Redirect to Web Chat
Open in CMSWhatsApp charges per message. With Redirect to web (bridge mode), your agent does not chat on WhatsApp at all: every private WhatsApp message is answered straight away with a one-time sign-in link, and the conversation continues in the agent's web chat. This tutorial turns it on and, for Qontak numbers, shows how to send the link as a button with a WhatsApp utility template.
The example uses Atlas, Kirana Group's operations assistant, on Kirana's WhatsApp Business number 6281200000000. Site supervisors who message the number get a link, tap it, and carry on with Atlas in the web chat, already signed in.
How redirect to web works
- One fixed reply per message. Each private message gets one reply that holds the link. No AI runs on WhatsApp, so no AI tokens are used.
- The link signs the visitor in. Opening it signs the visitor in as their WhatsApp account. If the number has no Qlar account yet, one is created automatically.
- Short-lived and single-use. A link is valid for 30 minutes, works once, and only for this agent. Only the most recent link for a number works.
- Repeat messages. While a link is still valid, further messages get the same link again (unless you set a quiet period, see Step 3).
- The first message carries over. What the visitor wrote on WhatsApp is sent automatically as the first message in the web chat, so the agent answers it right away. Attachments are not carried over.
- No session messages. End-session messages are not sent, and Ask User to End Session and the other AI-only settings have no effect. Group messages are ignored: no reply, no link.
- Used or expired links. The web page shows "This link is no longer valid. Send us another WhatsApp message to get a new link."
It works on every WhatsApp option: the Qlar public and private servers, Meta Cloud, Coster and Qontak.
Warning: The link is a sign-in pass for the WhatsApp number it was sent to. Anyone who opens it first, within 30 minutes, is signed in as that number. Ask visitors not to forward it, for example in the reply message itself.
Before you start
- Your WhatsApp number is already connected to the agent with one of the options in Connect to WhatsApp.
- Qontak only: the endpoint is set and the button shows ✓ Endpoint Configured. The Reply Mode card only appears after that. See Qontak, Step 4.
- Your agent has been published, so its web chat answers the way it does in Preview. See Preview and Publish Changes.
- If the link should open a page on your own website instead of the agent's web chat, that page embeds the agent's chat widget. See Embed Chat on Your Website.
Step 1: Open the WhatsApp channel settings
- Open the CMS dashboard and select your agent.
- In the left sidebar, open Channels → WhatsApp.
- Click the tab of the configuration you want to change: Published Configuration (live users) or Draft Configuration (testing).
Note: These settings take effect on that channel as soon as you save. On the Published Configuration tab, that means your live WhatsApp number. To try it out first, set it up on the Draft Configuration tab with a test number.
Step 2: Switch Reply Mode to Redirect to web
-
Find the Reply Mode card. It has two options:
Option What happens AI agent The agent answers on WhatsApp. This is the default. Redirect to web Every private message gets the one-time sign-in link, and the conversation continues in the web chat. -
Click Redirect to web. The choice is saved straight away, without the Save button. On the Published Configuration tab the CMS asks you to confirm first, because the live agent stops answering on WhatsApp.
The Redirect to Web panel appears with the settings for the next step. The agent's Session Management settings are hidden while redirect is on, because no AI answers on WhatsApp. On a Qlar public or private server channel, the Behaviour section is hidden instead, while the linked number and the contact rules stay visible, because they still decide who receives a link. Hidden settings keep their values and come back when you switch back to AI agent.
Step 3: Set the link and reply message, then Save
Fill in the Redirect to Web panel:
| Setting | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Target URL | Leave empty to send visitors to the agent's own web chat. Or enter an https:// page on your site that embeds the agent's chat widget. The widget picks up the sign-in code by itself and, in floating mode, opens its panel. It must start with https:// and have no # part. |
| Reply message | Leave empty to use the built-in text in the agent's language. A custom text must contain {link}, which is replaced by the link. {minutes} is replaced by the minutes the link has left. Up to 1,000 characters. |
| Quiet period (minutes) | 0 to 30, default 0. With 0, every message is answered with the link. Above 0, further messages within that many minutes are not answered, which saves message costs. Anything the visitor types meanwhile is carried to the web chat as a draft. |
For Atlas, Kirana leaves Target URL empty and writes its own reply message:
Thanks for contacting Atlas, Kirana Group's operations assistant.
Continue the conversation in our web chat: {link}
The link is valid for {minutes} minutes and works once. Please do not forward it.
A Preview in the panel shows the reply as the visitor will see it.
Click Save. The change takes effect as soon as you save; there is no separate Publish step for these channel settings.
Tip: For how a page on your own site handles the link, see Sign-in links from WhatsApp.
