How to Create a WhatsApp Chatbot in 7 Steps (Free, No Code)

Key takeaways

To create a WhatsApp chatbot, connect a business phone number to a chatbot tool through the WhatsApp Business Platform, then add an AI agent or a rule-based flow to answer for you. You need a Facebook Business Manager account, a phone number your company owns and a free Tidio account. The connection is free, and Meta gives each number 1,000 free service messages a month.

This guide uses Tidio for the screenshots. Every step gives the menu path and what you should see afterward, so you can follow along in your own account. The order is similar in other tools.

Already have a Tidio account? Go to Settings > WhatsApp and start at step 3.

How to create a WhatsApp chatbot (7 steps)

A WhatsApp chatbot is software that answers messages on your business number. Three terms come up in the steps. The WhatsApp Business Platform is Meta’s interface for businesses; chatbots and shared inboxes run on it. A flow is a set of rules that reacts to a message, such as showing a menu. Lyro is Tidio’s AI agent, which answers free-text questions from your own content.

Step 1: Check what you need

WhatsApp has two products. The free WhatsApp Business app only automates a greeting, an away message and quick replies. A chatbot needs the WhatsApp Business Platform, which you reach through a provider such as Tidio. By the end of this step you know you can use it and have everything Meta asks for.

1. Open the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy and check that what you sell is allowed.
2. Make sure you can log in to Facebook Business Manager. If you have none, create one.
3. Choose a phone number your company owns. It must receive a call or SMS, and it can’t be a personal number.
4. If the number is already in the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app, delete that account and the app from the phone first. Do this on a quiet day, because the number stops working in the app.
5. Write down your company name as customers should see it, your legal business name and your official address.

Result: you have a number that is free to connect and the details Meta asks for.

Plan note: a chatbot can answer customers who write to you first. Tidio can’t start a WhatsApp conversation with someone who has never messaged you.

Step 2: Create your Tidio account

1. Go to tidio.com and click Start for free.
2. Sign up with your email and confirm it.
3. Open your project when the panel loads.

Result: you are in the Tidio panel. The free trial lasts 7 days with every feature and needs no card, and the account then moves to the Free plan.

Step 3: Connect your WhatsApp number

1. In the panel, go to Settings > WhatsApp and click Integrate WhatsApp.
2. Read the list of requirements and click Next Tip to move through them.
3. Log in to the Facebook account linked to your Meta Business Account.
4. Select your Meta Business Account, or create one.
5. Create a WhatsApp Business Account or select an existing one.
6. Enter your phone number and type the verification code you receive.

Result: you return to the panel and see your WhatsApp integration with its connected number. A WhatsApp Business Account holds up to 2 numbers by default, and a verified Meta Business Account usually allows up to 5.

Step 4: Choose how the bot answers

You can build the answers in two ways, and they behave differently on WhatsApp.

	Lyro (AI agent)	Flow (rules)
How it answers	Reads the question and writes a reply from your pages, PDFs and FAQs	Follows a fixed path you draw, with buttons
Best for	Many different questions about shipping, returns, products	A few structured jobs, such as a menu or an order check
Setup work	Add content, test answers	Draw the path and write each message
Watch out for	Needs good source content	WhatsApp shows only 3 buttons per menu

Lyro is usually the easier start, because customers rarely phrase questions the way a menu expects. Pick a flow if you have three or four fixed jobs and want full control of the wording.

Turning Lyro on disables your Visitor says flows, so they don’t interfere with Lyro’s replies. Flows that start another way still work, for example when an agent starts one by hand.

Step 5: Build the answers

If you chose Lyro:

1. Go to Lyro AI Agent and open Setup.
2. Click Add knowledge and add your website, your help or FAQ pages, a PDF or question-and-answer pairs.
3. Wait until the sources appear in Knowledge > Data sources.
4. Open Channels and switch on WhatsApp. If the toggle shows Integrate, finish step 3 first.

Result: Lyro answers incoming WhatsApp messages from your content. You can try it on its free allowance of 50 Lyro conversations, one time, before you pay.

Plan note: Lyro AI Agent is sold separately and, as of October 2026, starts from $32.50 a month billed annually ($39 monthly) for 50 Lyro conversations. A Lyro conversation is any conversation where Lyro sends at least one reply.

