Saved reply and chat action variables

A variable is a name in double curly braces, like {{contact_name}}. Saved replies and chat actions replace it with a real value when they run. The two use different names.

Template variables like {{1}} are a different thing. See Use variables in a template.

Saved reply variables

Use these in Inbox > Saved replies (opens Soosh in a new tab), in Content and in the text of each button (its title, link and phone number). Soosh fills them in when an agent picks the reply in a chat.

Variable	Replaced with	Example
{{contact_name}}	The customer’s WhatsApp profile name. there if the chat has no name.	Priya Sharma
{{phone_number}}	The customer’s number in international format, without +.	919812345678
{{agent_name}}	The full name of the member sending the reply.	Ravi
{{user_name}}	Same as {{agent_name}}. The editor has no button for it.	Ravi

In the editor, Customer name, Phone number and Your name insert {{contact_name}}, {{phone_number}} and {{agent_name}}.

Example content, sent by Ravi in Priya’s chat:

Hi {{contact_name}}, this is {{agent_name}} from Blue Lotus Fashion.

Hi Priya Sharma, this is Ravi from Blue Lotus Fashion.

Blanks

Any other name is a blank. Blank to fill inserts {{variable}} with the name selected so you can type over it.

Rule	Detail
Characters allowed in a name	Letters A to Z, digits, _, . and -. A name with a space or any other character isn’t a variable and is sent as typed.
Spaces inside the braces	Ignored. {{ order_id }} is the same as {{order_id}}.
Capital letters	Names are case-sensitive. {{Contact_Name}} is a blank, not the customer’s name.
What the agent sees	A gap in the message, labelled with the name with _, . and - shown as spaces. {{order_id}} reads as order id.
Same name twice	One gap. The agent’s entry fills every place the name appears.
Empty blank	The agent can’t send until every gap has text. The footer shows 1 blank to fill, or 2 blanks to fill and so on, then Ready to send.
Length	Up to 4,096 characters per gap.

Example content with a blank:

Hi {{contact_name}}, your order {{order_id}} is on its way.

Ravi types BLF-20418 into the gap. Priya gets:

Hi Priya Sharma, your order BLF-20418 is on its way.

Older replies

Replies written with single braces, like {contact_name}, are read as {{contact_name}}. This works for contact_name, phone_number, agent_name and user_name only.

With Mask phone numbers on

The chat gives the reply the masked number, so {{phone_number}} is sent as the masked number, like ********5678, and the customer sees it.

Chat action variables

Chat actions use paths with a dot, like {{contact.phone_number}}. They’re replaced in these fields:

Action type	Fields
Webhook (Call external API)	Webhook URL, the value of each header under Headers (optional), and Request body (JSON)
Open URL (Open in browser)	URL

They aren’t replaced in HTTP method, in header names, or in JavaScript (Run custom code) actions. A JavaScript action gets the same data as objects named contact, user and organization instead.

Variable	Replaced with	Example
{{contact.id}}	The contact’s ID.	3f2a1c9e-0000-0000-0000-000000000001
{{contact.name}}	The customer’s WhatsApp profile name. Empty if none.	Priya Sharma
{{contact.profile_name}}	Same as {{contact.name}}.	Priya Sharma
{{contact.phone_number}}	The customer’s number in international format, without +.	919812345678
{{contact.tags}}	The contact’s tags as a JSON list.	["VIP"]
{{contact.metadata}}	The contact’s extra details as a JSON object.	{"city":"Pune"}
{{user.id}}	The ID of the member who clicked the action.	7c1d4b2a-0000-0000-0000-000000000002
{{user.name}}	That member’s full name.	Ravi
{{user.email}}	That member’s email.	[email protected]
{{organization.id}}	The workspace’s ID.	b5e0a8d3-0000-0000-0000-000000000003
{{organization.name}}	The workspace’s name.	Blue Lotus Fashion

The action form lists {{contact.name}}, {{contact.phone_number}}, {{user.name}} and {{user.email}}.

Example Open URL link:

https://crm.example.com/contact?phone={{contact.phone_number}}

https://crm.example.com/contact?phone=919812345678

Example Request body (JSON), run by Ravi on Priya’s chat:

{
  "subject": "WhatsApp: {{contact.name}}",
  "phone": "{{contact.phone_number}}",
  "agent": "{{user.name}}"
}

{
  "subject": "WhatsApp: Priya Sharma",
  "phone": "919812345678",
  "agent": "Ravi"
}

With Request body (JSON) left empty, a webhook action sends the whole contact, user and organization data as JSON.

Empty and unknown variables

You write	Soosh sends
A known variable with no value, like {{contact.name}} for a contact with no name	Nothing: an empty string.
A name that doesn’t exist, like {{contact.nickname}} or {{nickname}}	Nothing: an empty string.
A path that goes through something that isn’t an object, like {{nickname.first}} or {{contact.name.first}}	The text as you typed it, braces included.
{{contact.metadata.city}}	The text as you typed it. Fields inside contact.metadata can’t be picked out; use {{contact.metadata}} for the whole object.
{{contact}}, {{user}} or {{organization}}	The whole object as JSON.
Text with only one brace, or no name, like {contact.name} or {{}}	The text as you typed it.

Names are case-sensitive, and spaces around the name are ignored.

How values are inserted

Soosh escapes each value for the field it goes into, so a value can’t break what it lands in:

• In a URL (Webhook URL, or URL for Open URL), values are encoded for a link: a space becomes %20, and &, /, ? and . are encoded too. Priya & Co goes in as Priya%20%26%20Co. Use them in the path or the query, like ?name={{contact.name}}.
• In Request body (JSON), text is escaped as inside a JSON string, so put the variable inside quote marks: "name": "{{contact.name}}". A name with a quote mark stays valid JSON. Lists and objects, like {{contact.tags}} and {{contact.metadata}}, go in as JSON, so leave those without quote marks.
• In a header value, a line break becomes a space, so a value stays on its header’s line.

A Webhook URL must write out its host, like https://crm.example.com/.... A variable before the path, like https://{{contact.name}}.example.com, makes the action fail, because the headers can carry your keys.

Chat actions send the customer’s real number even when Mask phone numbers is on.

Related

• Create a saved reply
• Use saved replies
• Create a chat action
• Run a chat action
• Hide customers’ phone numbers