Advanced Features

Power tools to supercharge your customer support workflow in AstraChat.

Conversation Filters

AstraChat provides a powerful filtering system that lets you narrow down your conversation list using 13 different criteria. Filters help you quickly find exactly the conversations you need, whether you are looking for unresolved issues, conversations assigned to a specific agent, or messages from a particular campaign.

Available Filter Criteria

  • Status — Filter by conversation status (Open, Resolved, Pending, Snoozed)
  • Agent Assigned — Find conversations handled by a specific agent
  • Inbox — Filter by channel inbox (WhatsApp, Facebook, Email, etc.)
  • Team — Show conversations assigned to a particular team
  • Conversation ID — Look up a specific conversation by its unique ID
  • Labels — Filter by applied labels
  • Campaigns — Show conversations originating from a campaign
  • Created at — Filter by conversation creation date
  • Last activity — Filter by when the last message or action occurred
  • Browser Language — Filter by the visitor's browser language
  • Country — Filter by the contact's country
  • Referrer Links — Filter by the page URL that referred the visitor
  • Custom attributes — Filter using any custom attributes you have defined

How to Use Filters

  1. Click the filter icon located above the conversations list.
  2. Select a filter criterion from the dropdown.
  3. Choose an operator: equal to, not equal to, present, or not present.
  4. Enter or select the filter value.
  5. To add more conditions, click Add Filter and combine multiple filters using AND or OR logic.

Example: To find all "Resolved" conversations assigned to agent "Maria", add two filters: set Status equal to "Resolved" AND Agent Assigned equal to "Maria".

To remove all active filters, click "Clear Filters" to reset the conversation list to its default view.

Automation Rules

Automation rules let you automate repetitive tasks by defining event-based triggers. Each automation rule consists of three components:

Event Conditions Actions

Available Events

  • Conversation created — Triggers when a new conversation is initiated
  • Conversation updated — Triggers when a conversation's attributes change
  • Message created — Triggers when a new message is sent or received
  • Conversation opened — Triggers when a conversation is reopened

Available Actions

Assign agent Assign team Add label Send email Mute conversation Snooze conversation Resolve conversation Send webhook Send message

Creating an Automation Rule

  1. Navigate to Settings → Automation.
  2. Click Add Automation Rule.
  3. Select the event that will trigger the rule.
  4. Define the conditions that must be met.
  5. Add one or more actions to perform.
  6. Save the rule.

Managing Automation Rules

From the Automation settings page, you can:

  • Toggle active — Enable or disable a rule without deleting it
  • Edit — Modify the event, conditions, or actions
  • Clone — Duplicate an existing rule as a starting point for a new one
  • Delete — Permanently remove a rule

Macros

Macros are sequential saved actions that can be executed with a single click. They allow you to chain multiple actions together, saving time on tasks you perform repeatedly.

Creating a Macro

  1. Navigate to Settings → Macros.
  2. Click Add new macro.
  3. Give your macro a descriptive name.
  4. Build your action sequence by adding actions in the order you want them executed. Order matters — actions are performed sequentially from top to bottom.
  5. Set the visibility to Private (only you can see and use it) or Public (all agents can use it).
  6. Save the macro.

Running a Macro

  1. Open a conversation.
  2. In the conversation sidebar, locate the Macros section.
  3. Find the macro you want to run.
  4. Preview the actions to confirm what will happen.
  5. Click the play button to execute the macro.

To edit or delete existing macros, go to Settings → Macros and select the macro you want to modify.

Template Variables

Template variables are dynamic placeholders that automatically insert personalized information into your messages. They use the syntax {{variable.name}} and are resolved at send time.

Available Variables

Category Variables
Contact
contact.name contact.first_name contact.last_name contact.phone contact.id
Agent
agent.name agent.first_name agent.last_name agent.email
Conversation
conversation.id

Using Template Variables

Type {{ in any supported text field to see a list of available variables. Select the one you need, and AstraChat will insert it automatically.

Fallback Text

You can define fallback text that appears when a variable has no value:

{{contact.first_name || 'there'}}

If contact.first_name is empty, "there" will be used instead (e.g., "Hi there!" instead of "Hi !").

Where Variables Work

Canned Responses Macros Automation Rules

Service Level Agreements (SLA)

Service Level Agreements define contractual performance commitments for your support team. They help ensure your team meets response and resolution targets consistently.

SLA Metrics

AstraChat tracks three key SLA metrics:

FRT

First Response Time — The maximum allowed time before a customer receives their first reply

NRT

Next Response Time — The maximum allowed time between subsequent replies

RT

Resolution Time — The maximum allowed time to fully resolve a conversation

Setting Up SLAs

  1. Navigate to Settings and find the SLA section.
  2. Create a new SLA policy by defining the FRT, NRT, and RT thresholds.
  3. Apply the SLA to conversations using automation rules.

Important: SLA policies cannot be modified after creation. Plan your thresholds carefully before saving. If you need to change an SLA, you will need to create a new one.

Visual Indicators

Once SLAs are active, AstraChat provides visual cues to help agents prioritize their work:

  • Status chips appear in the conversation list showing the current SLA status
  • Visual indicators change color as conversations approach their SLA thresholds, alerting agents before a breach occurs

Conversation Sorting

AstraChat offers four sorting methods to help you organize your conversation list. Access sorting options from the conversation list header.

Sorting Methods

  • Latest Activity — Conversations with the most recent interactions appear first. This is the default sorting method and is ideal for staying on top of active conversations.
  • Creation Time — The newest conversations appear first, regardless of when the last message was sent.
  • Priority — Sorts conversations by their priority level: Urgent → High → Medium → Low → None. Use this to focus on the most critical issues first.
  • Pending Response — Conversations waiting the longest for a response appear first. This helps ensure no customer is left waiting too long.

Agent Capacity

Agent capacity settings let you control the maximum number of concurrent conversations each agent can handle. This prevents agent overload and ensures a balanced workload distribution across your team.

Configuration

Configure agent capacity limits per inbox by navigating to Settings → Inboxes and selecting the inbox you want to configure.

How It Works

  • AstraChat uses round-robin distribution to assign conversations evenly among available agents
  • When all agents reach their capacity limit, new conversations are placed in the Unassigned Queue until an agent becomes available
  • Capacity counts only include active (open) conversations — resolved or snoozed conversations do not count toward the limit

Recommended Capacity Limits

Email

10 to 20 conversations per day

Live Chat

2 to 3 concurrent conversations

Tip: Start with conservative limits and adjust based on your team's experience and the complexity of your support requests.