Turning on autopilot: the 90 % benchmark
Autopilot sends a reply straight to the customer, with no review. 0seat opens it category by category, only where the measurement shows that agents send the drafts unchanged; the owner or an administrator can also force it on an inbox. This guide describes what the server always refuses, how the measurement works and how to turn it on.
What “autopilot” means
In draft mode, the proposed reply lands as a private note and an agent sends it. In autopilot mode, it goes straight to the customer, with no review. That is the only difference, and it changes everything: a wrong draft costs a review, a wrong automatic reply costs a customer.
An inbox in autopilot does not send everything. A reply goes out on its own only if its category is open on that inbox, if it rests on approved entries, if the customer’s message mentions neither money, a dispute, a cancellation nor a request for a person, and if the assistant has not already answered twice in the conversation. Otherwise it lands as a private note, exactly as in draft mode.
What the server refuses outright
Three refusals are decided on the server, never by the console, and a declaration does not lift them.
- Payments inbox: declared as such, or whose name contains payment, billing, invoice or settlement, in French or English. Draft mode only.
- WhatsApp outside the official API: a WhatsApp channel whose provider is not Meta’s Cloud API, an API channel whose name mentions WhatsApp, or an inbox declared as such. Draft mode only.
- Unverified identity with WHMCS active: without mandatory HMAC verification on all your web widgets, a visitor can claim to be another customer and receive their data. Until that is fixed in your instance, autopilot is refused on the whole space.
The 90 % benchmark
A category opens on an inbox only when, over the last 30 days and at least 20 judged drafts, agents sent at least 90 % of them unchanged. Below that, the agent corrects too often for review to be taken away. The console shows the rate per category and only lets you open the ones that meet the criterion.
The rule holds after opening: when the rate drops below 85 %, 0seat closes the category again on its own and its replies go back to drafts. A kill switch on the space stops every automatic send at once.
Turn it on, step by step
- Switch the inbox to draft mode and let it run: handoff on money, disputes, cancellations, requests for a person and second follow-ups applies in every mode.
- Review the base category by category: an autopilot inbox is only as good as its approved entries. Below the similarity threshold, the assistant hands over rather than improvising; in autopilot, that behaviour stays.
- Follow the rate of drafts sent unchanged per category in the console. Note recurring corrections and fix the entries, not the drafts.
- If WHMCS is active, make HMAC verification mandatory on every web widget of your instance; otherwise the “unverified identity” refusal remains.
- Switch the inbox to “Automatic”, then open the categories that meet the criterion. Keep the payments inbox in draft mode: that will not change.
Forcing autopilot on an inbox
The owner or an administrator of the organisation can force autopilot on an inbox: every category opens without waiting for the measurement. The other locks remain: a conversation about money, a dispute, a cancellation or a request for a person never gets an automatic reply, and forbidden terms block sending.
On a forced inbox, a handoff gets a fixed public acknowledgement telling the customer that a person is taking over, and the assistant’s notes stay private. Forcing is a choice made for an inbox you trust, not a default.