The Inbox: AI, human takeover, and everything between

The Inbox is every DM conversation across your connected accounts, with the AI's work visible and a human takeover always one message away.

01Live, always

The inbox updates itself: the conversation list refreshes about every 20 seconds and the thread you have open refreshes every few seconds — new lead replies just appear, no reloading. Updates pause while the tab is in the background and catch up the moment you return.

02What makes a conversation a Lead

Your own opt-in keywords decide. Every keyword you set on an automation rule or on a flow's trigger counts — when an incoming DM or comment contains one, that conversation becomes a Lead, lands in your Leads view, and your AI setter picks it up. Keywords match whole words, so a keyword of pro won't fire on "problem".

This is deliberate: a DM that matches none of your keywords is left alone. The AI never replies to it, so your personal and off-topic conversations stay yours.

Nothing is hidden from you, though: every DM lands in the All view whether it matched a keyword or not. Matching decides who your AI setter answers, not what you can see.

If your Leads view is empty and it shouldn't be, you probably have no keywords set yet. Add them on any rule in Automations, or on your flow's trigger in the flow builder — new keywords take effect within a minute, no reconnect needed. Pick the words people actually send you ("demo", "pricing", "info", your offer's name), and see Recovering leads that slipped through the cracks to scan back through recent DMs for anyone missed before you set them.

03Views

• Leads — conversations that matched one of your keywords. This is your working list.
• Suggested — conversations that look promising but haven't crossed the lead threshold. Promote them to Leads with one click, or mark Not a lead to clean the list. The badge count matches what's actually in the list for the profile you're viewing.
• Needs attention — every conversation where a human is the bottleneck, in one queue: a message failed to send, the AI handed the thread to you, or a lead has been waiting on a reply for 2+ hours. Each row is tagged with the reason, worst first.
• All — every conversation on your connected accounts, including the ones that matched no keyword. Use it to check nothing was missed, to reply by hand, or to spot words worth adding to your keywords. Your AI setter does not reply to these unless they qualify.
• Filters for unread, platform, and pipeline stage; a search box for names and recent messages; and ⌘K quick-search from anywhere in the app.

04AI modes (per conversation)

Every conversation has an AI switch:

• Auto — the AI replies on its own. Default for qualified leads.
• Off / Human — automation is paused; the conversation is yours.

Sending a manual reply automatically pauses the AI for that conversation — you'll never fight your own assistant for the keyboard. The contact panel shows an "AI takeover" badge so the state is always visible. Flip the switch back to Auto to hand the conversation back.

You can reply by text, a voice note, or an image or video — the media button in the composer uploads and sends it right in the thread (image ≤8MB, video ≤25MB MP4/MOV — Instagram/Facebook's own DM caps, so anything that uploads will send).

05Lead context

The side panel shows the lead's pipeline stage, tags, source (which post/comment or story started it), qualification answers the AI captured, and free-form notes (auto-captured by the AI, editable by you).

06The reply-window chip

Each open conversation shows a small clock chip: how long is left in Meta's 24-hour automation window (green, turning amber near the end), manual replies only once it lapses (your team can still type for up to 7 days), or window closed beyond that. Hover it for the plain-English explanation — see Messaging rules for the full picture.

07Message states — honesty built in

Outgoing messages show real states: sending, delivered, failed (with retry). If SetterStack isn't sure a message landed, it says so rather than pretending.

08Booked detection

When a lead books through your link, the conversation is marked Booked ✓ automatically (via your GHL integration — see Integrations) and the AI stands down gracefully.

09When the AI needs you

Some conversations escalate: explicit "I want to talk to a person," payment questions, or anything your rules mark as human-only. You'll see it in the bell — and in Slack/Discord if connected. The "Get me a human" hotline template lets leads page your team with a keyword.

10Keyboard

j / k move through conversations; ⌘K searches everything.