How does Cheerio's Chat Assignment Infrastructure work?

Nishant Das
Jun 19
3 min read

Updated: Jul 30

This blog post will walk you through how a chat assignment works on Cheerio AI, what the different types of filters are, what the different types of chat statuses are, and some settings for you to understand the entire WhatsApp Team Inbox feature.

1 Chat Assignment

On Cheerio, an incoming chat can be replied to in multiple ways using automations, free-form messaging, and GPT Agents.

1.1 Automation: Any sort of keyword-based reply, default workflow, time-trigger-based automation, or fallback messages is termed "Automation."

1.2 Free-Form Messaging: Any sort of message that is sent via a human using the WhatsApp messaging typing window is called free-form messaging

1.3 GPT Agents: Any sort of message that is sent via any Chat GPT or Llama-powered assistant comes under GPT Agents (BETA)

2 Chat Statuses

On Cheerio, A chat is defined by different chat statuses based on the chat. Following is the list of statuses you will have in your WhatsApp Team Inbox

2.1 OPEN: Any new incoming chat that is assigned to an agent or is unassigned is marked as "OPEN"

2.2 PENDING: Any Chat that is not being responded to for a set period (5 mins) will automatically move to "PENDING" from "OPEN"

2.3 RESOLVED: Any Chat that is resolved by a human agent after the chat completion will be marked as "RESOLVED".

2.4 CHATBOT: Any Chat with an active workflow automation (either keyword, default workflow, time-trigger, and GPT Agents) is marked as "CHATBOT" 2.5 INTERVENED CHAT: Any "CHATBOT" chat that is intervened by an agent to reply in free-form messaging is marked as "INTERVENED CHAT"

The list below contains the other forms of statuses for the chats that help in filtering the chats

2.6 ACTIVE: Any chat with an active 24-hour WhatsApp Messaging window is termed as "ACTIVE"

2.7 EXPIRED: Any chat whose 24-hour WhatsApp Messaging window is closed is termed as "EXPIRED"

2.8 FRT EXCEEDED: You can set a first response time for an incoming message in Chat settings. As this first response time exceeds (5 mins for reference), the chat will also be marked as "FRT EXCEEDED" and move into "PENDING". (Refer to point 2.2)

2.9 UNASSIGNED: Any chat that is not assigned to any agent due to the agent's offline status will be marked as "UNASSIGNED."

2.10 CTWA: Any incoming chat that is coming as a response to a "Click to WhatsApp Ad" is marked as CTWA. (You can find a CTWA chat with other statuses as well)

3 How does a chat flow through different chat statuses on Cheerio

To understand the entire functionality of the chat assignment, you have to understand the flow of chat (Chat lifecycle). Refer to image 1.1

A new incoming chat with a message > Checks for a time-trigger > Checks for a keyword > Checks for a workflow > Checks for an agent

3.1 New Chat > Checks for a time trigger, if found, stops checking and marks chat as "CHATBOT".

3.2 If not found > Checks for Keyword, if found, stops checking and marks chat as "CHATBOT"

3.3 If keyword not found > Checks for a default workflow; if found, stops checking and marks chat as "CHATBOT".

4.4 If not found > Checks for an online agent, if found, stops checking and assigns chat to an agent and marks as "OPEN".

5.5 If the agent is not found > Marks the chat as "OPEN" under "unassigned"

4 Quick filters and their meaning in WhatsApp Team Inbox

On your WhatsApp Team Inbox, you will find a quick filters dropdown below the search bar. The list below explains the filters in depth.

4.1 All Chats: Contains all sorts of chats with all statuses mentioned in section 3.

4.2 Open: Contains all the chats marked as "OPEN".

4.3 PENDING: Contains all the chats marked as "PENDING" + "FRT EXCEEDED".

4.4 UNASSIGNED: Contains all the chats marked as "Unassigned" could be OPEN, PENDING, or an INTERVENED CHAT.

4.5 CHATBOT: Contains all the chats marked as " CHATBOT" could be keyword-based, time-triggered, or default workflow-based.

4.6 ACTIVE: Contains all the "OPEN" + "PENDING" Chats with an active 24-hour WhatsApp messaging window.

4.7 EXPIRED: Contains all the chats marked as "EXPIRED," that is, closed 24-hour WhatsApp messaging window.

4.8 RESOLVED: Contains all the chats marked as "RESOLVED" by agents.

4.9 CTWA: Contains all the chats that replied to a CTWA Ad, could be open, pending, resolved, chatbot, or expired. 4.10 INTERVENED CHAT: Contains all the chats that are intervened by an agent from a Chatbot manually or an admin.

If you need any assistance, please reach out to us at support@cheerio.in