If you chose a flow:

1. Go to Flows and start a new flow.
2. Pick the Visitor says trigger, so the flow starts when a customer writes.
3. Add a Send a chat message action with a short greeting.
4. Add a Decision (Quick Replies) action with up to three options, for example Order status, Returns and Talk to a person.
5. Connect each option to its answer, and end the last one with a handoff to an agent.
6. Save the flow and turn it on.

Result: a customer’s first message gets your greeting and the menu.

Note: on WhatsApp only three flow triggers work: Visitor says, Agent doesn’t take the conversation and Agent starts the flow.

Step 6: Set up the handoff

A bot that traps customers loses them. Decide now what happens when it can’t help.

1. Open Lyro AI Agent > Behavior > Handoff and click Handoff behavior.
2. Under When human agents are online, keep Transfer conversation to agent.
3. Under When human agents are offline, choose Create a ticket or keep the conversation in the bot.
4. Open the Messages tab and edit the predefined handoff messages in your own words.

If you use a flow, add a second one on the Agent doesn’t take the conversation trigger. It can send a holding message such as “We’re on it and will reply within the hour”.

Result: when a customer asks for a person, the chat lands in your inbox with the full history.

Step 7: Test, cap the spend and launch

1. In Lyro AI Agent > Playground, ask your ten most common questions. If an answer is wrong, edit the source content instead of patching the reply. Playground questions don’t count toward your Lyro limit.
2. Go to Project > Billing and set a monthly spending limit for WhatsApp, or block paid usage to stay inside the free 1,000 messages.
3. Message your business number from another phone and walk through every path: the greeting, an AI answer, a handoff and an unanswered question.
4. Fix what breaks, then tell customers the number exists: put it on your website, in your email signature and on your product pages.

Result: your chatbot answers on WhatsApp, and a person takes over when it can’t. A simple weekly habit helps: open the unanswered questions Lyro lists under Knowledge > Suggestions and add what is missing.

Check that it works

Test from a different phone, not the one registered to the business number. Most problems fall into five groups.

• The number won’t connect. It is probably still in the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app. Delete the account in the app (Settings > Account > Delete My Account), remove the app from the phone, wait up to 3 minutes and connect again.
• You see a PIN mismatch error. The number has two-step verification on from an older connection. In WhatsApp Manager, open the number’s settings and turn off two-step verification, click Confirm in the email Meta sends you, then start the integration again.
• Lyro doesn’t answer. Open Lyro AI Agent > Channels and check that the WhatsApp switch is on. Then check that your sources show under Data sources.
• A menu shows fewer buttons than you set. WhatsApp shows only the first 3 quick replies. Cut the list to three.
• You can’t reply to a customer. More than 24 hours have passed since their last message. WhatsApp then allows only a pre-approved message template, which Tidio supports on the Growth plan and up.

What a WhatsApp chatbot costs

Building it is free: the Tidio integration costs nothing on any plan. Meta’s fees decide the rest. Since October 1, 2026, each business number gets 1,000 free messages a month, counting every message sent from Tidio, whether it comes from an agent, Lyro or a flow. After that, Tidio bills Meta’s rate for the customer’s country at the end of the month, with no markup. On a free or trial account, sending stops at 1,000 messages and nothing is billed. Rates are set in Meta’s pricing documentation. A conversation that starts from a click-to-WhatsApp ad has a free entry window of 72 hours.

To spend less, combine several short replies into one message and merge repeated messages in your flows.

What to do next

• Add follow-ups. Learn how to use WhatsApp message templates and automation to reopen chats after the 24-hour window.
• Compare other tools. If you need broadcasts, see our WhatsApp chatbot tools roundup.
• Write better greetings. Our welcome message examples work on WhatsApp.
• Learn flows. Chat flows covers triggers and conditions in detail.
• Use it for sales. See how to qualify leads with a chatbot.

Why create a WhatsApp chatbot

More than 3 billion people use WhatsApp,^[1] so some of your customers already expect to reach you there. Most of what they ask is repetitive: where is my order, is this in stock, what is your return policy. A chatbot answers those in seconds, at night and on weekends, and your team keeps the conversations that need judgment. Tidio’s Lyro can resolve up to 75% of support requests, so most first-line questions can move off your agents. For a store, it also catches the shopper who asks about delivery at 11pm before they close the tab. New to the idea? Our guide explains what a chatbot is.

Start with one number and one job

• Connect a company-owned number through the WhatsApp Business Platform.
• Pick Lyro for open questions or a flow for a few fixed jobs.
• Add a handoff, set a spending limit and test every path before you announce the number.

FAQ