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Quick Start Guide
Get your AI WhatsApp agent live in under 5 minutes. No coding required.
💡
Before you begin: You need a WhatsApp number (personal or business) and at least one document (PDF, FAQ, or website URL) about your business.
Overview
Setting up Botline takes 5 steps. Most businesses complete everything in under 5 minutes. Here's the full flow:
1
Create your account
Sign up with email or Google. Free plan — no credit card needed.
2
Connect your WhatsApp number
Scan a QR code with your phone — same as WhatsApp Web. Takes 60 seconds.
3
Upload your business knowledge
Drop a PDF, paste a website URL, or type FAQ pairs. AI indexes everything automatically.
4
Customize your AI personality
Name your bot, set its tone, define what it should and shouldn't answer.
5
Go live & send a test message
Message your WhatsApp number from another phone. Watch your AI reply instantly.
Step 1: Create Your Account
Go to botline.cc/signup and create your account. You can sign up with:
• Email + password — standard signup
• Google — one-click OAuth
• GitHub — for developers
The free plan gives you 100 messages/month with DeepSeek AI. No credit card required.
Step 2: Connect WhatsApp
After logging in, you'll see the onboarding checklist. Click "Connect WhatsApp" and you'll see a QR code.
How it works
1. Open WhatsApp on your phone
2. Go to Settings → Linked Devices → Link a Device
3. Scan the QR code on your Botline dashboard
4. Wait for
"Connected!" confirmation
⚠️
Important: Keep your phone connected to the internet. If your phone goes offline for extended periods, the WhatsApp session may disconnect. Enterprise plan users can use the Meta Cloud API which doesn't require a phone to stay online.
Step 3: Upload Knowledge
Navigate to Knowledge Base in the sidebar. You can upload:
| Type | Formats | Best for |
|---|
| 📄 Documents | PDF DOCX TXT CSV | Product catalogs, guides, manuals |
| 🌐 Website | Paste any URL | Your website pages, blog posts |
| 📝 FAQ | Type directly | Common questions & answers |
Botline automatically chunks your documents, generates vector embeddings, and creates a searchable knowledge base. This usually takes 10-30 seconds per document.
What happens behind the scenes
Product-Catalog.pdf (2.4 MB, 48 pages)
→ 245 knowledge chunks created
→ Each chunk embedded via
text-embedding-3-small
→ Searchable via cosine similarity
→ AI can now answer questions about your products
Step 4: Customize AI
Go to AI Settings in the sidebar. Configure:
• Bot name — what your AI calls itself (e.g., "Aisha from Ali Legal")
• Personality — professional, friendly, casual, or write custom instructions
• AI model — Claude Sonnet (recommended), GPT-4o, DeepSeek, etc.
• Business hours — 24/7 or set specific hours with auto-reply outside hours
• Fallback message — what to say when AI doesn't know the answer
Step 5: Go Live
Your AI is now live! Test it by messaging your WhatsApp number from a different phone. Ask a question that's covered by your uploaded documents.
🎉
That's it! Your AI WhatsApp agent is live. Customers can now message your number and get instant, accurate replies 24/7. Monitor conversations from your dashboard.
What's Next?