# How the WhatsApp AI agent works

> What watsi's AI agent does on WhatsApp, how it qualifies and books your prospects, when it hands the chat to a person and how the watsi team sets it up for you.

Source: https://docs.watsi.ai/en/agent/how-it-works

The **watsi AI agent** answers your prospects on WhatsApp at any hour, with your agency's information: it answers questions about your properties, asks for the details you need to qualify the prospect, books the visit and hands the chat to your advisor when a person is needed. You don't have to build it: **the watsi team prepares it from your sales call**, and you adjust it whenever you like.

## What it does in each conversation

- [Answers with your information](/agent/knowledge)
    It uses your documents (Memory), your FAQs (Q&A) and your product or property catalog.
- [Qualifies the prospect](/agent/assignment-and-profiling)
    It asks for the details you defined — budget, area, financing — and assigns the chat to the
    right advisor.
- [Moves the funnel](/agent/funnel)
    It moves each chat through your stages following the rules you wrote.
- **Books the visit**
    It uses your appointment types. It repeats the date, time and name, asks for confirmation and
    only says it is booked when it really was.
- [Sends files](/agent/resources)
    It sends brochures, photos or PDFs at the moment you defined for each resource.
- [Follows up](/agent/follow-ups)
    If the prospect stops replying, it writes again at the times you choose.

Besides WhatsApp, the same agent can handle Instagram, Messenger and your website widget; you choose which version of the agent replies on each channel (see [Versions and publishing](/agent/versions)).

## When it hands the chat to a person

The agent turns off in a chat and hands it to your team when:

- one of your **escalation rules** matches (for example, "wants to negotiate the price");
- it detects on its own that the conversation needs a person;
- it **confirms an appointment** over WhatsApp (on by default, so your advisor follows up on the visit).

All the details are in [Escalation to a human](/agent/escalation).

## How your agent gets set up

### You activate your account
    You choose your plan, connect your WhatsApp and download the app. Meanwhile, **Agents** shows
    "Your agent is being prepared".
### The watsi team builds your agent
    From what you discussed on your sales call: instructions, business information, FAQs, details to
    ask for, funnel and rules. It can take from a few hours to a few days.
### It is published on your WhatsApp
    Once your agent is published, watsi asks you to choose **which chats it will reply to**. If you
    imported your history, the agent starts off in every imported chat: you can switch it on for all
    of them with "Turn the agent on for all" or chat by chat. Chats that look personal are left out.
### You adjust it whenever you like
    From **Chat Agent** you test the agent and change its settings. Changes reach your customers
    when you save a version and publish it on your channels.

## Control it in each chat

- **Turn it on or off**: the agent switch in the chat header ("Enable watsi agent" / "Disable watsi agent"). When it is off, you will have to reply to messages manually.
- **If you reply from the WhatsApp Business app** on your phone (coexistence), the agent pauses in that chat so it doesn't talk over you. While it is paused you will see "Agent paused"; "+10 min" extends the pause, and tapping it hands the chat back to the agent. A pause never lasts more than 24 hours.
- **Wait before replying**: with "Max wait before replying" the agent waits a moment before answering, so if the customer sends several messages in a row they get a single reply. At **0** ("No wait") it answers right away.

## Good to know

- **watsi assigns the AI model**; it is not chosen from your account.
- Before each reply is sent, watsi removes paragraphs that look like internal instructions (field or tool names) rather than messages for the customer.
- Each channel is handled by one agent at a time. Your workspace includes one agent; if you need more, contact us.

> **Tip**
  Want to see how other real estate agencies use it? See the [WhatsApp agent for real estate
  agencies](https://watsi.ai/chatbot-whatsapp-inmobiliarias) on watsi.ai.

## Related

- [Personality and language](/agent/personality-and-language)
    The agent's name, instructions, tone and style.
- [Playground](/agent/playground)
    Talk to your agent before your customers see it.

## FAQ

### What does the watsi AI agent do?

It answers your prospects on WhatsApp at any hour with your business information, asks for the details you need, moves them through your funnel, books visits, follows up if they stop replying and hands the chat to your team when a person is needed.

### Do I have to set up the agent myself?

No. The watsi team prepares your agent from your sales call and publishes it on your WhatsApp. Afterwards you can adjust everything from the agent's settings.

### Can the agent book visits?

Yes. It books with your appointment types; before booking it repeats the date, time and name and asks for confirmation, and it only says the appointment is booked when it really was.

### Can I turn the agent off in a chat?

Yes. Every chat has a switch to enable or disable the agent. When it is disabled, you will have to reply to messages manually in that chat.

### Can I choose the AI model it uses?

No. watsi assigns your agent's model.