Messaging channel integration
Connect an external messaging platform to an Agent by configuring platform authorization, message routing, app or bot permissions, and credentials.
Open Console → Triggers → New trigger to see the messaging platforms installed in this AstraBox deployment. Each installed adapter supplies its own setup link and configuration fields.
| Layer | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Messaging platform | Owns the app or bot identity, permission settings, and event subscriptions. |
| Messaging adapter | Maintains the product connection and translates connection state, messages, and events into a common protocol. |
| AstraBox | AstraBox stores the messaging trigger and its write-only credentials, maps each external conversation to a Session, and records Agent work and reply delivery. |
Platform authorization and message routing
AstraBox messaging triggers have two independent configuration dimensions:
| Dimension | Problem it solves | Configuration |
|---|---|---|
| Platform authorization | How the app or bot obtains permission to send and receive messages. | Credentials and settings from the messaging platform. |
| Message routing | Which Agent and Session should be used for an inbound message. | The Agent selected on the trigger and the external conversation reported by the platform. |
The credentials entered for a messaging platform authorize the app or bot connection. They do not authenticate a participant as an AstraBox user. An accepted message runs as the owner of the Agent selected on the trigger, so configure the bot's visibility and platform permissions for the intended audience.
Connect a messaging platform
The flow is the same for every installed messaging platform:
- Create the trigger: open Console → Triggers → New trigger, select the Agent, then select the messaging platform.
- Create the app or bot: use the official developer console linked from the AstraBox form.
- Configure permissions and events: allow the app or bot to receive the intended messages and send replies. Select the connection mode required by that platform, such as a long-lived connection or webhook.
- Enter the credentials: complete the fields shown in AstraBox and create the trigger. The installed adapter defines the fields, and credentials are write-only.
- Complete callback configuration when shown: if the trigger detail page displays a callback URL, copy it into the messaging platform's event or webhook settings. Add the app or bot to the intended conversation, then send a message.
Callback-based integrations depend on the public AstraBox address shown when the trigger is created. If that address changes, update the callback URL in the messaging platform before receiving more messages.
Message routing
Fixed Agent
Every messaging trigger belongs to one Agent. All inbound messages accepted by that trigger run the selected Agent.
Conversation mapping
After platform authorization is complete, message routing works as follows:
- A user sends a message in a direct conversation, room, channel, or thread.
- The adapter verifies and normalizes the platform event.
- AstraBox durably claims the platform message so duplicate delivery does not run the Agent twice.
- The stable external conversation identifier creates or reuses a Session for the selected Agent.
- The Agent handles the message, and AstraBox records reply delivery back to the messaging platform.
Direct conversations, rooms, channels, and threads use the stable identifiers provided by the messaging platform. Those identifiers are separate from AstraBox authentication and resource ownership.
The Agent bound to a messaging trigger cannot be changed after creation. To route the platform connection to another Agent, create a new trigger.
Credential integration
Create an app or bot on the corresponding developer platform, configure the required permissions, obtain its credentials, and enter them in New trigger. The selected adapter supplies the exact non-secret settings and write-only credential fields.
Credentials are only written when creating or updating a messaging trigger; they are never returned in plaintext. Replacing credentials replaces the complete credential set required by that adapter.
Configure the app or bot
Create an app or bot
Open the official developer console from the AstraBox form. Create an app or bot and give it a distinct identity for this messaging trigger.
Configure permissions and events
Grant only the message and event permissions needed for the conversations the Agent should handle. Enable the platform's required event subscription and connection mode.
Publish or enable the app
Publish or enable the app as required by the messaging platform. Set its visibility to the intended organization, workspace, rooms, or users, then add the bot where it should receive messages.
Get the credentials
Copy the credential values requested by the AstraBox form. For a callback-based connection, create the trigger first and then register the callback URL shown on its detail page.