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Channels

A channel is where your agent speaks. Anychat leads with the rich business-messaging channels, RCS, Apple Messages for Business, and WhatsApp, with SMS as a fallback when a rich channel is not available. Slack, Viber, and Poe are supported as well.

A binding connects one agent to one channel. Each binding is independent, so an agent can talk on one channel, several, or all of them.

Write once, speak everywhere

You write an agent once, without reference to a channel. On each turn the agent reads a one-line profile of the channel the conversation is on, and its reply can only take the shapes that channel renders: rich cards, suggestion chips, and dial actions where they exist, plain text where they do not. Anychat then translates the reply into the channel's native format.

The reply is a filled-in form rather than free text, so the agent cannot put rich cards on SMS or offer a time slot that was never fetched. See How a turn works.

Managed and unmanaged bindings

Most channels offer two ways to connect.

Mode What you supply Who operates the provider account
Managed Business details: name, website, contact, registration information. Anychat. It selects the provider, holds the credentials, and runs the carrier, Apple, or Meta workflow.
Unmanaged Credentials for an account you already run, such as your own Google RBM agent, Meta WhatsApp Business Account, or Twilio account. You.

Managed setup involves real-world verification and takes time: RCS typically three to seven business days, WhatsApp one to two weeks, SMS 10DLC registration one to three weeks, and Apple Messages several weeks. The binding reports its status the whole way, from Requested through Provisioning to Active, with Action required when something needs you. Unmanaged bindings are active immediately.

Per-channel status

Channel Managed Unmanaged Outreach
RCS Registered through Google. Your own Google RBM agent, Webex Connect, or Vonage account. Supported.
Apple Messages for Business Apple business registration. Webex Connect account. Inbound only.
WhatsApp Anychat operates the WhatsApp Business Account and number. Your own Meta Cloud API credentials. Requires Meta-approved message templates, which are not yet available.
SMS A number on Anychat's infrastructure, 10DLC registered. Your own Twilio account. Supported as fallback.
Slack, Viber, Poe Not offered. Credentials from the app or bot you operate. Inbound only.

Use RCS for Outreach until WhatsApp templates are available.

Webchat is not a channel. To try an agent in a browser, use the emulator.

Your identity on each channel

Each channel has its own setup requirements and its own identity fields. RCS requires specific logo dimensions, a banner image, a contact email, a website URL, a privacy policy URL, and terms of service. SMS needs far less.

The agent carries identity defaults, and when you create a binding Anychat pulls those in and prompts you only for what is still missing. That is why a new agent can be created with just a name, with the RCS-specific details supplied when you bind RCS.

After a binding is created, its identity is its own. Updates to the agent's name or logo do not propagate, and some channels, RCS in particular, require administrative updates at the provider that cannot be made automatically. Read each binding's identity as a snapshot of what that channel actually has.

Early access and launch

A channel is connected before it is launched. Until you launch it, only the phone numbers on its early-access list reach the agent there, and a message from any other number is dropped without a reply.

Early access is a property of the channel, not a kind of person. See Early access and launch.

Channel identities

A channel identity is one person's address on one channel: the channel, and the identifier that channel itself uses for them. On RCS, SMS and WhatsApp that is the person's phone number. On Apple Messages for Business it is an opaque id Apple assigns per business. RCS and SMS are separate channels, so one phone number gives two identities.

Each channel identity has an ASID, an opaque handle (v2-…) that stands for it everywhere else in Anychat: in conversations, sends, turn records and the API. The address itself is kept once and shown only where you ask for it. An identity belongs to one agent and is the same on every provider and binding of its channel, so moving RCS from one provider to another, or re-creating a binding, keeps every person's identity and conversation.

A Person is found only through the channel identities it holds. An inbound message belongs to whoever holds the sender's identity, and a send goes to an identity's address, never to a phone number typed on a profile.

Opt-out and compliance

On every RCS and SMS binding, opt-out works whatever you set: a person who replies STOP, or another opt-out word such as REVOKE or OPT OUT, gets nothing more from that agent on that channel until they reply START. Opt-out is held per channel identity, so it covers every provider and binding of the channel. It never crosses channels: a STOP on SMS does not stop RCS to the same number. See Sending guardrails.

Compliance messages are what the person is told. They are on by default:

  • a first-message notice at the start of each messaging relationship, saying that message rates may apply and how to get help or stop;
  • a confirmation when someone replies STOP or START, an answer to HELP with your contact details, and a one-time reminder when someone who opted out writes again.

Some messaging providers answer STOP, START and HELP themselves. Twilio always does; Vonage does when its Opt-Out Assist is on. When the provider replies, Anychat sends none of the confirmations, so the person never gets two. It still sends the first-message notice, which providers don't.

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