One inbox for WhatsApp, Telegram and email, answered by AI
KutrimBots' Inbox Manager collects WhatsApp, Telegram, email, Slack and SMS chats in one place, with statuses and notes, while AI agents reply.
Yes. An inbox that collects your WhatsApp, Telegram, email, Slack, Discord, Signal and SMS conversations, while AI agents reply on each channel, stops replies slipping between apps. In KutrimBots this is the Inbox Manager: every customer message and every agent reply lands in one inbox within about a minute, each conversation is marked open, waiting or done with short notes, and the thread shows when the same person wrote on two channels. It's read-only for messages: agents answer on the channel itself, and you read, search and step in through the agent.
Below: which channels it covers, how the read-only design works, and how to set it up.
Why do replies get missed across WhatsApp, Telegram and email?
Because each app has its own unread count, and nobody checks five apps every 15 minutes. Customers spread across them: WhatsApp has more than 500 million users in India alone, and Telegram reported more than 1 billion active users in March 2025. Customers notice the gaps: in Zendesk's CX Trends 2026 research, 74% find it frustrating to tell their story over and over to different agents, and 74% expect service around the clock.
The usual ways replies get lost:
- Read, not answered. You open a Telegram message on the bus, it's marked read, and it never comes back.
- The email thread nobody owns. A customer's reply sits under a promotions tab for three days.
- Two channels, one customer. They ask on WhatsApp, then email the invoice question, and two people answer differently.
- No "waiting" list. Promises like "I'll check stock and come back" exist only in someone's head.
Which channels does the Inbox Manager cover?
It covers the outside-app channels your agents talk on: WhatsApp, Telegram, email (including Gmail and Outlook), Slack, Discord, Signal and SMS. Each channel is connected to an agent once; after that, the inbox fills by itself.
| Channel | How an agent connects | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| A WhatsApp Business app in Meta for Developers (Cloud API); you enter Phone number ID, Access token, App secret and Webhook verify token on a secure card | Everyday customer chats, orders, bookings | |
| Telegram | Create a bot with @BotFather and give the agent its token | Communities and customers who prefer Telegram |
| A dedicated mailbox with an app password, or the agent's own address through Email Inbox | Quotes, invoices, B2B customers | |
| Slack | A Slack app with Socket Mode installed in your workspace | Clients and partners who work in Slack |
| Discord | An application and bot in the Discord Developer Portal | Gaming, creator and online communities |
| Signal | signal-cli running with a phone number for the agent | Privacy-minded customers |
| SMS | A Twilio phone number and account credentials | Customers without data, reminders |
Not covered: Instagram DMs. Instagram isn't one of the Inbox Manager's channels, so keep answering those in Instagram. Website visitors are handled separately by the Chat Widget; see adding an AI chatbot to your website.
How does an AI-answered inbox work if it's read-only?
The inbox is a record, not a second place to send from: agents reply on the channel itself, and the inbox copies both sides of every conversation. That design means a reply can never go out twice or from the wrong app.
How a message moves:
- A customer writes on WhatsApp, Telegram, email or another connected channel.
- The agent reads the history first, including its own notes and any earlier chat with the same person on another channel.
- It replies on that channel with its usual tools.
- The inbox picks it up. A sync runs every minute and again right after an agent replies, so the answer shows at once.
- The agent updates the conversation: a status and, when useful, a note.
The inbox also notes when a channel connects or drops, so a disconnected Telegram bot doesn't go unnoticed for a week.
Want to answer yourself? Tell the agent what to send in its chat, and it replies on the right channel. For email it uses its own address; the first email to anyone new waits for your OK, while replies to people who wrote first go straight away. Our guide to the AI email assistant covers the email side in depth.
How do statuses, notes and summaries keep track?
Every conversation carries one of three statuses and a few short notes, and the agent keeps both current after each reply.
| Status | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
open | Still needs work | Customer asked for a price the agent must confirm |
waiting | The agent asked something or promised a follow-up | "Will confirm delivery date by 5 PM" |
done | Resolved | Order placed, question answered |
Notes hold what the next person needs: order number, promise made, preference ("prefers Hindi", "call after 6 PM"). They're short and factual, and never contain passwords, OTPs or card numbers.
The summary shows, per channel, what needs a reply now and what is waiting. You can also list only conversations that need a reply, or search for an old one by name or words. An agent planning its day starts there, which is how a 40-message morning becomes a list of 8 that actually need action.
Does the inbox know it's the same customer on two channels?
