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

# Instagram and Messenger

> Connect Instagram DM and Facebook Messenger, and understand the 24-hour window and the narrower tool surface.

Instagram DM and Facebook Messenger connect together, because Meta delivers both to a single
webhook. Connecting one and not the other is a matter of which page and account you attach, not two
separate integrations.

## Connecting

Under **Settings, then Channels**, connect the Facebook Page and the Instagram professional account
you want the agent to answer for. Each channel stores its own page access token, so the two can be
connected independently and revoked independently.

## The 24-hour window

Both channels enforce a 24-hour messaging window after the customer's last message. Inside it, the
agent replies freely. Outside it, the conversation cannot be reopened by you.

This is stricter than WhatsApp, which at least allows an approved template outside the window. On
Instagram and Messenger there is no template equivalent for a general business reply, so a
conversation that goes cold stays cold until the customer writes again.

The platform enforces this before attempting a send, so you get a clear skipped state rather than a
Meta API error.

## Identity

Meta identifies a DM sender by an opaque, per-app id rather than by a phone number or an email
address. That id is stable for your app, so a returning customer is recognised as the same person on
the same channel.

It cannot be matched to a phone number. Someone who DMs you on Instagram and later calls you is two
customer records until they give you a detail that links them. See
[Memory and state](/agent/memory).

## What the agent can do

The DM channels carry a narrower tool surface than voice or WhatsApp. The agent answers from your
knowledge, qualifies, and escalates. Where a tool would promise something the channel cannot deliver
reliably, the agent is told it does not have that tool rather than being left to offer it and fail.

Escalation works normally: the thread lands in your inbox and your alerting rules fire.

## In the inbox

Instagram and Messenger conversations appear alongside every other channel, with their own filter
chips and channel badges. Nothing about working the thread differs.

## Limits

* No sending outside the 24-hour window.
* No group threads.
* Story replies and mentions arrive as ordinary inbound messages where Meta forwards them.
* Identity cannot be reconciled with phone-based channels automatically.