TikTok
The TikTok plugin connects a TikTok Business Account to your chatbot. A visitor who sends your account a direct message opens a chat session and gets an AI answer.
Open it from TikTok in the left-hand menu.
This plugin is in beta. TikTok's Business Messaging API is region-locked and rate-limited. Read Regional limits and Message limits below before you promise TikTok support to a given audience.
Regional limits
TikTok's Business Messaging API is in open beta for APAC, LATAM, METAP and non-US North America. Messages from users in the United States, EEA, United Kingdom and Switzerland cannot be received. Do not advertise TikTok coverage to those audiences.
Message limits
- At most 10 replies per 48 hours per conversation.
- The visitor must write first — you cannot start a conversation.
- Text only. A single message is capped at roughly 2,000 characters.
- Images, video and stickers are not supported; the visitor gets a polite text-only notice instead.
Before you start
You need a TikTok developer app with the Business Messaging API product and its data-security review completed.
- In your TikTok developer app, open Basic Information and copy the client key and client secret.
- Authorize the app from your TikTok Business Account and copy the access token, the
open_id(used as the business ID), and the refresh token. - In the TikTok app, set the Business Account to accept direct messages from everyone, so owners do not have to accept each request by hand.
Connect an account
- In HelpNest, open TikTok and choose the Connect an account tab.
- Pick the Answering chatbot. A chatbot can answer several accounts, but an account belongs to one chatbot.
- Paste the Developer app client key.
- Paste the Developer app secret.
- Paste the Business ID (open_id).
- Paste the Access token and, recommended, the Refresh token.
- Leave Answer TikTok chats ticked and click Connect TikTok.
The access token refreshes itself once when TikTok reports it expired, but only if the refresh token is stored — keep it.
Point TikTok at HelpNest
Each connection shows its own Callback URL in the form /tiktok/webhook/{token}. In your TikTok developer app, subscribe to the DIRECT_MESSAGE webhook event and register that URL.
TikTok must be able to reach the 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 |
|---|---|
| Test | Checks the stored credentials against TikTok. |
| Pause / Resume | Stops or restarts replies without removing the connection. |
| Answering chatbot dropdown | Re-points the account at a different chatbot and clicks Change. |
| Remove | Disconnects the account and deletes its connection. |