Yes, the conversation thread shows when the same person has also written on another channel, so the agent reads both before replying. That's what stops the "two channels, two different answers" problem.
Three other plugins build on the same conversations:
- Support Desk: a complaint, bug, billing or refund problem becomes a numbered ticket (like
ACME-1024) with an SLA clock; the agent tells the customer the ticket number, sets the chat towaitingand notes the ticket. - CRM & Leads: a buying conversation becomes a lead in one step, and later chats from the same customer attach to that lead.
- Super Brain: lasting facts about a customer are kept in the Customers space, so any agent can look them up.
How do you set up one inbox for all channels?
- Create an agent with an Inbox or Support role. The Inbox Manager is assigned to Support, Sales, Assistant and Inbox agents automatically, along with CRM & Leads.
- Connect the first channel. Click Connect on, say, Telegram; the agent walks you through @BotFather and asks for the token on a secure card, never in chat.
- Add the others one by one: WhatsApp through Meta's Cloud API, email through a dedicated mailbox or Email Inbox, then Slack, Discord, Signal or SMS if you use them.
- Write the reply rules in the agent's instructions: tone, languages, what it may promise, and when to hand over.
- Teach it the facts in Super Brain: prices, hours, policies, top questions.
- Open the Inbox the next morning. Check the summary, read 10 conversations end to end, and correct anything the agent got wrong.
- Add Support Desk if complaints need tickets and SLAs.
If this is your first agent, what an always-on AI agent is explains why it keeps working with your laptop closed.
Example scenario: a travel agency in Kochi
An example scenario, not a real business, as of November 2026: a 4-person travel agency gets about 100 messages a day across three channels.
| Channel | Messages a day | What they're about |
|---|---|---|
| 60 | Package prices, visa questions, payment confirmations | |
| 25 | Corporate bookings, invoices, itineraries | |
| Telegram | 15 | Group-tour customers |
Before: three apps on two phones; about 1 in 10 messages answered the next day; promises tracked in a notebook.
After one week with one agent on all three channels:
- 8:00 AM summary: 14 conversations need a reply, 9 are waiting on the customer, 3 Support Desk tickets are open.
- Overnight: 22 messages answered between 10 PM and 8 AM, each with a status.
- Same customer, two channels: a family asks about a Kerala houseboat on WhatsApp and emails passport scans; the agent links both and replies once.
- Escalations: 4 a day reach the owner, mostly refund and cancellation requests.
Costs: KutrimBots Solo is $20 a month for up to 5 agents (see pricing). Telegram and email add no per-message fees here; the mailbox costs what it already costs. WhatsApp messages are billed by Meta: 1,800 replies a month, of which 1,000 are free, then 800 × ₹0.115 = ₹92, per Meta's India rate card.
What the unified inbox can't do
- No Instagram. Instagram DMs aren't one of its channels.
- No typing in the inbox. It never sends anything; replies go out from the channel through the agent.
- Channel rules still apply. On WhatsApp, free-form replies only within 24 hours of the customer's last message; after that, approved templates.
- Some channels need extra setup. Signal needs a running signal-cli service, SMS needs a Twilio account with its own charges, and WhatsApp needs a Meta for Developers app and a number not already on WhatsApp.
- New email contacts wait for you. The first email to someone new needs your approval.
- Group chats aren't the focus. It's built for one-to-one customer conversations.
KutrimBots has a free 7-day trial on Solo; add a card or UPI, nothing is charged today, and you can cancel in Plan & billing.
Frequently asked questions
Is there one inbox for WhatsApp, Telegram and email?
Yes. KutrimBots' Inbox Manager collects WhatsApp, Telegram, email (including Gmail and Outlook), Slack, Discord, Signal and SMS conversations in one place, while AI agents reply on each channel.
Can I reply to customers from the unified inbox?
Not directly; it's read-only for messages. You tell the agent what to say, and it replies on the customer's channel, so every answer is recorded in the inbox too.
Does the Inbox Manager include Instagram DMs?
No. Instagram isn't one of its channels as of November 2026; answer Instagram messages in Instagram.
How do I see what my AI replied to customers?
Open the Inbox Manager: every conversation shows both the customer's messages and the agent's replies, with a status and notes. The summary lists what needs a reply and what's waiting, per channel.
Is the Inbox Manager free?
It's a built-in plugin included on every KutrimBots plan, from $20 a month for Solo, and channels are unlimited. Channel costs such as Meta's WhatsApp message fees or Twilio's SMS charges are separate.