Connect Messenger

What it is

Messenger is the chat inbox attached to a Facebook Page. Connecting it lets your chatbot answer people who message that Page, in the same conversation thread they already use.

The card is labelled Messenger (not Facebook), and it asks for two things: a Page access token and an App secret. Both come from a Meta app you own. The token lets Agentency send replies as your Page; the app secret lets Agentency prove that each incoming message really came from Meta and not from someone spoofing your webhook.

Messenger is one of the platforms that finishes with a verification handshake. When you press Connect, the channel does not go live — it sits at Pending verification and shows you a callback URL and a verify token to paste into your Meta app. Meta then calls that URL back. Only when that call succeeds does the badge turn to Connected.

When you would use it

Use this when your customers already message your Facebook Page and you want first-line answers around the clock, instead of a Page inbox that only gets read during office hours.

If you administer the Page but somebody else owns the Meta developer app, get them in the room before you start — three of the five values you need live in the app, not the Page.

Where to find it

Open Dashboard → Chatbots → your chatbot → Integrations → Messaging and click the Messenger card.

Before you start

Four things must be true or the card will not connect:

1. Your plan includes integrations. On Free, the grid shows an upgrade notice — see Messaging channels availability.
2. Messaging is switched on for this deployment. If you see Coming soon, read Coming soon channels.
3. The chatbot is Active. A paused chatbot connects fine and then never replies to anyone — see Activate or pause a chatbot.
4. You are under the connected-app cap shown on the Connected channels card above the grid.

Steps

1. In Meta for Developers, open your app (or create one) and add the Messenger product.
2. In Messenger → Settings, pick your Facebook Page and generate a Page access token. Copy it.
3. In App Settings → Basic, copy the App secret.
4. Back in Agentency, open Integrations → Messaging → Messenger. The drawer lists the same four steps and has a View official setup guide link straight to Meta's Messenger Platform docs.
5. Paste the Page access token and the App secret, then press Connect. Agentency checks the token against Meta before saving anything, so a bad paste fails here rather than silently later.
6. The drawer now shows Finish the webhook setup with a Callback URL and a Verify token. Copy both into Messenger → Webhooks in your Meta app and save.
7. Still in Messenger → Webhooks, subscribe your Page to the messages field. This is the step people miss — the handshake can succeed while the Page sends nothing.
8. Watch the drawer. It checks by itself and flips to Connected as soon as Meta's verification call lands.
9. Message your Page from a personal Facebook account and confirm a reply, then find the thread in Conversations.

What you will see

While the credential form is open you get four numbered setup steps, the official-guide link, and an information note reminding you to subscribe the Page to the messages field.

After you connect, the drawer shows the pending panel with the callback URL, the verify token, a copy button on each, and a spinner reading Waiting for the webhook to be verified. It also spells out the consequence plainly: until verification finishes, messages are received and ignored.

Once verified, the badge reads Connected and the panel shows the Page name as Connected as … plus lifetime message and user counts. Test connection and Disconnect live in the drawer footer. Test connection only appears once the channel is connected, so during the pending stage your only options are to finish the handshake or disconnect.

How replies behave

Replies go out as your Page. Long answers are split into several messages because Messenger caps a single message, so a detailed answer can arrive as two or three bubbles. Incoming text longer than about 2,000 characters is trimmed before the chatbot reads it. If someone sends a photo, a sticker, or a voice note, the chatbot answers with a short note that it can only read text.

Every answer spends message credits at your chatbot's live model rate (1X = one credit), exactly like the website widget — see Message credits. When credits run out, the chatbot replies with a short out-of-credits message instead of an answer.

Limits and plan notes

Messenger counts as one of your connected apps for this chatbot. Reconnecting Messenger later replaces the stored credentials rather than adding a second connection, so it never costs you a second slot.

Your credentials are stored encrypted and are never displayed again. If you need to change them, reconnect with fresh values. Disconnecting clears them from Agentency and stops replies immediately, but it does not touch the webhook configuration inside your Meta app — remove that yourself if you are done for good.

One Page can only send its messages to one destination. If the Page is already wired to another tool, pointing it here takes over that inbox.

Common problems

The badge is stuck on Pending verification.

Meta has not called the URL back, or it called with the wrong token. Re-copy both values from the drawer — the verify token is generated per connection, so an older one will not match — and save the webhook again in Meta. The page stops watching after about five minutes; reload it to pick up a late change.

It says Connected but the Page inbox gets no answers.

The Page is almost certainly not subscribed to the messages webhook field. Add the subscription in Messenger → Webhooks. If it is subscribed, check that the chatbot itself is Active.

Connect fails immediately with a credential error.

The Page access token is wrong, expired, or belongs to a different Page. Generate a fresh one in Messenger → Settings. Tokens generated for testing expire quickly.

Replies stop working after a while.

An expired Page token or a rotated app secret. Reopen the card, press Reconnect, and paste current values. A rotated app secret makes incoming messages fail their authenticity check, which looks exactly like silence.

Only I get answers; my customers do not.

That is a Meta app permission and review matter rather than an Agentency setting. Use the View official setup guide link and check your app's status and permissions with Meta.