and sends nothing.
  7. After a round or two, click Review drafts on the profile card. When the drafts look right, click Go live.

How a Message Is Answered​

Each new message goes through these steps in order, and the first one that applies decides:

  1. Blocked words: a message containing one is not answered and is marked ignored.
  2. Keyword rules: the first enabled rule that matches decides. Use the arrows to change the order.
  3. AI: if Answer with AI is on, the model answers what the rules do not cover.
  4. Fallback line: used when nothing above applies. If it is off, nothing is sent and the message is only recorded on the desk.

Keyword Rules​

Each rule has:

  • Trigger words, separated by commas. Contains any trigger matches anywhere in the message; Is exactly a trigger only matches a message that is the trigger and nothing else (ignoring case, spacing and punctuation around it).
  • Whether it applies to DMs, comments or both.
  • An Action: Reply with a line, Let the AI answer, Hand over to you or Ignore.
  • DM reply lines and Comment reply lines, one per line; one is picked at random each time. Comments are public, so keep comment lines short and without links.
  • Also DM the commenter (with the DM lines): after replying to a comment, the account also sends the commenter a DM, which moves the conversation somewhere private.

How triggers match:

  • Matching ignores case.
  • In languages that put spaces between words, triggers match whole words. A trigger of four or more letters also matches longer words that start with it: ship matches "shipping", price matches "prices". Shorter triggers must match exactly, so PR does not match "price".
  • In languages without spaces, such as Chinese, Japanese or Thai, a trigger matches anywhere in the message.

In reply lines:

  • {username} is the customer's username, and {sender_username} is yours.
  • {a|b|c} picks one option at random.
  • ### starts a new line.

AI Replies​

With Answer with AI on, the model answers only from the Business details you write: what you sell, prices, where to buy, shipping, returns. When those details do not answer the question, or the customer wants to order, pay or complain, the model hands the conversation over instead of guessing.

  • Tone and Language (by default, the customer's language).
  • Longest DM and Longest comment, in characters.
  • If the model fails or times out: hand over to you, or send the fallback line.
note

Customer messages and your business details are sent to the model service you set up. Testing with AI in the rule tester calls your model too, which may cost a little.

DMs and Comments​

Channels turns each one on or off.

DMs:

  • The inbox is checked first. With Handle message requests (DMs from strangers) on, message requests come next (a request is accepted before it is answered), then Instagram's Spam or Threads' Hidden folder if Also check Spam / Hidden is on.
  • Per account per round, answer up to a set number of conversations with new messages (default 10).
  • The last few messages are read as context for the AI (default 8).

Comments:

  • New comments are found in the account's notifications.
  • On the first round, only record the comments already there (on by default), so switching a profile on does not answer months-old comments.
  • Like a comment when replying to it, and Skip comments that are only emoji or carry a link.
  • Per account per round, reply to up to a set number of comments (default 15).
  • A comment that already has a reply, from you or anyone, is skipped.

Handing Over and the Follow-up Desk​

A conversation is handed to you when:

  • A rule's action is Hand over to you.
  • The AI cannot answer from the business details (if that option is off, the fallback line is sent instead).
  • A DM customer keeps asking after a set number of automatic replies in one DM conversation (default 3). Comments are not counted.
  • The customer sends a picture, voice note or video.
  • The account has reached its daily reply limit, or every fitting reply line has reached its 24-hour limit.

Then, depending on Handing over settings, auto-reply sends a holding reply (for example "Let me check with the team and get back to you shortly"), shows a desktop notification, and stops replying in that conversation until you mark it followed up. The Auto-reply item in the sidebar shows how many conversations are waiting for you.

On the Conversations tab (the follow-up desk):

  • Today's numbers: Inquiries today, Auto-replied, Handed over, Waiting for you.
  • Filter by status (Waiting for you, Auto-replying, Draft, Failed, Followed up, Ignored), channel, platform, account or profile, or search names and messages.
  • Open a conversation to see everything said in it, why it was handed over, and which device and account it is on. You can leave a Note, Open screen to control the phone, Mark followed up, Ignore it, or Resume auto-reply.
  • For a DM, Reply yourself at the bottom: write a reply, Insert a reply line or Draft with AI, then Send. The reply goes into that device's task queue ahead of other work and shows in the conversation once the phone has sent it.
  • Comments are answered on the phone: use Open screen, or Continue in DMs to carry on with the person privately.

Dry Run and Going Live​

  • A dry run reads conversations and records the replies it would send as drafts, without sending anything. It still opens the conversations, so customers see their messages as read and the unread marks on the phone go away.
  • Review drafts on the profile card shows the drafted replies on the desk.
  • Go live switches the profile to sending real replies.
caution

When a live profile is switched on, its first round also answers unread DMs that are already waiting, however old. To see what those replies would be first, start with a dry run.

Schedule and Safety Limits​

Schedule:

  • Check every 10, 15, 20, 30 or 60 minutes (default 20). Shorter means faster replies but more of the device's time.
  • Working hours and Days, or All day. Hours whose end is earlier than the start run past midnight.
  • When the device is running another task: Go next once it finishes (recommended; never interrupts a running task), Wait in line with other tasks, or Skip this round.
  • Wait between replies: a random wait between two replies on the same device (default 20–60 seconds).

Safety limits:

  • Each account sends at most a set number of automatic replies a day (default 80).
  • Use one reply line at most a set number of times in 24 hours, then pick another (default 20).
  • After a set number of failed rounds in a row, pause the device and tell me (default 3).

Platforms react most to lots of identical text in a short time. More reply lines, or the AI, are safer than higher limits.

Managing Profiles​

  • On the Profiles tab, each card shows the profile's platforms, scope, channels, reply steps and schedule, with today's numbers. Use the switch to turn a profile on or off, Edit to change it, and Run a round now to check its devices right away, ahead of other work (the profile must be on).
  • An account belongs to one profile that is on at a time. If two profiles cover the same devices, the second cannot be switched on.
  • Pause all at the top stops new rounds for every profile. Replies you write on the desk are still sent.
  • Recent rounds lists one row per account per round: new, replied and handed-over counts for DMs and comments, and the result. A device paused after failed rounds shows there with a Resume button.
  • When you delete a profile, you choose whether to delete its conversations too or keep them on the desk.

Limits to Know​

  • The phone apps must be in English; other languages have not been checked yet and may not be recognized.
  • Each round reads the first screen of each list and of the notifications. Checking often keeps new messages on that first screen.
  • If the same person leaves the same comment twice, the second one is not recognized as new.
  • A comment's follow-up DM is sent even if your DM conversation with that person is waiting for you.
  • On Instagram professional accounts, only the inbox tab shown by default is checked.

Troubleshooting​

Nothing is being answered

  • Check that the profile is on and not in dry run, and that the page does not say your plan has no auto-reply.
  • Check that its devices are online, it is within the profile's working hours and days, and Pause all is not on.
  • Look at Recent rounds: a device paused after failed rounds needs Resume once the cause is fixed.
  • With Only the account signed in, the account signed in on the phone is the one answered.

A device keeps failing

Make sure the app is in English and signed in, and that no pop-up is covering it. Then click Resume under Recent rounds.

Can I start auto-reply from the Local API?

No. Rounds are scheduled by the Auto-reply page, which applies the pause switch, working hours and busy-device setting. See the Local API script list.