Channels
Three different questions get three different answers here: is the connector built, has it run against a real account, and what must happen with the provider before it can serve the public. Whether a channel is connected for your business is shown in your dashboard.
Only the website widget is in use today. The others are built and tested against simulated providers; none has yet run against a live Page, number, bot or mailbox.
A chat window you add to your own site with one script tag, plus a hosted storefront page you can share as a link.
Customers who message your Facebook Page get grounded answers, and your staff replies go back to them in Messenger.
Customers who message your business number get grounded answers, and staff can reply from Anchor.
Direct messages to your Instagram professional account get grounded answers, with staff replies sent back.
A Telegram bot you create yourself answers customers, with staff replies delivered through the same bot.
A dedicated address on Anchor's mail domain receives customer email, answers it, and sends staff replies through Resend.
These apply to every connector that is switched on.
Each connector has its own card in Channels with what you need, the provider approval it depends on, and whether this server can run it yet. You cannot connect a channel the server cannot serve.
A connection shows the last message received and the last send error. Tokens are stored on the server, never shown back to you and never in browser code.
An incoming event is matched to a business only from the channel account ID you connected, never from anything inside the message, so one business cannot receive another's conversations.
Meta events are checked against their signature, Telegram against a per-bot secret and email against Resend's signature. Unverified requests are rejected.
Provider retries are recognised and processed once, so a customer is not answered twice.
Your team reads and replies from one inbox. Anchor does not yet have a per-conversation "AI paused" switch or assignment to a named agent.
Every staff reply shows whether the provider accepted it. A failed one shows the reason and can be retried a limited number of times; the reply stays saved either way.
Anchor only replies inside a conversation the customer started. It does not send unsolicited or bulk messages, and there is no broadcast feature.
Disconnecting a channel stops new events from being routed to your business. Existing conversation history stays in your workspace.
WhatsApp only accepts free-form replies for 24 hours after the customer's last message. Approved templates for messages outside that window are not built.
All connectors other than the website widget have been tested against simulated providers only. A live smoke test needs your provider accounts; until then treat them as ready to try, not proven.
Conversation data belongs to your business and is separated from every other business. See the privacy policy for what is stored and for how long.
Setting one up? Read the channel setup guide, then open Channels in your dashboard.
