Conversations: all subscriber chats in one place

How to read and reply to subscribers of your Telegram bots, VK communities and Instagram Direct right in Craft, pause the bot, get messages in a Telegram group and reply from there.

Updated: October 31, 2026

Conversations#

"Automations" → "Conversations" collects chats with everyone who writes to your Telegram bots, to the messages of your connected VK communities and to the DMs of your Instagram accounts. One feed shows what the person wrote, what the funnel sent and what you replied. You can reply right from here.

Conversation list#

Conversations where the person wrote last are on top. The number on a conversation and on the menu item is unread messages. Button presses and the /start command don't count as unread — only what the person actually typed.

Filters: "All", "Unread", "Bot paused", plus Telegram, VK and Instagram separately. Search by name or username.

The conversation also shows broadcasts that reached the person and replies your managers wrote directly in the VK community messages. Such a reply clears the conversation from unread unless the person has written again since.

What you can send#

Telegram: text, photo, video, file, audio. Audio can go as a voice message and video as a video note (the choice appears after you upload the file).
Instagram: text, photo, video, audio, file.
VK: text, photo, file. Video and audio go as files, bold and italics as plain text. You can only write to people who messaged the community or allowed messages (details).

Instagram's 24-hour rule#

Instagram lets you message a person only within 24 hours of their last message. When the window is closed, the message box is disabled — you can reply once they write again. The hours left are shown above the box.

After a comment under a post, Instagram allows only one message — the reply to that comment. You can send more once the person replies.

The bot and your replies#

By default your message changes nothing: the funnel keeps running as before.

Pause the bot for one person. Use "Pause bot" in the conversation. While the bot is paused:

scheduled funnel messages (follow-ups) are not sent to this person;
the funnel doesn't capture their replies — you read them;
the AI agent doesn't reply to them.

Buttons in earlier messages keep working. If the person sends a keyword or opens a funnel link, the bot takes the conversation back. To hand it back yourself, use "Hand back to bot".

Pause the bot whenever you reply. In the account settings (gear icon in the conversation) turn on "My reply pauses the bot" — then any reply of yours pauses the bot for that person. Each bot and Instagram account has its own setting.

The "Transfer to operator" action in a funnel also pauses the bot and marks the conversation "needs you".

Reply with the AI agent to a missed message#

If a customer wrote and got no reply (the message came before you turned on the AI agent, or while the bot was paused), open the chat and click Reply with AI agent in the header. The agent reads the customer's latest unanswered messages (up to five, voice messages included) and replies as usual. The button shows when the last message is from the customer and the bot isn't paused — if it's paused, click "Return to bot" first.

⚠️ In your personal Telegram (Telegram Business) and in Instagram, you can only reply within 24 hours of the customer's last message — that's a Telegram and Instagram rule. The agent can't send a reply to an older message.

One person across channels#

If someone has written to you both in Instagram Direct and to your Telegram bot (or on WhatsApp), Craft recognizes them as the same person and shows their messages in one feed. Each message has a channel icon, and above the message box there's a Reply in: switch. By default your reply goes to the channel where they wrote last. In the chat list, this person takes one row, with small icons for their other channels.

Chats are merged automatically when:

the person opened your bot through a link from your Instagram funnel;
both chats have the same phone number or email (for example, they shared their number with the bot and later wrote on WhatsApp).

Otherwise, click "+ Same person…" above the chat and find them by name or username. Made a mistake? Click × next to the channel, and Craft will remember they're different people.

The AI agent sees the shared history too: it won't ask again for what the person already said in another channel.

Prefer separate chats? In the chat settings (gear icon), turn off "One feed per person". Instead of one feed, you'll see a "Same person in Instagram →" link above the chat.

⚠️ If the same phone number belongs to many people (an office line, say), Craft won't merge those chats on its own. Merge them manually if needed.

Messages in a Telegram group, replies from there#

To avoid keeping Craft open, you can get people's messages in your team's Telegram group and reply right from it. Works for Telegram bots.

How to turn it on:

Add the bot to the group as a regular member: in the group, "Add members" → find the bot by its username. It doesn't need to be an admin.
In Craft, open "Conversations" → any conversation of this bot → the gear icon.
Under "Forward messages to a Telegram group", pick the group. If it isn't listed, tap "Refresh list".
Tap "Send a test" — a message from the bot appears in the group.

What arrives in the group. Everything people send to the bot: text, photos, videos, voice messages, video notes, files, stickers, contacts. Commands with "/" (like /start) and button taps are not forwarded. Each message shows the person's name and username, with "Open in Craft" and "Message in Telegram" buttons below (the latter if the person has a username).

How to reply. In the group, tap the person's message → Reply (or swipe left) and type your answer — text, a photo, a voice message, anything. The bot sends it to the person on its behalf and reacts to your message with 👍. If the reply didn't go through (for example, the person blocked the bot), the bot says why in the group. The reply also shows up in "Conversations" marked "reply from Telegram".

You can reply the same way to a lead notification from the "Send a notification" block — in the group or in the private chat where it arrived.

Good to know:

Any group member can reply — add only your team to the group.
Only replies to the bot's messages go to the person. Regular chat in the group stays in the group.
If "My reply pauses the bot" is on, a reply from the group also pauses the bot for that person.
Telegram allows about 20 messages a minute per group. If a lot of people write to the bot at once, some messages reach the group with a delay.

Replies under Threads posts#

The Threads tab at the top of the list shows people's replies under your Threads posts: read them and answer yourself, by voice or with a draft in your style. Details are in Threads replies.

Telegram notifications#

Craft messages you in Telegram when someone writes while the bot is paused for them, or when a funnel hands the conversation to you. At most once every 10 minutes per conversation. Turn it off in the account settings, "Notify me in Telegram". Notifications arrive if Telegram is linked to your Craft account.

Not shown yet#

Files over 25 MB that a person sends in Telegram appear as a label ("🎬 Video", "📎 File"), not as the file itself. Photos, voice messages and video notes open right in the chat. Telegram voice messages don't play in Safari — open the conversation in Chrome.
On Instagram, incoming messages are available from May 31, 2026; funnel replies and your replies are saved from September 17, 2026.