What the WhatsApp agent can handle

What the WhatsApp agent does when patients message your clinic, what it passes to your team, and what it can't do yet.

KeelOwnerFront DeskguideChecked 2026-10-10

Purpose

When a patient messages your clinic on WhatsApp, the agent answers first. It answers from what Keel holds, books into real open times, and passes anything it can't finish to your team. This page shows what it handles, where you see the result, and what it can't do yet.

Before you start

your clinic's WhatsApp is connected by the Airgent team. See Prepare WhatsApp setup.

the Front desk page under AI roles has no settings yet. The agent's conversations are in Inbox.

Steps

Step 1: Check your plan includes it

Docheck your plan's agents in Understand Keel offerings.

the trial doesn't include the WhatsApp agent, and not every plan does.

Step 2: Give it your clinic's facts

Dofill in your clinic details and opening hours, and set each doctor's weekly hours.

Sothe agent answers and books only from these. It never guesses an address, a doctor or a time.

it offers the services you've approved on your rate card, with the doctors who perform them. See Make a service bookable.

Step 3: Read what it did

Doopen Inbox and select a conversation.

You'll seethe patient's messages marked PATIENT and the agent's replies marked ASSISTANT.

Soyou can always check exactly what a patient was told.

Result

Patient wants to…	The agent…	Where you see it
Know your address, specialties or doctors	Answers from your clinic details	The reply in Inbox
Know when you, or a doctor, are open	Answers from your saved hours and says whose hours they are	The reply in Inbox
Find a time	Lists the doctor's real open times, up to 8 at once	Open times: in the reply
Book	Reads back who it's for, the doctor, the day, date and time, waits for a yes, then books	Booked: in the reply, and the appointment in Calendar
Move or cancel an upcoming visit	Recognises them by their WhatsApp number and name. If it can't tell who they are, it passes the request to your front desk	Calendar, or Inbox › Handed over
Speak to someone, or ask something it can't answer	Takes a message for your team	Inbox › Handed over
Send a voice note	Transcribes it and answers	The reply in Inbox
Send a photo or document	Asks them to type their message instead	The reply in Inbox

Limits

it never gives medical advice.

it replies in the language of the patient's latest message: English, Hindi, Hinglish, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Odia, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada or Malayalam. Other languages get a reply in English.

your greeting and notice stay in English or Hindi, and the Booked: confirmation is in English.

telling patients your fees is not available yet.

a separate "when is my appointment?" look-up is not available yet.

checking in by WhatsApp is not available yet. Check patients in at the desk.

putting a patient through to a person live is not available. A hand-over is a call back.

payment links are not available.

alerting your team about a possible emergency works only where it's switched on for your clinic. It's off by default.

phone calls are handled by the voice agent, which works differently.

Verification details

Checked against the Keel product source and in the live product on 2026-10-10. The Front desk page without settings, and Inbox list previews of the agent's booking confirmations, hand-over replies, the reply to a non-text message and replies in several languages, were observed. Opening a conversation, the read-back before booking and messaging the agent were not exercised.