Component functions and configuration in the flow editor - Chat App Message Service

A component is the smallest unit in a flow. You can orchestrate multiple components and configure their data to build an automated data flow. This topic describes each component and its configuration details.

Components

The Configuration column in the following table provides a brief overview of each component’s configuration. For more information, see the documentation linked in the References column.

Component icon	Name	Description	Configuration	References
	Send a Viber message	Sends a Viber message. Users can reply using Viber-specific features.	Supported actions: Fixed send. Reply. Supported message types: Transaction. Marketing. Note Fixed send: Send to a fixed number or variable, using either a selected channel or a parameter.	Send a Viber message
	Send an Instagram message	Sends an Instagram message. Users can reply using Instagram-specific features.	Supported actions: Fixed send. Reply. Both actions support the following message types: Text: Variables are supported. Image: Images are supported. Variables are supported. Quick reply: Variables are supported. Template message: Supports images, message title, subtitle, reply button, link button, button title, and button URL. Variables are supported.	Send an Instagram message
	Send a Messenger message	Sends a Messenger message. Users can reply using Messenger-specific features.	Supported actions: Fixed send. Reply. Both actions support the following message types: Text: Variables are supported. Media: Supports images, audio, video, and files. Variables are supported. Quick reply: Variables are supported. Template message: Supports images, message title, subtitle, reply button, link button, button title, and button URL. Variables are supported.	Send a Messenger message
	Send an SMS message	Sends an SMS message.	After selecting a Sender ID, you can send three types of SMS messages: Verification code. Notification. Marketing.	Send an SMS message
	Send a WhatsApp message	Sends a WhatsApp message. Users can reply using WhatsApp-specific features.	Supported actions: Fixed send. Reply. Both actions support the following message types: Text: Variables are supported. Media: Supports images, audio, video, files, and location. Variables are supported. Interactive message: Supports button groups or interactive lists. Variables are supported. Product message: Supports single-product and multi-product messages. Variables are supported. Template message: Sends approved WhatsApp message templates.	Send a WhatsApp message
	Send a WhatsApp typing indicator	Shows a "typing..." indicator in the current session to let users know a response is coming in a few seconds.	No configuration required. Applies only to WhatsApp messages. Must be used with the Send a WhatsApp message component or the Wait for a WhatsApp response component.	Send a WhatsApp typing indicator
	Wait for a WhatsApp/Viber/Instagram Response	Awaiting user reply to WhatsApp, Viber, or Instagram messages.	Set the wait time for a user response. Enable a timeout branch to define a flow path if the user does not reply within the set time. Customize output variables for use in subsequent components.	Wait for a WhatsApp/Viber/Instagram response
	HTTP request	Sends an HTTP request to a specified URL.	Supported request methods: GET. POST. Add a failure branch to define separate actions for success and failure scenarios.	HTTP request
	Set variables	Define custom variables for use in later steps.	Add a variable and assign it a value, or add a variable without a value for later use by other components.	Set variables
	Jump to node	Jumps to any other step in the flow.	Specify the target component and maximum jump count. When the flow reaches this component, it jumps to the specified component. After reaching the maximum jump count, the flow proceeds normally instead of jumping again.	Go to component
	Wait	Waits for a period of time.	Set the wait duration. The flow resumes after the time elapses.	Wait
	Conditional branch	Splits the flow into branches based on conditions to execute different operations.	Define condition logic by adding rules or rule groups: And: All rules in a branch must be satisfied. Or: Any rule in a branch can be satisfied. Supported rule variables: incoming message: User mobile-originated message. wabaId: WhatsApp Business Account ID. Usually found on the WhatsApp channel action page. wabaPhoneNumber: Phone number attached to the WABA. Typically used to send messages to users. customerPhoneNumber: User's phone number. customerName: User's name. Supported match conditions: dateEquals: Date equals. dateGreaterThan: Date greater than. dateLessThan: Date less than. numberEquals: Number equals. numberGreaterThan: Number greater than. numberLessThan: Number less than. stringContains: String contains. stringEquals: String equals. stringStartsWith: String starts with. stringlsBlank: String is empty. stringlsNotBlank: String is not empty. stringEntireMatchesRegex: Entire string matches a regular expression. stringAnyMatchesRegex: Any part of the string matches a regular expression.	Conditional branch
	Date/time branch	Changes flow execution based on multiple date/time conditions.	Define conditions using date, time range, and day of week. Set a time zone.	Date/time branch
	Random branch	Routes the flow to a random branch based on probability. Useful for diverse messaging or A/B testing.	Set probabilities for each branch. The total must equal 100%.	Random branch
	Recognize entities in text	Automatically identifies specific information or data (entities) for reuse in later steps.	Specify the source text or data to analyze and configure recognition parameters. Currently supports phone numbers and email addresses.	Recognize entities in text
	Recognize language from text	Identifies the language of a message and converts it into a variable for reuse.	Automatically detects the language of user mobile-originated messages and stores it as a variable.	Recognize language from text
	Call a function	Invokes your custom function in Alibaba Cloud Function Compute. Use this component to implement custom business logic such as data processing, remote service invocation, message delivery, and data storage.	To use this component, activate Function Compute and configure your function in the Function Compute console.	Call a function
	Recognize phone number	Identifies the dialing code or ISO two-letter country code from an internationally formatted phone number.	Outputs the dialing code or country code from the input phone number. Supports different configurations per branch. Example: For 8613012345678, the dialing code is 86 and the ISO two-letter country code is CN.	Recognize phone number
	Forward to flow	Forwards to another flow and immediately ends the current flow.	Select another flow that has already been created.	Forward to flow
	Sentiment/topic classification	Classifies text into custom sentiment or topic tags.	Analyzes input variables or text and outputs custom sentiment or topic tags. Configure different branches based on sentiment tags. This component requires Alibaba Cloud Model Studio.	Sentiment/topic classification
	Natural language generation	Uses a Large Language Model (LLM) for multi-turn conversation, knowledge retrieval, and content generation.	Configure a model or application to enable natural language generation.	Natural language generation
	Natural language conversation	Connects to a large language model and processes incoming messages during the model’s response wait time to maintain conversation continuity.	Configure a model or application to enable natural language conversation.	Natural language conversation
	Add to group	Adds a user to a group.	Adds the user’s phone number and name to the specified group.	Add to group
	Remove from group	Removes a user from a group.	Removes the user from the specified group.	Remove from group
	Send an email	You can send an email.	Select an email channel and a message template to send the email.	Send an email