System guide
Routing groups & rules
Routing groups and rules together determine which queue an inbound message enters. Routing and queues work together to route and distribute inbound messages (sent by users).
When a customer messages one of your WhatsApp numbers, the system has to decide which queue — and therefore which pool of agents — should handle it. That decision is made by a routing group: a list of rules evaluated in priority order. Each phone number is bound to exactly one routing group, and the group's rules turn every inbound message into a target queue. This page covers how to create a group, add rules, set the auto-replies for the "no rule matched" and "queued but still waiting" cases.
How routing works
A routing group holds an ordered list of rules. When a message arrives, the system walks the rules from the lowest priority number upward and stops at the first rule that resolves to a queue — that queue wins, and the conversation is assigned to an agent there.
- Lower priority number runs first. Priority
5is evaluated before priority20. Leaving gaps (10, 20, 30…) makes it easy to insert a rule later without renumbering everything. - The first match wins. Once a rule passes evaluation (matched successfully) and returns a designated queue, evaluation stops — later rules never run.
- No match means no assignment.If no rule matches successfully, the message cannot be assigned. What happens next depends on the group's fallback auto-reply (below).
Fields in the routing groups table
Open Routing Rules → Routing groups. Each row is one group, and the list shows:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Name | The group's display name; click it to open the detail page. |
| Rules | How many active rules the group contains. |
| Phones | How many phone numbers are bound to the group. |
| Status | Active or Disabled. A disabled group keeps its phone bindings but skips rule evaluation entirely. |
Creating a routing group
Click New Group and fill in the basics.
- Name(required, up to 64 characters) — a label such as "Support" or "After-sales".
- Description (optional) — a short note on what the group is for.
Click Create Group. The new group appears in the list, ready for you to add rules.
Adding rules
Open a group (click its name, or pick View Details from the row menu) and click Add Rule. Fill in:
- Name(required, up to 64 characters) — for example "AI agents" or "Human support".
- Type — the strategy used to assign a matched conversation to the rule’s associated queue. See below for details on each strategy.
- Priority — a number greater than
0that defines the matching order within the routing group. Lower runs first.
Rule types
| Type | Target queue | Behaviour |
|---|---|---|
| Static | A fixed queue | Every message the rule handles goes to that single queue. |
| Load balancing | At least two queues | Messages are spread across the selected queues in round-robin. |
Disabling or deleting a rule
To take a rule out of evaluation temporarily without losing it, open the rule and turn off its active toggle; traffic then falls through to the next priority. To remove a rule for good, click the trash icon on its row and confirm. Deleting a rule cannot be undone, but it has no prerequisites.
Default reply and queue notification
Fallback auto-reply
Turn this on to send a message when noneof the group's rules match. The customer receives your text, and the conversation is then closed. For example, "Sorry, no agents are available right now. We will get back to you soon."
Queue waiting acknowledgement
Turn this on to send a message when a rule doesmatch but every agent in the target queue is busy, so the conversation lands in the queue's pending pool. It reassures the customer that they are in line — for example, "Thanks for your message — an agent will be with you as soon as possible." It is sent once per conversation: follow-up messages from the same customer while they are still queued do not trigger the auto-reply again.