Guides

Channels

A channel is a connection between HelpStack and one of your communication platforms — an email account, a Facebook Page, an Instagram account, a WhatsApp number, or a website chat widget. Once a channel is connected, messages from that platform flow into your inbox and your replies go back out through it. This guide covers every channel type, exactly what you enter to connect each one, the edit-channel settings, language and translation behavior, AI configuration, and how to read a channel card.

Who can manage channels? Connecting, editing, and deleting channels requires the OWNER or ADMIN role. Agents and viewers can see channels but not change them. See the team and roles guide.

Adding a channel#

Go to Settings → Channels and start the add-channel stepper. It has four steps:

Select type — choose EMAIL, FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, WHATSAPP, or WEBSITE_CHAT.
Connection config — enter the connection details for that type (this differs per type; see below).
Language + translation — pick the channel's language and set up auto-translation.
AI settings — choose the AI provider, system prompt, knowledge base, and auto-reply mode.

Each channel type's step 2 is different, so the sections below focus on what you enter or click to connect each one.

Email#

To connect an email channel you provide both your outgoing (SMTP) and incoming (IMAP) server details:

SMTP (outgoing) — host, port, secure (on/off), username, password, and the from address used on messages you send.
IMAP (incoming) — host, port, and secure (on/off).

A Test button validates the connection so you can confirm the credentials work before saving. Once connected:

Inbound messages arrive via IMAP polling — HelpStack checks the mailbox on a schedule and pulls in new mail.
Outbound replies are sent via SMTP.

If you're unsure of your server settings, ask your email provider for their SMTP and IMAP details. Most providers publish them.

Ignoring senders#

Sometimes you don't want mail from a specific address, or a whole company, landing in your inbox — a noisy automated sender, spam that slips through, or a domain you simply don't support. An email channel can ignore specific senders so their mail never creates a conversation.

Add an entry two ways:

From the channel's connection settings (Settings → Channels → (your email channel) → Connection), under Ignored senders. Add a single address (jan@acme.com) or an entire domain (acme.com, which also covers its subdomains), then save.
From an email conversation, open the ⋮ menu and choose Add to ignore list to block that customer's exact address in one click.

Ignoring only affects new incoming mail — it doesn't touch conversations that already exist. If you've already been talking to that sender, the existing conversation stays right where it is; only future mail from them is dropped silently.

Facebook#

Connecting Facebook uses Meta's secure sign-in — you don't enter passwords into HelpStack:

Click Connect / Continue with Facebook.
Complete the Meta OAuth sign-in.
Pick the Page you want to connect.

HelpStack then creates the channel with managed access tokens, so message delivery is handled for you. If a token is close to expiring, the channel card shows a token-expiry alert, and if the webhook needs attention a Fix Webhook action appears on the card so you can repair it in a click.

Instagram#

Instagram connects the same way as Facebook — through the Meta OAuth flow. Once connected, the channel handles your Instagram DMs. As with Facebook, the channel card surfaces token-expiry alerts and a Fix Webhook action when needed.

WhatsApp#

To connect WhatsApp you use the Meta WhatsApp Cloud API. Enter:

Phone Number ID
Access Token
App Secret

HelpStack also shows webhook setup instructions so you can finish wiring the connection on Meta's side.

Website chat#

A website-chat channel (WEBSITE_CHAT) is the simplest to set up — there are no credentials to enter. When you create it, HelpStack generates a widget ID. You then copy the embed snippet (or the ID) and add it to your website so the chat bubble appears for your visitors. For the embed steps, see the widget embed guide.

Website-chat channels also let you configure per-channel FAQs and the widget's appearance right here in the channel's settings, so the widget matches your brand and answers common questions. See the FAQs guide.

Business hours & offline messages#

A website-chat widget can show visitors when you're actually available, and collect a message instead of leaving them stuck when nobody's on shift. Configure this under Settings → Channels → (your channel) → Appearance → Availability:

Business hours — set opening hours for each day of the week, plus a timezone. Outside those hours, the widget shows as offline and visitors can't start a live chat.
Temporarily closed — a manual override that shows the widget as offline right now, regardless of the schedule. Useful for a holiday or an unplanned outage.
Collect email when offline — when this is on, the message box is replaced by a short form (name optional, email and message required) any time the widget shows as offline, whether that's from your business hours or the Temporarily closed override. Submitting it creates a normal conversation in your inbox and shows the visitor a confirmation message.

Customize what visitors see while you're offline in the Offline Message field — it appears above the capture form (or on its own, if capture is off).

Since a visitor who leaves a message this way has usually already left your site, your team typically follows up by email — see Continue via email.

If business hours are off, the widget always shows as online and the offline form never appears.

Telegram (coming soon)#

Telegram exists in the system but is not yet available to connect from the interface. Support for it is coming soon — for now, choose one of the other channel types.

Editing a channel#

Open a channel to edit it. The edit dialog is organized into tabs:

Basic

Type — the channel's platform.
Name — a friendly label for your team.
Language — the channel's primary language.
Auto-translate — turn translation on or off for this channel.
Fallback language — the language to use when detection is uncertain.

Connection

The channel's credentials for its type.
Test / Reconnect — validate or re-establish the connection.
Tools — access to the channel's agent tools.

AI & Knowledge

Reachable directly at Settings → Channels → (your channel) → AI & Knowledge:

AI provider — which configured provider drafts replies for this channel.
System prompt — your instructions to the AI about tone, policy, and behavior.
Knowledge-base group assignment — which knowledge groups the AI can draw on.
Auto-reply mode — Off, Auto Prepare, or Auto Reply.

Language & translation#

Translation is configured per channel and is what lets you and your customers speak different languages seamlessly:

Auto-Translate toggle — when on, HelpStack translates messages in both directions for this channel.
Agent language — incoming customer messages are detected and translated into your (the agent's) language so you can read them. This comes from your preferred language; see getting started.
Outgoing replies — your replies are translated into the customer's language before sending.
Fallback language — used when the system can't confidently determine the language.
Short-message behavior — messages under six words inherit the conversation's already-detected language. This prevents the detected language from flip-flopping between similar languages on tiny messages like "ok" or "thanks".

In the inbox you can always override translation per message with Send Original and Retranslate — see the conversations guide.

AI & knowledge#

Each channel decides how the AI helps on it. In the AI & Knowledge tab you set:

AI provider — the OpenAI or Anthropic connection that powers replies. Configure providers in the AI providers guide.
System prompt — the standing instructions the AI follows on this channel.
Knowledge-base groups — the information the AI may reference; build these in the knowledge base guide.
Auto-reply mode — Off (manual only), Auto Prepare (AI drafts, you approve), or Auto Reply (AI drafts and sends). Auto Prepare is the default for new accounts. The full behavior is explained in the AI replies guide.

Reading the channel card#

Each channel appears as a card on Settings → Channels. At a glance the card shows:

Active / Inactive status.
Translation settings for the channel.
Assigned knowledge-base groups.
System-prompt preview.
AI provider in use.
AI reply mode (off / Auto Prepare / Auto Reply).
Email poller status (email channels) — last polled time and any poll errors.
Facebook/Instagram token-expiry alerts when a token needs renewing.
Webhook status, with the Fix Webhook action when repair is needed.
Widget ID (website chat) — with a copy button to grab it for your site.

Use the card as your health check: a glance tells you whether a channel is live, whether AI is active, and whether anything needs attention.

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