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This guide walks you through putting an IrisAgent AI customer service agent on WhatsApp. There are three architectural paths to WhatsApp. This guide covers all three, with the CRM-routed path (Zendesk or Salesforce) recommended for most teams because it requires no new WhatsApp Business Account, no Business Solution Provider (BSP) contract, and no Meta re-verification.

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Choose your deployment path

PathUse whenTime to live
Zendesk Sunshine ConversationsYou already run Zendesk and have (or can provision) a WhatsApp channel inside itHours
Salesforce Service Cloud MessagingYou already run Salesforce Service Cloud with Digital EngagementHours to days
Direct WhatsApp Cloud APIYou are not on Zendesk or Salesforce, or you need custom flows that the CRM does not expose2 to 4 weeks
The setup for the CRM-routed paths is largely the same as the existing Chatbot Automation on Zendesk Messaging flow, with one extra step on the CRM side to provision WhatsApp itself.

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Path A: WhatsApp via Zendesk Sunshine Conversations

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Prerequisites

Before you start:
  • A Zendesk Suite Professional plan or above with Messaging enabled
  • Admin access to the Zendesk Admin Center
  • A WhatsApp Business Account (WABA), or willingness to provision one through Zendesk

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Step 1: Provision the WhatsApp channel in Zendesk

If WhatsApp is not yet a channel in your Zendesk account, follow the official Zendesk guide: Welcome to WhatsApp in Zendesk Support. Key actions:
  1. In the Zendesk Admin Center, navigate to Channels > Messaging and social > Messaging
  2. Click Add channel and select WhatsApp
  3. Connect a Meta Business Account and verify the phone number Zendesk should send and receive WhatsApp messages on
  4. Wait for Meta verification to complete (typically 1 to 3 business days)
  5. Confirm the WhatsApp channel shows as Active in your Zendesk Messaging admin
Once active, every WhatsApp message a customer sends to your verified number will land as a Zendesk conversation.

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Step 2: Create a Conversations integration

This step is identical to the Zendesk Messaging setup. If you already have an IrisAgent Conversations integration configured for web messaging, you can reuse it; the same integration carries WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and SMS once those channels are added in Zendesk. If you do not yet have an IrisAgent Conversations integration:
  1. In the Zendesk Admin Center, navigate to Apps and integrations > Integrations > Conversations integrations
  2. Click Create integration and give it a descriptive name (e.g., “IrisAgent Integration”)
  3. Configure the webhook:
    • Target URL: https://api1.irisagent.com/v1/webhooks/zendesk
    • Event Subscriptions:
      • ✅ conversation:create (Conversation created)
      • ✅ conversation:message (Conversation message)
  4. Click Save
Record the following values from the integration detail page:
CredentialDescription
App IDIdentifies your Zendesk account
Integration IDUnique identifier for this integration
Webhook IDIdentifier for the webhook configuration
Shared secretAuthentication password for webhook requests
⚠️ Important: The shared secret is shown only once. Copy and store it before leaving the page. Then create an API key in the API Keys tab and record:
CredentialDescription
Key IDUsed with the secret key for authentication
Secret keyAuthentication password for API requests
⚠️ Important: The secret key is shown only once. Copy and store it before closing the dialog.

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Step 3: Configure IrisAgent

  1. Navigate to the IrisAgent account management page
  2. Select Zendesk Sunshine configs from the integration options
  3. Enter the credentials from Step 2:
    • App ID
    • Integration ID
    • Webhook ID
    • Shared secret
    • Key ID
    • Secret key
  4. Under Channels, ensure WhatsApp is enabled
  5. Click Save
IrisAgent now answers inbound WhatsApp messages for your Zendesk-connected number. Replies are sent back through the Sunshine Conversations API and delivered to the customer on WhatsApp.

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Path B: WhatsApp via Salesforce Service Cloud Messaging

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Prerequisites

  • Service Cloud with Digital Engagement licenses
  • A WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) connected to Salesforce, or willingness to provision one
  • A Salesforce admin who can create Connected Apps and assign API permissions

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Step 1: Provision the WhatsApp channel in Salesforce

Follow the official Salesforce guide: Set Up WhatsApp Messaging. Key actions:
  1. In Salesforce Setup, navigate to Service > Messaging Settings
  2. Click New Channel and choose WhatsApp
  3. Authenticate with Meta and select the WABA and phone number
  4. Configure routing rules under Omni-Channel to assign Messaging Sessions to a queue
  5. Confirm the channel shows as Active under Messaging Settings
Note the Channel Address Identifier for the WhatsApp channel; IrisAgent uses it to route replies.

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Step 2: Create a Connected App for IrisAgent

  1. In Salesforce Setup, search for App Manager and click New Connected App
  2. Name it IrisAgent WhatsApp Integration
  3. Enable OAuth Settings and configure:
    • Callback URL: https://api1.irisagent.com/v1/webhooks/salesforce/oauth
    • Selected OAuth Scopes:
      • Manage user data via APIs (api)
      • Access the Salesforce API Platform (sfap_api)
      • Access Messaging APIs (chatbot_api)
      • Perform requests at any time (refresh_token, offline_access)
  4. Save and wait approximately 10 minutes for the app to propagate
  5. Record the Consumer Key (Client ID) and Consumer Secret (Client Secret)

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Step 3: Subscribe IrisAgent to MessagingSession events

  1. In Setup, navigate to Platform Events and confirm MessagingSession and ConversationEntry events are accessible (these are standard in Service Cloud Digital Engagement)
  2. Assign the IrisAgent integration user a permission set with:
    • Read on MessagingSession, MessagingEndUser, ConversationEntry
    • Create on ConversationEntry
    • API Enabled

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Step 4: Configure IrisAgent

  1. Navigate to the IrisAgent account management page
  2. Select Salesforce Service Cloud configs
  3. Enter:
    • Salesforce Org ID (find under Setup > Company Information)
    • Connected App Client ID (Consumer Key from Step 2)
    • Connected App Client Secret (Consumer Secret from Step 2)
    • WhatsApp Channel Address Identifier (from Step 1)
  4. Authorize IrisAgent through the OAuth handshake when prompted
  5. Click Save
IrisAgent now reads inbound WhatsApp Messaging Sessions, generates grounded answers using your KB and any Case, Account, or Contact context tied to the end user, and posts replies through the ConversationEntry API back to the customer on WhatsApp.