If your number is not on Qontak, you are done. Skip to Check the result.
Step 4 (Qontak only): Send the link as a button
On a Qontak channel the panel also has a Message type setting:
| Message type | What the visitor receives | How WhatsApp bills it |
|---|---|---|
| Regular message (default) | Your reply message, with the link written out. | As a service message. The first 1,000 per number each month are free (Meta's pricing at the time of writing). |
| Utility template (button) | The same reply message as a WhatsApp template, with the link as a button. | As a utility template, from the first message. There is no free allowance. |
The button reads Lanjutkan di Web Chat for an Indonesian template, or Continue in Web Chat for an English one. It always opens the agent's own web chat; Target URL is used only by the regular message.
To use the button:
- Under Message type, choose Utility template (button).
- Under Template language, choose Bahasa Indonesia (default) or English. This is the language submitted to WhatsApp, and it also sets the button label.
- Write the Reply message as a plain service notice (see the warning below). The template text is your reply message with
{link}taken out: a line that holds only{link}disappears, and{minutes}stays in as a number. The template text:- must not be empty once
{link}is removed, - must not start or end with
{minutes}.
- must not be empty once
- Check the two previews: the Template preview shows the bubble with its button, and the Regular message preview (fallback) shows what is sent until the template is approved.
- Click Save. The CMS asks you to confirm that the template is submitted to WhatsApp for review. Confirm.
Kirana's staff write in Indonesian, so Atlas uses an Indonesian template with this reply message:
Terima kasih sudah menghubungi Atlas. Silakan lanjutkan percakapan Anda melalui web chat dengan tombol di bawah ini. Tautan berlaku {minutes} menit dan hanya bisa digunakan satu kali.
{link}
The last line disappears from the template, and the link becomes the Lanjutkan di Web Chat button.
Warning: WhatsApp can re-file promotional wording as marketing, which costs more. Such a version is not used, and its status shows Not utility. For example, a text that opened with "Untuk pengalaman yang lebih nyaman, cepat, dan lengkap…" was filed as marketing, while the neutral service notice above was approved as utility within minutes. Keep the text to what the message does: thank the visitor, say where to continue, and how long the link is valid.
Step 5 (Qontak only): Wait for WhatsApp to approve the template
Review usually takes a few minutes and at most 24 hours. Follow it under Template versions in the panel, which shows the version In use (or First version for your first submission) and any New version, each with a status:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| In review | WhatsApp is still reviewing the version. |
| Approved | Approved as a utility template. It is sent with the button. |
| Rejected | WhatsApp rejected the text. Reword it and save again. |
| Not utility | WhatsApp filed the text as marketing, so it is not used. Reword it as a service notice and save again. The panel warns you when this happens during review. |
| Unavailable | Qlar could not read the template from WhatsApp or submit it. Click Check again, or Submit again if the panel offers it. |
Click Check again to refresh the status. If the submission ran into an error, the panel offers Submit again.
You do not need to wait before going live: until a version is approved, and whenever WhatsApp rejects a version or files it as marketing, the regular message is sent instead, so the channel never goes quiet.
Step 6 (Qontak only): Change the template text later
WhatsApp templates cannot be edited. When you save a changed reply message or template language, the CMS asks for confirmation and then submits the text as a new version for WhatsApp to review.
- The version In use keeps going out while the new version is reviewed.
- Once the new version is approved as utility, it replaces the old one automatically.
- If the new version is Rejected or Not utility, reword it and save again.
Turn redirect off
To let the agent answer on WhatsApp again, choose AI agent under Reply Mode. It is saved straight away. The Session Management settings (or the Behaviour section on a Qlar server channel) come back with the values they had before.
Check the result
- From a personal WhatsApp account, send a message to the number, for example
Who has to approve a project worth $2.5 million? - You should receive the reply message with the link straight away. On Qontak with an approved utility template, you see the Lanjutkan di Web Chat (or Continue in Web Chat) button instead.
- Open the link. The web chat opens and you are signed in as your WhatsApp account.
- Your question is already sent as the first message, and Atlas answers it.
- Open the same link again. The page shows "This link is no longer valid. Send us another WhatsApp message to get a new link."
Tip: If no link arrives, make sure you messaged the number privately (group messages are ignored) and that your number is not excluded by the channel's contact rules. On Qontak, check that the button shows ✓ Endpoint Configured. If you set a quiet period, a second message within that time gets no reply on purpose.
Next steps
- Next in the journey: Embed Chat on Your Website, including how your own page handles sign-in links from WhatsApp.
- Field reference: WhatsApp in Help lists every redirect setting.
- Back to AI replies on WhatsApp? See Session Management for the settings that return when you switch back.