Channels

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What are Channels?

Channels are the communication platforms through which users can interact with your Illumichat assistants. From the Channels page, you can configure, enable, and manage all your assistant’s communication integrations in one place.

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Accessing Channels

1. Navigate to your assistant’s settings
2. Select Channels from the sidebar
3. You’ll see a card grid showing all available channels

Each channel card displays:

• The channel name, icon, and authentication type (API Key or OAuth)
• Connection status (Connected, Not Connected, or Coming Soon)
• An enable/disable toggle for connected channels
• A Connect or Configure button

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Available Channels

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SMS (Active)

Send and receive text messages through your Twilio phone number. Your assistant automatically responds to incoming texts with AI-generated replies.

• Provider: Twilio (Bring Your Own Key)
• Auth type: API Key
• Features: Auto-responses, contact matching, analytics dashboard
• Setup time: ~5 minutes

Learn more about SMS Integration

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WhatsApp (Active)

Respond to WhatsApp Business messages automatically through the Meta Cloud API. Your assistant replies to inbound messages, respects WhatsApp’s 24-hour customer-service window, and supports human takeover from the Universal Inbox.

• Provider: Meta WhatsApp Cloud API (OAuth Embedded Signup or manual token)
• Auth type: OAuth (Embedded Signup) or API Key (manual)
• Features: Auto-responses, 24-hour window handling, template messages, human takeover, contact matching, analytics
• Setup time: ~10 minutes

Learn more about WhatsApp Integration

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Facebook Messenger (Active)

Respond to Facebook Messenger conversations automatically. Your assistant handles incoming messages, Get Started button postbacks, and supports human takeover for live agent handoff.

• Provider: Meta Graph API (OAuth)
• Auth type: OAuth (Facebook Login)
• Features: Auto-responses, Get Started button, human takeover, contact matching, analytics
• Setup time: ~5 minutes

Learn more about Facebook Messenger Integration

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Instagram DM (Active)

Respond to Instagram Direct Messages automatically. Your assistant handles DMs, story replies, story mentions, and icebreaker conversations.

• Provider: Meta Graph API (OAuth)
• Auth type: OAuth (Facebook Login)
• Features: Auto-responses, story interactions, icebreakers, contact matching, analytics
• Setup time: ~5 minutes

Learn more about Instagram DM Integration

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Live Chat (Active)

Let website-widget visitors escalate from the AI to a human agent. Live Chat is not a separate dashboard — it’s the human-handoff layer of the Universal Inbox: escalated visitors land in your inbox queue, where agents claim them, reply in real time, and end the session. Enable it and configure business hours / agent availability from the Live Chat settings; agents work the conversations in the Inbox.

• Provider: Built-in (website widget)
• Features: Visitor escalation, agent queue + take-next, business hours, agent availability, real-time messaging, transcripts
• Where agents work: the Universal Inbox

Learn more in the Universal Inbox guide

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Slack (Coming Soon)

Integrate your assistant with Slack workspaces and channels.

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Managing Channels

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Connect a Channel

Click the Connect button on any unconfigured channel card to open its setup page and enter your credentials.

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Enable/Disable a Channel

Use the toggle switch on any connected channel card to quickly enable or disable it without navigating to its settings.

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Edit Channel Configuration

Click the Configure button on a connected channel card to open its detail page. Each channel has its own configuration form and analytics dashboard.

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Channel Analytics

Analytics for each channel are accessible from the channel’s detail page. For SMS, this includes message volume, delivery rates, session tracking, and estimated costs. For Instagram, this includes message volume, delivery rates, conversation sources, story interactions, and icebreaker usage. For Messenger, this includes message volume, delivery and read rates, conversation counts, and human takeover metrics.