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

# WhatsApp Reply Buttons and Lists

> Let customers answer your agent with a tap instead of typing.

Typing on a phone is work. When your agent asks a closed question — *shall I book that?*, *which branch?*, *what time suits you?* — it can offer the answers as **tappable options** instead, and the customer picks one.

WhatsApp shows them two ways, and your agent chooses automatically:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Reply buttons" icon="square-mouse-pointer">
    Up to **3** options, shown as buttons right under the message.
  </Card>

  <Card title="A list" icon="list">
    **4 to 10** options, behind a button that opens a scrollable list. Each row can carry a second line of detail.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

<Note>
  This applies to the **WhatsApp Business** channel (your own WhatsApp Business
  Account, connected through Meta). The separate WhatsApp channel connected by
  QR code cannot show tappable options.
</Note>

## Turning it on

1. Open your agent and go to the **Tools** tab.
2. Enable **WhatsApp Reply Options**.

That is the whole setup. Your agent decides when options help; it is not something you script per conversation.

## Steering when it is used

Click **Configure** next to **WhatsApp Reply Options** on the Tools tab. There are two things to set: the guidance, in the **System prompt section** card, and the list button label, under **Settings**. The guidance card appears once the tool is on and the Tools tab is saved; until then it tells you to save. The same guidance is also on the agent's **Prompt** tab, and editing it in either place changes the same text.

**When to offer options.** Guidance in your own words, for example:

> Offer options whenever you ask the customer to choose a service, a branch or an appointment time. Don't offer options for open questions like "how can I help?".

Leave it blank and the agent uses the platform default, which tells it to offer options **whenever its reply presents a
concrete choice** — and not to write those choices out as a bulleted list instead.

<Warning>
  Anything you type here **replaces** the default rather than adding to it. If you write your own guidance, restate
  WhatsApp's limits too — at most 10 options, option labels under 20 characters for three or fewer and under 24
  above that — or the agent will not know them.
</Warning>

**List button label.** The wording on the button that opens the list when there are more than three options. Defaults to *Choose an option*; change it to something like *See available times* if that reads better for your business. WhatsApp allows up to 20 characters.

## What the customer sees

The agent's answer arrives first, as a normal message. The options arrive straight after it as their own short message — WhatsApp limits how much text can sit above a set of options, so keeping them separate means your agent's actual answer is never cut short.

When the customer taps one, it arrives as their next message and the conversation carries on exactly as if they had typed it.

## Limits WhatsApp enforces

Your agent is told these and keeps inside them; they are here so the results are not surprising.

| | Limit |
| - | - |
| Reply buttons | 3 |
| Button label | 20 characters |
| List rows | 10 in total (across all groups, not 10 per group) |
| List row title | 24 characters |
| List row second line | 72 characters |
| Message above the options | 1,024 characters |

## When options don't appear

**The conversation has gone quiet for more than 24 hours.** WhatsApp only allows a business to send free-form messages — including tappable options — within 24 hours of the customer's last message. After that, only an approved [message template](/platform-guide/whatsapp-business-templates) may be sent, and templates cannot carry options of your choosing. Your agent replies normally through the template; the customer can still type.

**The agent decided they weren't useful.** Options suit closed questions. For an open one, your agent will simply answer.

**The conversation isn't on WhatsApp Business.** The same agent often answers on your website widget and on the legacy QR-code WhatsApp channel too, and neither can show tappable options. Enabling this tool changes nothing there — your agent writes the same choices into its reply as ordinary text, so the customer still sees them and simply types their answer.

**A label came out too long.** If the agent proposes an option label past WhatsApp's limit, it is told and can shorten it. If it cannot, the answer is still delivered — just without the buttons, and the customer types instead.

## What it costs

Nothing extra from us. The options message is part of one reply and is covered by the same per-reply charge as any other WhatsApp Business answer. WhatsApp's own per-message charge applies as it does to every message on the channel.


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