Operator guide
Activate your bot
Activation is the switch that takes you live. Until you flip it, your bot won't respond to real customers — even if everything else is set up.
The activation gate
The Activate toggle only becomes available once all three of these are in place:
- Your item prompt is set and non-empty.
- Your booking form has at least one date field.
- Your booking form has at least one time field.
If the toggle is disabled, the activation card lists what's still missing. Add it and the toggle unlocks.
What activation turns on
When you activate, reply-chain stamps your account as live and the webhook handlers begin processing real customer messages. Every incoming message is checked against three things before the bot replies:
- Your operator record exists and matches the bot.
- You have a saved item prompt / bot configuration.
- Your account is activated.
If any check fails, inbound messages are rejected rather than half- answered — which is exactly why nothing reaches customers before you flip the switch.
Calendar is recommended, not required
You can activate without a calendar
You're allowed to go live without a connected calendar — but if a customer reaches the booking step and no calendar is configured, that booking can't be created. reply-chain detects this and alerts your internal channel so you can step in manually. Connect your calendar before activating to avoid that gap.
With the bot activated, it's worth understanding exactly what happens on each customer message — see How a conversation flows.