ManyChat-style automations

The growth automations people know from ManyChat are built on Zernio from two primitives: workflows, a graph that runs on one messaging account when its trigger fires, and comment automations, a keyword rule that answers a comment or story with a DM. This guide wires the common patterns end to end on Instagram and Facebook. You need an API key and the accountId of a connected Instagram or Facebook account in a profile (connecting accounts), and the inbox on that account (workflows need inbox access).

Ref link to a workflow

An ig.me or m.me link with a ref parameter, opened by someone, reaches the account as a referral. A workflow whose trigger is referral starts on it, both when the referral arrives on its own and when it rides the first message; the two are deduplicated per conversation within 60 seconds. referral.ref with matchType exact, prefix or any (the default) picks which links start this workflow, so one account can serve many campaigns.

This workflow answers the spring-sale link with a button message, waits for the tap and tags the contact:

curl -X POST "https://zernio.com/api/v1/workflows" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ZERNIO_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "profileId": "66a1f0c2a4b9d3e8f1a2b3c4",
    "accountId": "66b2e19d8c3f5a7e9d0b1c2d",
    "platform": "instagram",
    "name": "Spring sale link",
    "nodes": [
      { "id": "n_trigger", "type": "trigger", "config": { "triggerType": "referral", "referral": { "ref": "spring-sale", "matchType": "exact" }, "cooldownHours": 24 } },
      { "id": "n_offer", "type": "send_message", "config": { "messageType": "text", "text": "Hi {{contact.name}}, here is 20% off everything this week.", "buttons": [ { "type": "url", "title": "Shop now", "url": "https://example.com/spring" }, { "type": "postback", "title": "Remind me later" } ] } },
      { "id": "n_wait", "type": "wait_for_reply", "config": { "timeoutMinutes": 1440, "saveAs": "answer" } },
      { "id": "n_tag", "type": "add_tag", "config": { "tag": "spring-sale" } },
      { "id": "n_end", "type": "end" }
    ],
    "edges": [
      { "id": "e1", "source": "n_trigger", "target": "n_offer" },
      { "id": "e2", "source": "n_offer", "target": "n_wait" },
      { "id": "e3", "source": "n_wait", "target": "n_tag", "sourceHandle": "reply" },
      { "id": "e4", "source": "n_wait", "target": "n_end", "sourceHandle": "timeout" },
      { "id": "e5", "source": "n_tag", "target": "n_end" }
    ]
  }'

Activate it with POST /v1/workflows/{workflowId}/activate. The "Remind me later" postback has no payload, so Zernio stamps zernio:workflow:<this workflow id> and the tap answers the pending wait_for_reply; after it, {{postback.title}} is Remind me later. The referral itself is in {{referral.ref}}, {{referral.source}}, {{referral.type}} and, for an ad click, {{referral.adId}}. cooldownHours stops the same contact from starting the workflow again for a day.

A referral workflow also fires on click-to-message ads (Instagram, Facebook and click-to-WhatsApp). To pin one ad to one workflow regardless of triggers, set workflowId on the ad instead (messaging ads).

Comment to DM with buttons

With a comment-triggered workflow

A workflow with triggerType: "comment" starts with no conversation. Its first send_message, placed directly after the trigger, goes out as the private reply to the comment, and the run continues in the conversation that reply opens. comment: { keywords, matchType, platformPostId } filters by keyword and scopes to one post.

Instagram refuses buttons, cards and attachments in a private reply to someone who does not follow the account, and a refused reply still spends the comment's single private reply (Send private reply). So open with plain text, wait for the answer, then send the buttons:

{
  "nodes": [
    { "id": "n_trigger", "type": "trigger", "config": { "triggerType": "comment", "comment": { "keywords": ["guide"], "matchType": "contains", "platformPostId": "17912345678901234" } } },
    { "id": "n_open", "type": "send_message", "config": { "messageType": "text", "text": "Hey! Reply YES and I will send you the guide." } },
    { "id": "n_wait", "type": "wait_for_reply", "config": { "timeoutMinutes": 1440, "saveAs": "answer" } },
    { "id": "n_link", "type": "send_message", "config": { "messageType": "text", "text": "Here it is. Want the video walkthrough too?", "buttons": [ { "type": "url", "title": "Get the guide", "url": "https://example.com/guide.pdf" }, { "type": "postback", "title": "Send the video", "workflowId": "66d4a1b2c3e4f5a6b7c8d9e7" } ] } },
    { "id": "n_end", "type": "end" }
  ],
  "edges": [
    { "id": "e1", "source": "n_trigger", "target": "n_open" },
    { "id": "e2", "source": "n_open", "target": "n_wait" },
    { "id": "e3", "source": "n_wait", "target": "n_link", "sourceHandle": "reply" },
    { "id": "e4", "source": "n_wait", "target": "n_end", "sourceHandle": "timeout" },
    { "id": "e5", "source": "n_link", "target": "n_end" }
  ]
}

The "Send the video" button carries workflowId, so its tap starts that follow-up workflow instead of this one. {{comment.text}}, {{comment.id}} and {{comment.platformPostId}} hold the comment for the whole run.

