Flows
Build interactive WhatsApp Flows in Lynkist — multi-screen forms for booking, lead capture, and surveys, right inside the chat.
A Flow is an interactive form that runs inside WhatsApp. Instead of a back-and-forth of typed questions, the customer taps a button and gets a structured screen with inputs — dropdowns, text fields, dates — and submits it without leaving the chat. Think appointment booking, lead capture, feedback surveys, or order forms.
Flows are powered by Meta's WhatsApp Flows feature; Lynkist gives you a builder so you don't have to write the underlying JSON by hand.
Still rolling out. This feature is not switched on for every workspace yet, so it may not appear in your sidebar. The guide is here so you know what's coming — check What's New for the release, or ask us if you need it sooner.
When to use a Flow vs. a Template vs. the inbox
- Template — one-way structured message (an alert, a promo, an update).
- Inbox reply — free-form human conversation inside the 24-hour window.
- Flow — when you need the customer to give you structured data back: a date, a choice, a filled-in form. Flows collect clean, validated responses instead of parsing free text.
Creating a flow
Go to Flows → Create flow. You'll set:
- Flow name — internal, e.g. Appointment booking.
- Categories — pick at least one. Categories describe the flow's purpose: Meta uses them for review, and the Flows list uses them for filtering. They do not change your screens or add fields — you build those yourself in the next step. Pick more than one when the flow does more than one job (for example a sign-up that also books an appointment).
This creates a Draft flow and opens the builder.
Building screens and fields
A flow is made of one to ten screens, shown in the strip at the top of the builder. The customer moves through them in order, and the last screen submits every answer from all of them at once.
Each screen has:
- A screen title — what the customer reads at the top, e.g. Book an appointment.
- Its own form fields.
- A button label — Continue on a step that goes forward, Submit on the last one.
Use one screen for a short form. Split into steps when a form gets long, or when the questions group naturally (who you are → what you want → confirm).
For each form field you configure:
- Label — what the customer reads.
- Field name (in responses) — the key the answer is stored under, e.g.
full_name. Names are kept unique across the whole flow, so two screens can both ask for a "Name" without one answer overwriting the other. - Options — for choice fields (dropdown, single choice, multiple choice).
- Required — whether the customer must answer before continuing.
What you can put on a screen
| Inputs | Display |
|---|---|
| Short text, Long text, Email, Phone, Number | Heading, Subheading, Paragraph |
| Date, Dropdown | Small print, Rich text (markdown) |
| Single choice, Multiple choice, Opt-in checkbox | Link |
WhatsApp allows up to 49 fields on one screen. The builder stops you before you reach the limit and suggests another screen.
Keep field names stable and descriptive (preferred_date, party_size). If you connect a flow
to automation or the API later, those keys are what you read the responses from.
Builder or Advanced
The Builder tab is the normal way to work, and covers static forms completely.
The Advanced tab shows the same flow as raw Flow JSON — Meta's own format. You need it only for things the visual builder does not model: branching between screens, screens filled from your own server while the customer is reading them, image carousels, or a component Meta released after we built the builder. Anything valid in Flow JSON works there.
Switching from Advanced back to Builder works whenever the visual builder can show the flow faithfully. If it cannot, it says so and keeps you in Advanced rather than quietly dropping the part it does not understand.
Previewing
Preview asks WhatsApp for a link that renders your flow exactly as a customer sees it, and shows it beside the builder. Two things are worth knowing:
- The preview renders the last saved version, not what is on screen right now. A brand-new flow previews as WhatsApp's starter screen until you save your own. Save first, then Reload.
- Reload loads the same link again — that is all you need after a save. New link replaces the link and stops the old one working. Use it only when the link has expired, or when you shared it with someone and want to withdraw it. The link is public to anyone who has it, and it expires on the date shown above the preview.
Previewing works on any account, whatever your messaging limit.
Publishing
Flows move through a lifecycle, shown in the Flows list:
- Draft — editable, not yet usable with customers.
- Published — live and ready to attach to a message. Publishing cannot be undone, and a published flow cannot be edited. To change one, clone it into a new draft.
- Deprecated — retired; kept for reference but no longer sent.
While building, save as a draft and iterate. Every save is checked by WhatsApp, and any problems appear under the editor as validation errors.
What your WhatsApp account must allow
Publishing and sending a flow are limited by WhatsApp, not by Lynkist, and the limits apply to your phone number:
- Publishing needs a daily messaging limit of 2,000 or more. A new number starts at 250.
- Sending a flow to a customer needs the number to pass WhatsApp's integrity checks. Numbers below the 2,000 limit often have flow messages refused, while ordinary messages and templates from the same number keep working normally.
WhatsApp raises your limit on its own as you send good-quality conversations to real customers. Verifying your business in Meta Business Manager helps, but volume is what moves it.
The Flows page shows a panel with exactly where your number stands and what to do about it, so you are never left guessing after a failed action. Building and previewing a flow always works, whatever your limit.
Managing your flows
The Flows list supports filtering by category and status, so a workspace with many flows stays navigable. From here you can edit a draft, publish, deprecate, or delete a flow.