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Path C: Direct WhatsApp Cloud API

If you are not on Zendesk or Salesforce, IrisAgent supports the Meta WhatsApp Cloud API directly. This path requires:
  • A verified Meta Business Account
  • A WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) and a registered phone number
  • A System User access token with whatsapp_business_messaging and whatsapp_business_management scopes
To configure:
  1. Navigate to the IrisAgent account management page
  2. Select WhatsApp Cloud API configs
  3. Enter:
    • WABA ID
    • Phone Number ID
    • System User Access Token
    • App Secret (from your Meta App settings)
    • Webhook Verify Token (any string; use the same value when configuring the Meta webhook)
  4. In your Meta App, configure the webhook callback to https://api1.irisagent.com/v1/webhooks/whatsapp and subscribe to the messages field
  5. Save
This path gives you the most flexibility but you are responsible for template approval, quality rating, and Meta business verification on your own.

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Configure escalation and handoff

IrisAgent supports two escalation triggers on WhatsApp:
  • Confidence-based: when grounded confidence falls below the configured threshold (default 0.80), the conversation transfers to a human queue
  • Intent-based: when the customer types agent, human, representative, or an equivalent phrase in any supported language
To configure:
  1. In the IrisAgent dashboard, navigate to Workflows > Escalation Rules
  2. Set the Confidence Threshold for the WhatsApp channel
  3. Add intent-based triggers under Customer Intent Patterns
  4. Map escalation targets:
    • Zendesk path: a Zendesk messaging queue or group
    • Salesforce path: an Omni-Channel queue with appropriate skills
When the human agent closes the Zendesk ticket or Salesforce Messaging Session, control returns to IrisAgent for the next inbound message from that customer.

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Multilingual setup

WhatsApp customer support volume is heavily non-English in many regions. IrisAgent auto-detects the customer’s language from each inbound message and replies in the same language, against your existing knowledge base. To enable:
  1. In the IrisAgent dashboard, navigate to Settings > Languages
  2. Enable Auto-detect inbound language
  3. Add your supported reply languages (default behavior responds in any of the 100+ supported languages once auto-detect is on)
  4. Optionally upload language-specific KB articles under Knowledge Sources if you have native-language documentation; otherwise IrisAgent generates grounded translations from the source-language KB
Code-switched conversations (Spanglish, Hinglish, Arabic-English) are handled natively without additional configuration.

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Templates and the 24-hour customer service window

Meta enforces a 24-hour customer service window. Inside it, IrisAgent can send free-form text, media, buttons, and lists. Outside it, IrisAgent can only send pre-approved templates. To prepare templates:
  1. Author and submit your Utility templates through Meta Business Manager (or through Zendesk / Salesforce template management UIs, which proxy to Meta)
  2. Common templates to submit on day one:
    • Order confirmation
    • Shipping update
    • Appointment reminder
    • Password / verification code
    • Post-resolution CSAT
  3. Once Meta approves, the templates appear in the IrisAgent dashboard under Channels > WhatsApp > Templates
  4. Map each template to the workflow that should trigger it (e.g., “Send Shipping Update template when shipment status changes to In Transit”)
IrisAgent will not attempt to send free-form messages outside the 24-hour window. Outbound communication must use approved templates.

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Verification

After completing setup, run an end-to-end test:
  1. From a personal WhatsApp account, send a message to your business WhatsApp number with one of your documented top inbound questions (e.g., “What is your refund policy?”)
  2. Confirm IrisAgent replies within ~5 seconds with a grounded answer
  3. In the IrisAgent dashboard, verify the conversation appears under Conversations with the WhatsApp channel tag
  4. Trigger an escalation by replying with talk to a human and confirm the conversation routes to your configured queue in Zendesk or Salesforce
  5. Confirm the human agent sees the full thread and the AI’s reasoning trail

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Troubleshooting

WhatsApp messages are not reaching IrisAgent
  • Confirm the WhatsApp channel is Active in Zendesk or Salesforce
  • For Zendesk, verify the Conversations integration webhook subscriptions include conversation:create and conversation:message
  • For Salesforce, verify the IrisAgent integration user has read access to MessagingSession and ConversationEntry
IrisAgent is replying but the customer does not see the message on WhatsApp
  • For Zendesk, confirm the Sunshine Conversations API key (Key ID + Secret) is valid and has not been revoked
  • For Salesforce, confirm the Connected App OAuth tokens are valid and the integration user has create permission on ConversationEntry
  • Check the WhatsApp number’s Quality Rating in Meta Business Manager; a Red rating throttles or blocks outbound
Outbound template not delivering
  • Confirm the template is Approved in Meta Business Manager
  • Confirm the recipient’s last inbound message was more than 24 hours ago (free-form replies inside the 24-hour window do not need a template; templates are only for outside the window or for opt-in initiations)
  • Confirm the template’s variable placeholders are populated; Meta rejects templates with empty variables
Replies are in the wrong language
  • Confirm Auto-detect inbound language is enabled in IrisAgent settings
  • Verify the source-language KB has coverage for the requested topic; if not, IrisAgent may fall back to escalation

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Additional Resources