With a comment automation

A comment automation does the same without a graph, and adds a public reply, link tracking, follower rules and per-comment actions. A postback button whose payload is zernio:workflow:<workflowId> hands the conversation to a workflow when tapped: the target must be active on the same account and profile, and the tap starts it without matching its keyword or first-message condition.

curl -X POST "https://zernio.com/api/v1/comment-automations" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ZERNIO_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "profileId": "66a1f0c2a4b9d3e8f1a2b3c4",
    "accountId": "66b2e19d8c3f5a7e9d0b1c2d",
    "name": "Guide giveaway",
    "platformPostId": "17912345678901234",
    "keywords": ["guide"],
    "matchMode": "word",
    "dmMessage": "Hey {{first_name}}! Tap below and I will send the guide.",
    "buttons": [ { "type": "postback", "title": "Send it", "payload": "zernio:workflow:66d4a1b2c3e4f5a6b7c8d9e7" } ],
    "commentReply": "Check your DMs, {{first_name}}!",
    "publicReplyPolicy": "always",
    "actions": { "likeComment": true }
  }'

• {{first_name}}, {{name}} and {{username}} resolve from the commenter in dmMessage, commentReply, their variations and button titles; a value the platform does not give resolves to an empty string.
• publicReplyPolicy: "always" posts commentReply whatever the audience rule, dedupe or DM outcome; the default after_dm posts it only after a successful DM.
• actions.likeComment and actions.hideComment like or hide the matched comment. They never block the DM; when one cannot run, the log row says why in likeSkipped or hideSkipped. Liking on Instagram is in limited release (Instagram comments).
• quickReplies (up to 13 chips, not with buttons or template) and dmMedia (an image, video, audio clip or file sent right after the text as a second message) are optional. Chips do not render in Message Requests, where a first DM to a cold commenter lands, so prefer buttons for first contact.
• isActive: false creates the automation paused.

On Instagram and Facebook comments arrive by webhook, and every 10 minutes Zernio also reads the latest comments (the bound post, or the 5 newest posts for an account-wide automation) and runs any the webhook missed, so a dropped webhook still fires and a comment is answered at most once. List automation logs shows each attempt with status, publicReplyPostedAt, gateButtonStatus and link clickCount.

When a comment automation and a comment-triggered workflow both match a comment, the automation answers and the workflow does not start.

On TikTok, Threads, LinkedIn and YouTube a comment automation posts the public reply only: commentReply is required and every DM field is a 400 (platform support).

Story mentions

When someone mentions the account in their Instagram story, two things can answer:

• A comment automation with trigger: "story_mention" sends dmMessage as a normal DM. A mention carries no text and Meta does not identify the story, so keywords must be empty and platformPostId omitted.
• A workflow with triggerType: "story_mention" runs a full graph, with the story in {{story.url}}.

When a story-mention automation answers, the workflow does not start. A reply to your story is different: it arrives as a message, so it starts inbound_message workflows (with {{story.id}} and {{story.url}} set) and story_reply automations. Keyword comments during an Instagram live broadcast have their own trigger, live_comment, answered with a private reply while the broadcast is live.

Repeat rules

repeatPolicy decides whether one person can get an automation's DM more than once:

{ "repeatPolicy": { "mode": "every_comment", "cooldownHours": 24 } }

• once (the default): one DM per person per door, ever. On the reply-only platforms it means one public reply per person per automation.
• every_comment: every new matching comment is eligible again; one comment is still answered at most once. cooldownHours (every_comment only, a 400 with once) skips a repeat sent to the same person within that many hours.

dedupeSameTextHours works across automations: it skips the DM when the recipient already received the identical text (after personalisation) from this account, from any automation, within that many hours. Every suppression is logged with status: "skipped" and the reason in error.

Workflows have their own brake: cooldownHours (1 to 720) on an inbound_message, referral, story_mention, reaction or whatsapp_event trigger stops the same contact from starting the workflow again inside the window, and a redelivered platform event never starts the same workflow twice.

Handover with another app

Meta's handover protocol lets a human work a thread in another app on the Page, such as Page Inbox (app id 263902037430900), while Zernio steps aside. Pass the thread when a workflow decides a human is needed:

curl -X POST "https://zernio.com/api/v1/inbox/conversations/66c3d2ae7b4f6c8d0e1f2a3b/thread-control" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ZERNIO_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "accountId": "66b2e19d8c3f5a7e9d0b1c2d", "action": "pass", "targetAppId": "263902037430900", "metadata": "Customer asked for a human" }'

{ "success": true, "control": { "owner": "other", "ownerAppId": "263902037430900" } }

While the other app owns the thread:

• Inbound messages still arrive on message.received, flagged metadata.standby: true, and no workflow or comment automation runs on them.
• A send answers 409 with code not_thread_owner; details.ownerAppId names the owner when Meta reports it.
• conversation.control_changed fires when Meta reports the thread moving, with control.owner, control.previousOwner and control.ownerAppId.

Get the thread back with action: "take" (Meta allows it only to the Page's primary receiver), ask the owner for it with "request" (nothing changes until the owner passes it), or give it back to the primary receiver with "release". A workflow's handoff node ends the run as exited and flags the conversation for a human operator in Zernio; to pass the Meta thread at that point, call thread-control from your backend when workflow.run.completed arrives with execution.status: "exited".

Welcome screen and menu

The surfaces people see before they type can start workflows too. Every postback payload of the form zernio:workflow:<workflowId> starts that workflow when tapped (it must be active on the account and profile):

Instagram keeps its ice breakers at /v1/accounts/{accountId}/instagram-ice-breakers. On WhatsApp a tapped prompt arrives as an ordinary message with its text, so an inbound_message workflow keyed on that text answers it.

Follow everything with webhooks

• message.sent names what sent each message: sentVia plus automationId, workflowId and executionId, broadcastId or sequenceId.
• workflow.run.started, workflow.run.completed and workflow.run.failed follow each run.
• contact.tag_added, contact.tag_removed and contact.field_changed mirror what add_tag, remove_tag and set_field nodes write.
• referral.received and comment.received carry the raw entry events.

Related

• Workflows: every trigger, variable, operator and node.
• Create comment automation: every field.
• Instagram and Facebook: DMs, message requests and handover per platform.
• Message requests: accept a DM from someone the account has not accepted yet.