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Common workflows

Inbox

Let a business's staff answer WhatsApp in PaalChat's inbox, signed in from your product - no second password.

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In a nutshell

Your product signs a logged-in staff member in with POST .../inbox/sign-in and redirects them to the one-time url it returns (5 minutes, one use). PaalChat shows that business's conversations only; roles admin, agent and viewer decide what they may do. Remove access with DELETE .../inbox/members/{id} when staff leave.

PaalChat has its own inbox where a business's staff read and answer WhatsApp: assign conversations, reply inside the 24-hour window, send approved templates outside it, add internal notes and tags, and change status and priority. Your product does not need to build one. The inbox is enabled per business by PaalTech.

The inbox works on phones and desktops, and follows each person's light or dark setting (or their device's), switchable in its header.

Signing staff in

PaalChat never holds staff passwords: your product, where the staff member is already signed in, vouches for them.

  1. When the staff member clicks "WhatsApp inbox" in your product, call Sign staff in to the inbox with who they are and their role:

    JSON
    {"staff": {"external_id": "teacher-12", "name": "Kwame Owusu", "email": "owusu@presec.edu.gh", "role": "agent"}}

  2. Redirect their browser to data.url. It works once, within 5 minutes - request a new one every time, from your server, never ahead of time.

  3. They land in the inbox of that business only. Add conversation_id to open a conversation directly (for example from a notification).

The name and role you send replace the stored ones each time, so a promotion takes effect on the next sign-in.

Role Can
viewer Read conversations, messages, notes and tags
agent Also reply, send templates, add notes, change status, priority and tags, take or release a conversation
admin Also assign conversations to anyone

When staff leave

Call Remove inbox access with their external_id. An open inbox signs out on its next click, and their conversations become unassigned. Signing them in again restores access. List inbox members shows who has access.

Assigning from your product

Update conversation takes assignee: an inbox member's external_id (sign them in once first), or null. Conversations carry their assignee, and changes arrive as conversation.updated with change: assigned or unassigned.

What PaalTech sees

PaalTech operators see conversation counts and statuses for support - never message text. Message content is for the business's own staff, in the inbox or through your product.