> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dialtu.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Channel, audience and behaviour

> Which number it answers, who it serves, when, and how it writes

## WhatsApp channel

<Info>
  **📷 Screenshot needed** — the WhatsApp Channel group expanded, with number, type, routing and audience.

  Save to `/images/en/whatsapp-agents/channel-group.png`
</Info>

### Number and type

The **WhatsApp phone number** is required, and **Agent Type** decides what it can do:

| Type                      | Answers inbound | Starts conversations |
| ------------------------- | --------------- | -------------------- |
| **Omnichannel** (default) | Yes             | Yes                  |
| **Inbound**               | Yes             | No                   |
| **Outbound**              | No              | Yes                  |

### Routing

Required for inbound and omnichannel agents. Two ways:

* **Default** — handles every message on the number that no other agent covers.
* **Weekly schedule** — covers only the ranges you define, up to **4 per day**.

Several agents can share a number as long as their schedules **don't overlap**. If they clash,
the editor warns you and blocks the save.

<Warning>
  If a number has **no default agent**, messages outside scheduled hours **aren't routed to
  anyone**.
</Warning>

<Note>
  Times always display in 12-hour format with `AM`/`PM`, including in Spanish.
</Note>

### Audience

Limits which customers this agent serves, based on their **tags**:

| Field                                               | What it does                      |
| --------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| **Only attend clients with these tags**             | Leave empty to serve everyone     |
| **Never attend clients with these tags**            | Exclusions                        |
| **Reply sent to clients this agent doesn't attend** | Fixed text for excluded customers |

<Warning>
  **Exclusions always win.** A customer carrying an excluded tag is never served, even if they
  also carry an included one.
</Warning>

<Note>
  Variables are **not substituted** in the message for unattended customers. Use fixed text.
</Note>

<Tip>
  Two agents can share the same hours on the same number **if their audiences don't overlap** —
  for example one for VIP customers and one for everyone else.
</Tip>

## Conversation behaviour

The third settings group. Defines **how the agent writes**.

### Conversation style

| Style        | What it does                                                     |
| ------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Standard** | One reply per turn                                               |
| **Natural**  | Splits the reply across several messages, the way a person types |

<Check>
  **Natural style doesn't cost more.** You aren't charged per split message — the reply is
  billed, not the pieces.
</Check>

### Response length

**Concise**, **Balanced** or **Detailed**. On WhatsApp, *Concise* or *Balanced* usually work
better — long blocks read badly on a phone.

### Message batching

On by default. When a customer sends several messages in a row, the agent **waits for them to
finish** instead of answering each line separately.

The **batching window** sets how many seconds it waits.

<Tip>
  Leave it on. Without it, a customer typing "Hi" / "quick question" / "about my order" gets
  three separate replies.
</Tip>

## Disposition tags

The last group. They classify the conversation when it closes.

<Note>
  On WhatsApp only the **Standard** type is available. *Retry* and *No Answer* are call-specific
  and don't appear here.
</Note>

As with voice, these are **account-wide templates**: they save instantly and affect every
agent.

## Next step

<Card title="Contact memory" icon="brain" href="/en/whatsapp-agents/memory">
  What the agent remembers between conversations.
</Card>