WhatsApp Business Auto Reply That Actually Answers
The WhatsApp Business app’s auto replies are a greeting message, an away message and quick replies. They say the same thing to everyone, so the customer asking about price, the one with an emergency and the one ready to book all get “Thanks, we’ll get back to you.”
The quick answer: Carly replaces the canned auto reply with a real one. It reads each WhatsApp message, answers from your actual information, books the customer on your calendar and follows up if they go quiet, in your business’s name, 24/7. Set it up on carlyassistant.com or by pasting one prompt into ChatGPT or Claude.
Canned auto reply vs Carly
| WhatsApp Business app auto reply | Carly | |
|---|---|---|
| What the customer gets | The same preset message | An answer to their question |
| Booking | ”We’ll get back to you” | Booked on your real calendar in the chat |
| After hours | An away message | A full conversation |
| Follow-up | None | A nudge the next day if they don’t book |
| Photos and files | You open them later | Read, filed and attached to the booking |
| Your team | One phone | One shared inbox with WhatsApp, texts, calls and email |
What Carly’s replies sound like
- “How much is a deep clean for a 3-bedroom?” Carly replies with your price, what’s included and two open times this week.
- “Do you deliver to Brooklyn?” Carly answers from your delivery rules and offers to take the order.
- “My AC stopped working.” Carly asks your triage questions, books the earliest visit and alerts the on-call tech.
- A photo of a damaged part. Carly files it, asks one follow-up question and books the repair.
- “Can I talk to someone?” Carly hands the chat to the right teammate with a summary.
It follows your rules on every message, the same way, every time. You write them once in plain English.
Set it up
Carly business setup prompt
Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude or any AI. It sets everything up, WhatsApp included.
Help me connect Carly Teams so I can work with my organization's business texts, phone calls, voicemail and voice/text agents from this chat. I'll add it to you myself: tell me exactly what to click for the app you are, one step at a time, and wait for me to confirm before moving on. If a step doesn't match what I see, ask me what's on my screen. If you can do the setup yourself (Claude Code, Codex, Muse, Grok Bot), go ahead, and ask me for any key in your secure credential prompt, never in the chat. Don't tell me it's connected until list_phone_lines works, and if I have several teams, ask which to use. Before sending a text or making a call, confirm the team, recipient and message or task with me. The steps are below.
# Connect Carly Teams to an AI app
> Carly Teams works a team's business phone lines through the team's AI agents: business texts, phone calls, voicemail, the voice and text agents, and the team's CRM.
MCP server: https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp (streamable HTTP, OAuth)
## Setup
Carly Teams isn't in any plugin or connector directory yet, so it's added as a custom connection by URL.
1. Add Carly Teams:
- ChatGPT: open https://chatgpt.com/plugins, click Add, and choose Create MCP App (not Create plugin or Upload plugin archive). If Create MCP App isn't on the menu, turn on Developer mode first in Settings > Security and login. Name it "Carly Teams" with the description "Work with my team's business texts, calls, voicemail and voice/text agents," paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp as the server URL, choose OAuth, create it, and sign in. Then in the message box open the + menu, choose Developer mode, and pick Carly Teams. No plugin needs to be built, packaged or uploaded.
- Claude (claude.ai, Claude Desktop, or Cowork): Customize > Connectors > Add custom connector, name it Carly Teams, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, and sign in.
- Claude Code: `claude mcp add --transport http --scope user carly-teams https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp`, then /mcp, pick carly-teams, and authenticate.
- Codex: `codex mcp add carly-teams --url https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp`, then `codex mcp login carly-teams`.
- Cursor: add {"mcpServers": {"carly-teams": {"url": "https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp"}}} to ~/.cursor/mcp.json, then sign in to carly-teams from Customize.
- Muse: a custom connector to https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp with a Carly API key as its bearer token. The key comes from carlyassistant.com/integrations (Advanced > API Keys > Create a new key, with Owner set to the team and all scopes selected) and goes in Muse's connector settings, not in a chat message.
- Grok: grok.com/connectors > New Connector > Custom, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, and sign in.
- Grok Bot: a custom remote MCP server named carly-teams at https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp. Approve it and sign in.
- Perplexity: Plugins in the sidebar (or Customize > Connectors), then Add custom > Connector > Add MCP connector. Choose Remote, name it Carly Teams, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, pick OAuth, check the box and click Add, then click the Carly Teams card to sign in.
- Anything else: a remote MCP server (streamable HTTP) named carly-teams at https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp. It signs in with OAuth.
Sign in with the Carly account that belongs to the organization.
2. Once it's added, the Carly Teams tools show up in the chat, including list_phone_lines. If they don't, turn Carly Teams on for the chat or start a new chat.
3. To check it worked, call list_phone_lines: it returns the teams and phone lines the account can reach. A team with no phone line yet can get one with find_numbers (optionally by area code) and get_number, which may return a checkout link to finish.
4. Something to try first: "Review our missed calls and voicemail and help me reply to customers." Carly Teams also reads and answers business texts, has the team's agent make calls, and edits the voice and text agents. Texts and calls go out at once from the agent's number and can't be taken back. Team permissions apply.
## Email, calendars and workflows
Email, calendars, files, booking pages and workflows are the regular Carly connector, added separately. It's listed in ChatGPT's plugin directory (https://chatgpt.com/plugins/plugin_asdk_app_6a67a26316b88191860222f918d4ec54) and Claude's connector directory (https://claude.ai/directory/carly), and connects anywhere else at https://carlyassistant.com/mcp/. Its setup is https://carlyassistant.com/mcp.txt.- Keep your WhatsApp Business app. Connect the number you already use. Carly answers when you don’t, and steps back when you reply from the app yourself.
- Or start fresh with WhatsApp on your Carly business number. No carrier registration wait.
- Tell it your rules: services, prices, hours, what to ask before booking, when to hand off.
Manage replies from ChatGPT or Claude
With the Carly connector or plugin, ask:
- “What did customers ask on WhatsApp today?”
- “Reply to anyone who asked about weekend hours with our new schedule.”
- “Change the auto reply to mention our holiday closure.”
See can Claude send WhatsApp messages and how to run your business on WhatsApp. Carly connects to thousands of apps, so any reply can trigger a workflow.
FAQ
How do I set an auto reply on WhatsApp Business?
In the WhatsApp Business app, the built-in options are a greeting message, an away message and quick replies. For replies that actually answer the question and book the customer, connect Carly.
Can AI reply to WhatsApp Business messages?
Yes. Carly replies to every WhatsApp message in your business’s name, from your rules, 24/7.
Can I still reply myself?
Yes. Reply from the WhatsApp Business app whenever you want, and Carly steps back from that conversation.
Does it work for a team?
Yes. Everyone works from one inbox, and Carly routes each conversation to the right person.
Ready to automate your busywork?
Carly schedules, researches, and briefs you—so you can focus on what matters.
See what people say
"Before Carly, I relied on a Calendly link, but the whole process felt impersonal and not very professional. Carly changed that by handling all the back-and-forth, so I'm no longer stuck in endless email threads trying to line up schedules.
Now Carly reaches out to candidates, shares my real-time availability, lets them pick a slot, then sends a Zoom link and drops it straight into my calendar. She sends reminders to both of us before each call, which has significantly reduced no-shows and last-minute confusion.
On top of scheduling, Carly acts like a full executive assistant, sending me my schedule the night before so I can prepare for each call. It reminds me of the old x.ai assistant, but Carly is noticeably smarter, faster, and better suited to my healthcare recruitment business."
