> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.watx.in/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# DM agents

> What answers an Instagram DM when nobody on your team has yet — the order the engines are consulted in, and the Instagram rules that change how an agent behaves.

**Channels → Instagram → DM agents** reports what would answer an incoming Instagram DM
right now, and what is different about Instagram when it does.

It is not a second AI setup screen. Agents, automations and knowledge are shared with
WhatsApp and the website — one agent can cover all three — and this page links to the same
editors rather than duplicating them.

## Who replies first

Every inbound Instagram DM is offered to the engines in order, and **the first one that
handles it stops the rest**, so a customer gets one reply rather than three.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Comment funnels">
    If the DM is a tap on a button a [comment funnel](/instagram/comment-funnels) sent, the
    funnel owns it and carries the person to the next step.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Automations">
    Active rules with a message trigger — a new message, a first message, a keyword match,
    a story reply. Set them up under [Automations](/automations/overview), or through
    [Intents](/instagram/intents) for keyword rules.
  </Step>

  <Step title="An AI agent">
    Answers anything the rules above did not. Its name, model and per-conversation reply
    limit are shown on this page when one covers Instagram.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  [Flows](/flows/overview) are WhatsApp-only. A flow can send lists, templates and catalogue
  products, none of which exist on Instagram, so the flow engine is not offered on this
  channel. Automations are the channel-agnostic engine and do run here.
</Note>

## Which agent answers

A workspace can run several agents. An Instagram DM reaches the first **active** agent
whose channels include Instagram — or whose channel list is **empty**, which means every
channel. Agents are consulted in their priority order, and there is no fallback beyond
that: an agent scoped only to WhatsApp will not answer an Instagram thread just because it
is the only agent you have.

Once an agent has replied in a conversation it stays with that thread, so reordering your
agents does not change who the customer is talking to mid-sentence. Full detail on
[Routing](/ai-agents/routing).

This page names the agent that would answer, its model, and how many times it will reply
in one conversation. If that agent covers Instagram but auto-reply is off, it says so —
the agent then drafts replies for a human to send rather than answering by itself. See
[Test mode and playground](/ai-agents/testing).

## How agents behave differently on Instagram

Each of these produces a "why didn't the bot reply?" question if you do not know it up
front, so the page states them plainly.

**Nothing replies outside the 24-hour window.** An agent can only answer within 24 hours of
the customer's last message. Unlike WhatsApp there is no template to re-open a closed
thread, so a rule that fires late simply cannot send.

**Replies you send from the Instagram app do not trigger agents.** They appear in the
Inbox so the history is complete, but the engines ignore them deliberately — otherwise the
assistant would answer your own messages.

**Template and catalogue steps are skipped.** Instagram supports neither. A shared
automation containing one still runs; that step is refused with a logged reason rather than
sending something unintended. See
[Channels and the 24-hour window](/automations/channels-and-window).

**List messages are not supported.** Use a buttons step instead — Instagram allows up to 13
quick replies.

## Turning it off

Auto-reply, test mode and the per-conversation reply cap are all agent settings, under
[AI agents](/ai-agents/overview). If a bot is silent and you cannot see why, the readiness
checklist on the agent is the place to look — it mirrors the same gates in the same order.
See [Why is my agent silent?](/ai-agents/readiness).