113 lines
3.7 KiB
Markdown
113 lines
3.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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path: '/docs/channels/api/send-messages'
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title: 'Send messages to API channel'
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---
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To send messages to API channel, you need have a basic understanding of the models and nomenclature used in Chatwoot. Let us try to understand these first.
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1. **Channel**: Channel defines the type of the source of conversations. Eg: Facebook, Twitter, API etc.
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2. **Inbox**: You can create multiple sources of conversations which is of the same channel type. For eg: You can have more than one Facebook page connected to a Chatwoot account. Each page is called as the inbox in Chatwoot.
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3. **Conversation**: A Conversation is a collection of messages.
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4. **Contact**: Each conversation has a real life person associated with it, this person is called a contact.
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5. **Contact Inboxes**: This is the session for each contact on a inbox. A contact can have multiple sessions and multiple conversations in the same inbox.
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### How to send a message in an API Channel?
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To send a message in an API channel, you have to create a contact, then create a conversation and then send a message.
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APIs require `api_access_token` in the request header. You can get this token by visiting your Profile settings > Access Token
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#### 1. Create a contact
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API documentation: (https://www.chatwoot.com/developers/api/#operation/contactCreate)
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Pass the inbox id of the API channel along with other params specified. This would create a session for you automatically. A sample response would look like the one below.
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```json
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{
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"email": "string",
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"name": "string",
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"phone_number": "string",
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"thumbnail": "string",
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"additional_attributes": {},
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"contact_inboxes": [
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{
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"source_id": "string",
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"inbox": {
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"id": 0,
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"name": "string",
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"website_url": "string",
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"channel_type": "string",
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"avatar_url": "string",
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"widget_color": "string",
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"website_token": "string",
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"enable_auto_assignment": true,
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"web_widget_script": "string",
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"welcome_title": "string",
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"welcome_tagline": "string",
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"greeting_enabled": true,
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"greeting_message": "string"
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}
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}
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],
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"id": 0,
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"availability_status": "string"
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}
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```
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As you can see in the payload, you will be able to see the `contact_inboxes` and each `contact_inbox` will have a `source_id`. Source Id can be seen as the session identifier. You will use this source_id to create a new conversation as defined below.
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#### 2. Create a conversation
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API documentation: (https://www.chatwoot.com/developers/api/#operation/newConversation)
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Use the `source_id` received in the previous API call.
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You will receive a conversation id which can be used to create a message.
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```json
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{
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"id": 0
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}
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```
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#### 3. Create a new message
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API documentation: (https://www.chatwoot.com/developers/api/#operation/conversationNewMessage)
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There are 2 types of messages.
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1. **Incoming**: Messages sent by the end user is classified as an incoming message.
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2. **Outgoing**: Messages sent by the agent is classified as an outgoing message.
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If you call the API with the correct content, you will receive a payload similar to the one below.
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```json
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{
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"id": 0,
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"content": "This is a incoming message from API Channel",
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"inbox_id": 0,
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"conversation_id": 0,
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"message_type": 0,
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"content_type": null,
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"content_attributes": {},
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"created_at": 0,
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"private": false,
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"sender": {
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"id": 0,
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"name": "Pranav",
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"type": "contact"
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}
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}
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```
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If everything is sucessful you will see the conversation on the dashboard as follows.
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You will be notified when a new message is created on the URL specified while creating the API channel. You can read about the message payload [here](/docs/channels/api/callback-url)
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