Messenger & Instagram
The Messenger plugin connects your Facebook Page — and optionally its linked Instagram account — to your chatbot. A message that arrives in Messenger or Instagram opens a chat session, gets an AI answer, and lands in your HelpNest inbox.
Open it from Messenger in the left-hand menu.
How it works
- Facebook Page messages and Instagram DMs open chat sessions and get AI answers.
- You can connect several Pages. Each Page answers with the chatbot you choose.
- You reply from the HelpNest inbox like any other chat.
- Staff replies outside the 24-hour window ride the Human Agent tag, which extends your reply window to up to 7 days.
The 24-hour window starts when the visitor last wrote to you. Inside it, normal replies are allowed. After it closes, only a Human Agent reply is permitted — HelpNest applies the tag for you automatically.
Before you start
You need a Meta app with the Messenger product added. From that app you will copy a Page access token and the app secret. To read other businesses' Pages you also need Advanced Access approved through App Review; your own Page works without it.
- In Meta Developers, open your app and add the Messenger product.
- In Facebook Login settings, request the
pages_messagingpermission and generate a Page access token from a Page admin who can performMESSAGINGon the Page. - In Meta app → Settings → Basic, copy the App Secret.
- For Instagram, your Instagram account must be a Professional (Business or Creator) account linked to the Page. Get the Instagram account ID from the Graph API Explorer with
me?fields=connected_instagram_account.
Connect a Page
- In HelpNest, open Messenger and choose the Connect a Page tab.
- Pick the Answering chatbot. A chatbot can answer several Pages, but a Page belongs to one chatbot.
- Paste the Facebook Page ID (Page → About → Page ID).
- Optionally paste the Instagram account ID to also answer Instagram DMs. Leave it blank for Messenger only.
- Paste the Page access token.
- Paste the App secret.
- Leave Answer Messenger chats ticked and click Connect Messenger.
Point Meta at HelpNest
After the Page is connected, the Connections tab shows two values for it:
- a Callback URL
- a Verify Token
- In your Meta app, open the Messenger settings.
- Paste the Callback URL and the Verify Token.
- Subscribe to the messages field.
- Send the Page a test message to confirm the AI replies.
Meta must be able to reach your Callback URL over the internet. On a local install, expose your site with a tunnel such as ngrok and register the public URL.
Manage a connection
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Answering chatbot dropdown | Re-points the connection at a different chatbot and clicks Change. |
| Pause / Resume | Stops or restarts replies without removing the connection. |
| Send test message | Sends to a page-scoped or Instagram-scoped ID from a real chat that you paste in. |
| Remove | Disconnects the Page and deletes its connection. |
Good to know
- Meta requires automated replies to answer every input within 30 seconds. The HelpNest AI pipeline already does this.
- Instagram DMs need a Professional account and the Instagram account to be linked to the Facebook Page.