Auto-responses

Auto-responses send an automatic reply when a new thread is created. Use them to keep customers informed straight away, reduce duplicate follow-ups, and give your team time to respond thoughtfully.

To set up auto-responses, go to Settings → Auto-responses.

When auto-responses are triggered

Auto-responses fire when a new thread is created. You can restrict them to specific conditions — all conditions on a single auto-response must match for it to send. If you have multiple auto-responses configured, they are evaluated in order and the first match wins.

Available conditions:

• Support email address – only applies when the thread comes in via email

• Inside or outside business hours – matches based on your workspace business hours setting

• Label – matches threads that have a specific label applied

• Tier – matches threads belonging to a specific customer tier

• Priority – matches threads at a specific priority level

When auto-responses are suppressed

Even when an auto-response is enabled, it will not send in the following situations:

• Thread created by an agent – auto-responses only fire for threads created by a customer or a machine user (e.g. via API). Threads opened manually by a support agent are skipped.

• Customer is marked as spam – no auto-response is sent to spam customers.

• Thread has no inbound message – if the thread has no first customer message, the auto-response is skipped.

• Thread is no longer in Todo when the response is due – if the thread has been resolved, snoozed, or otherwise moved out of Todo before the scheduled send time, the auto-response is cancelled.

• An agent or machine user has already replied – if any non-customer message is sent before the auto-response fires (for example, during the response delay window), the auto-response is cancelled. This prevents double-responses when an agent handles a thread quickly.

Response delay

You can configure a delay (up to 15 minutes) between when the thread is created and when the auto-response is sent. The delay is calculated from the timestamp of the first inbound message.

The delay window is also a safety net: if an agent replies within the delay, the auto-response is automatically suppressed so the customer does not receive two responses.

Supported channels

Auto-responses can be enabled across multiple support channels:

• Email – for inbound messages to your support inbox

• Chat – for sessions started in your website widget

• Slack – for threads started via Slack Connect

• API – for programmatically created threads

• Microsoft Teams – for threads started via a Teams channel

• Discord – for threads started via a Discord server

You can configure separate auto-responses per channel, or share one across multiple channels.

Using dynamic fields in automated replies

You can include variables in automated email responses to personalize messages automatically. Supported fields include:

• {{ customer.fullName }}

• {{ customer.shortName }}

• {{ customer.email }}

• {{ thread.ref }}

• {{ thread.id }}

Basic usage

Place the variable directly in the reply template where you want the value to appear. For example:

Hi {{ customer.shortName }},

Thanks for contacting us about thread {{ thread.ref }}. We will respond shortly.

Advanced use: custom auto-responses via API

If you need more control – such as dynamic content or conditional logic – you can build interactive auto-responses using Plains API and webhooks. See our Thread auto-responders documentation for more.