CrestApps SMS Omnichannel Automation (AI)
| Feature Name | SMS Omnichannel Automation |
| Feature ID | CrestApps.OrchardCore.Omnichannel.Sms |
Provides a way handle automated activities using the SMS channel.
Overview
The CrestApps.OrchardCore.Omnichannel.Sms module enables AI-driven SMS automation for Omnichannel activities.
It allows Orchard Core (through the Omnichannel Management Customer Relationship Management (CRM) experience) to assign an activity to an AI agent that communicates with a contact over SMS as if it were a real call center agent.
You describe what you want the AI to do (tone, rules, goals), and the AI carries the conversation through SMS until the activity is completed.
What this module provides
- An SMS channel processor and inbound event handler for Omnichannel automated activities. Messages are sent through the Orchard Core SMS provider (for example Telnyx SMS or Twilio).
- The Twilio inbound SMS webhook,
POST ~/api/twilio/webhook/sms, when Orchard Core's Twilio SMS feature is on. The SMS Messaging Channel maps the same webhook, so it works with either one on, and is mapped once with both. Telnyx SMS maps its own webhook (api/telnyx/webhook/sms). - AI chat session orchestration for "automated activities".
- Re-engagement follow-ups through Cadences, gated by business-hours calendars.
- A background task that recovers owed replies: when a contact's latest message (from the last 30 minutes) never got an answer, for example because the site restarted mid-reply, the reply is generated and sent.
- With the SMS Messaging Channel also on, an AI agent routing choice on text entry points, so an AI profile answers the texts customers send to a number (
EntryPointAIAgentStartup). See Let the AI answer incoming texts.
Enable the feature
- In Orchard Core Admin, go to
Tools→Features. - Enable
SMS Omnichannel Automation. It depends on the AI features, Omnichannel Management, Orchard Core SMS, Contact Center Business Hours, which it enables so that background follow-ups can respect business-hours calendars, and the Provider Webhook Inbox, which stores every inbound text before the provider is answered.
For the step-by-step setup with screencasts, see Automated AI SMS and voice in the User Manual.
Twilio webhook
The Twilio settings editor (Settings > Communication > SMS, Twilio tab) shows the address to give Twilio as a read-only Webhook URL field. In the Twilio console, set the phone number's A message comes in to Webhook, HTTP POST, and that address. The same field ships with the SMS Messaging Channel, so it shows when either feature is on.
Twilio webhook signature
The Twilio webhook verifies Twilio's X-Twilio-Signature header with the auth token from the Twilio SMS settings; a request without a valid signature is refused, and a missing auth token answers 400 Bad Request. Twilio signs the public URL it was configured with, so when the site runs behind a TLS-terminating proxy or load balancer, set the site's Base URL (Settings > General) to the public address. The signature is then checked against that URL instead of the internal hop's scheme and host.
Inbound texts are stored before Twilio is answered
The webhook commits each signed text to the durable provider webhook inbox, keyed on Twilio's MessageSid, before it answers Twilio, and starts processing it as soon as the response is sent. The Provider Webhook Inbox Dispatch background task finishes any text whose processing did not complete, so a text is not lost when the site restarts. A redelivery of the same MessageSid is recognized on every node and is neither stored nor answered twice. When the text cannot be stored, the webhook answers 503 Service Unavailable so that Twilio sends it again. Telnyx SMS and Azure Event Grid texts take the same path, under the sms-inbound inbox handler.
Typical setup (high level)
Configure Omnichannel Management (contacts, subjects, dispositions, campaigns and subject flows), create a Chat AI profile with Start the conversation automatically enabled (the Qualify leads by text and Customer care by text starting points ship with this module), connect the SMS provider's inbound webhook (above), and load activities with the Automatic source. The AutomatedActivitiesProcessorBackgroundTask (every five minutes) sends each due activity's opening message, and the AI handles the replies. The browser steps, with screencasts, are in Automated AI SMS and voice.
Automated SMS behavior
Automated SMS subject flows use AI profiles as the source of the AI behavior. Only chat profiles with Start the conversation automatically enabled can be selected, because that opening message is rendered and sent through the configured SMS endpoint before the contact can reply.
Inbound SMS replies are added to the same AI chat session, the selected profile generates the next response, and the response is sent back through the SMS service. If the contact sends an opt-out keyword such as STOP, the activity is cancelled and the contact's Do not SMS preference is updated even when Allow AI to update contact is disabled.
Use the subject-flow SMS automation settings to control:
- No-response timeout: fails an automated SMS activity when the contact stops responding.
- Response delay: the minimum wait before each AI SMS reply; replies are paced naturally on top of it. A reply delay chosen on the activity load is saved on each activity when it is loaded and takes precedence; the subject flow's value applies only when the load set none.
- Opt-out keywords: adds keywords that stop the SMS conversation and update the contact preference. The standard keywords (STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END and QUIT) always opt out as well. After trimming and removing trailing punctuation, a message opts out when it is a keyword or starts with one followed by a space or punctuation, compared without regard to case: "STOP", "stop." and "STOP please" opt out, "stopping by" and "please stop" do not. The messaging workspace uses the same rule.
Handing off to a live agent
The subject's Live agent handoff card (see Subject Flow) lets the AI escalate an automated SMS conversation to a person: pick the Handoff queue and at least one Escalate when condition. The SMS handoff is carried out by the Messaging Workspace, so enable the SMS Messaging Channel feature: the thread, with its whole automated transcript, moves into the queue's inbox for an agent to pick up. Without the workspace there is nowhere to hand an SMS conversation to.