# Intercom recipes

> Follow up by text from your own number when a conversation goes quiet.

Two recipes for Intercom. Each names its trigger and the BlueBot step, lists the fields to map and says how to test it with your own number before anyone else gets a text.

## How Intercom connects

- **[Zapier](https://usebluebot.com/docs/zapier)**: BlueBot’s Zapier app has a Send Text action and instant triggers for incoming texts and every change of state.
- **[API](https://usebluebot.com/docs/api)**: Your own code calls BlueBot’s REST API and listens to its signed webhooks.

## Check in by text after a conversation closes

| Part             | What it is                                |
| ---------------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| Trigger          | When a conversation is closed in Intercom |
| Action           | BlueBot’s **Send Text** action            |
| Connects through | [Zapier](https://usebluebot.com/docs/zapier)                    |

### Steps

1. Start a Zap with Intercom’s trigger for a closed conversation.
2. Add a Filter by Zapier step so it goes on only when the customer has a phone number.
3. Add BlueBot’s Send Text action and map that phone to To.

### Map the fields

| BlueBot field                | Map it to                                                                                                                                     |
| ---------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| To                           | The person’s mobile number from Intercom. US numbers can leave off the +1.                                                                    |
| Text                         | Hi {{first_name}}, it’s Sam from Ledgerly. Just checking that your question from earlier got sorted. Reply here if not.                     |
| `{{first_name}}` in the text | Intercom’s first name field.                                                                                                                  |
| Metadata                     | `source` set to `intercom`, and `record_id` set to the record’s id, so the status and reply webhooks for this text can find the record again. |
| Service                      | Auto, the default: iMessage when the person uses it, otherwise SMS through your iPhone.                                                       |

### Test it

Put your own number in **To** and press **Test step**. A text arrives on your phone from your own number, and Zapier shows the message BlueBot returned with `state: "queued"`. Then map Intercom’s field back into **To** and turn the Zap on.

## Add text replies to the conversation

| Part             | What it is                                                              |
| ---------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Trigger          | A text comes in (BlueBot’s message.received webhook)                    |
| Action           | A webhook for `message.received` starts it, and Intercom takes the text |
| Connects through | [API](https://usebluebot.com/docs/api)                                                        |

### Steps

1. Send your follow-up texts from code with the Intercom conversation ID in metadata.
2. When message.received comes in, find the last text you sent that number with GET /v1/messages and read the conversation ID from its metadata.
3. Add the reply to that conversation as a note through Intercom’s API.

### Map the fields

| From BlueBot       | Into Intercom                                                                                                                                            |
| ------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `data.from`        | The phone number to find the person by in Intercom. It’s in E.164 (`+15555550123`); search by the last 10 digits if Intercom stores numbers another way. |
| `data.text`        | The words, for a note, a row or a message. Null when the person sent only a picture.                                                                     |
| `data.received_at` | When it came in, in UTC.                                                                                                                                 |
| `data.files`       | Pictures and voice memos. Each `url` works for an hour, so copy a file you want to keep.                                                                 |
| `data.chat_id`     | Set when the text came in a group chat; null for a one-to-one text.                                                                                      |

### Test it

Run `bluebot listen --forward-to http://localhost:3000/webhooks`, then text your BlueBot number from another phone. The CLI forwards the event to your handler, signed. BlueBot copies texts from people you’ve texted through it, unless you set **Which chats to copy** to **Everything**.

## Before you turn it on

- Text only people who asked to hear from you. Anyone who replies STOP goes on your stop list, and BlueBot cancels texts to them. [Stop words](https://usebluebot.com/docs/concepts/stop-words)
- A text that can’t go yet waits with a hold rather than failing: quiet hours, your Mac away, a daily limit. [Holds](https://usebluebot.com/docs/concepts/holds)
- [Intercom with BlueBot](https://usebluebot.com/integrations/intercom) on the integrations page says what else the two do together.