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Meta (Instagram & Messenger)

Meta owns Facebook and Instagram, and both messaging channels are connected to Faberiq the same way: you sign in with Facebook and approve permissions. This is the longest setup of any channel, not because Faberiq needs much, but because Meta has strict requirements about which kinds of accounts may use messaging APIs. This guide walks through all of it from zero.

Faberiq has two Meta messaging connectors, and this guide covers both:

  • Instagram Messenger: your AI agent answers Instagram DMs.
  • Facebook Messenger: your AI agent answers messages sent to your Facebook Page.

(There are also Instagram Business and Facebook Page connectors for responding to post comments; they connect the same way.)

Prerequisites​

Meta will not let any tool, Faberiq included, read messages sent to a personal profile. Everything must run through business assets. Before you touch Faberiq, make sure you have:

  1. A Facebook Page for your business. If you do not have one, create it at facebook.com/pages/create. A Page is free and takes a few minutes. You must be an admin of the Page.
  2. For Instagram: a professional account linked to that Page. Two parts:
    • Convert the Instagram account to a professional account: in the Instagram app, open your profile, open the menu, then Settings, then look for Account type and tools and choose Switch to professional account. Pick Business.
    • Link it to your Facebook Page: during the conversion Instagram offers to connect a Page, or later via Instagram's settings under business tools (Connect a Facebook Page), or from the Facebook Page's settings under Linked accounts. The link is what lets the API find your Instagram account through the Page.
  3. Allow message access for connected tools (Instagram only). In the Instagram app, open Settings, then Messages and story replies (the exact wording varies slightly by app version), then Message controls, and enable the option that allows access to messages for connected tools. If this toggle is off, Meta silently withholds your DMs from the API and nothing arrives in Faberiq.
  4. A Meta Business Portfolio (formerly Business Manager) is recommended, and required for some features such as WhatsApp and business verification. Create one at business.facebook.com if you are asked for it along the way.

What the Faberiq Dialog Actually Asks For​

Nothing secret. Both Messenger connectors use OAuth: the connect dialog has no token field at all. You never generate or paste a Page access token; Faberiq obtains and refreshes tokens itself after you sign in.

The only fields you may see are optional disambiguators:

  • Instagram Business connector: optional Page ID and Instagram account ID, for people who manage several Pages or Instagram accounts and want to pin which one this connector binds to.
  • Facebook Page connector: optional Page ID, same purpose.
  • Instagram Messenger and Facebook Messenger: no fields.

The dialog also displays a read-only Webhook Callback URL and OAuth Redirect URL. On the hosted Faberiq platform you can ignore both; they matter only if you operate your own Meta app (see the last section).

Connect Instagram DMs, Step by Step​

  1. In Faberiq, open Workflow, then the Connectors tab.
  2. Find Instagram Messenger in the catalogue and click it.
  3. Name the connection (for example "Shop Instagram") and continue.
  4. On the Configure step, click Continue. A Facebook login popup opens.
  5. Sign in with the Facebook account that administers your Page (not a customer-facing Instagram login; the OAuth runs through Facebook).
  6. Meta shows the permissions Faberiq requests. For Instagram messaging these include instagram_basic, instagram_manage_messages, instagram_manage_comments, pages_show_list, pages_read_engagement, and pages_manage_metadata. Approve them, and when Meta asks which Pages and Instagram accounts to share, include the ones you want connected. Denying a permission here is the most common cause of a broken connection.
  7. The popup closes and Faberiq finishes automatically: it finds your Page, follows the link to your Instagram professional account, and subscribes both to message events. The connector card turns connected and shows the Page name, Page ID, Instagram account ID, and Instagram username it bound to.
  8. On the Skills step, keep Receive messages and Respond to messages enabled and finish.

If you manage several Pages and Faberiq picked the wrong one, open the connector again, fill the Page ID (and for Instagram Business the Instagram account ID) field, save, and reconnect.

Connect Facebook Messenger, Step by Step​

Identical flow with the Facebook Messenger connector:

  1. Connectors tab, click Facebook Messenger, name it, continue.
  2. Click Continue and sign in with Facebook in the popup.
  3. Approve the requested permissions. For Messenger these include pages_messaging (the right to send and receive Page messages), pages_show_list, pages_read_user_content, pages_manage_engagement, pages_manage_metadata, and pages_read_engagement.
  4. Faberiq selects your Page (honoring a configured Page ID if you set one), subscribes it to message events, and marks the connector connected.
  5. Keep both skills enabled and finish.

Put a Workflow Behind the Channel​

A connected channel does nothing until a workflow listens on it:

  • Recipes: install Instagram Messenger Bot, Facebook Messenger Bot, or the full AI Front Desk recipe (Instagram DMs plus Google Calendar booking plus Square quotes) from the Recipes tab.
  • Existing workflow: open Workflow Settings and check the channel under Channels. Every checked channel becomes an entry point, and the agent replies on whichever channel the customer used.

Testing​

Send your Page or Instagram account a DM from a different account than the one that administers it (message yourself and Meta may not deliver an event). Expect the agent's reply within a few seconds.

If the platform's Meta app is still in development mode (see below), only people with a role on the app receive bot behavior; a random customer's messages will not arrive. On the hosted Faberiq platform the app is live and any customer can message you.

The 24-Hour Messaging Window​

Meta policy, not a Faberiq setting: a business may send ordinary messages to a person only within 24 hours of that person's last message. Inside the window your agent replies freely. Outside it, Meta rejects the send. In practice this rarely matters for a support or sales bot, because it only ever replies to a message the customer just sent, but it does mean you cannot use this channel to broadcast to customers who have gone quiet for more than a day.

Troubleshooting​

SymptomLikely cause and fix
Customer messages never reach the workflowWork down this list: the connector shows connected; the workflow has the channel checked in Workflow Settings; for Instagram, the message access toggle from the prerequisites is enabled; the sender is not the Page/Instagram account itself; if the Meta app is in development mode, the sender has a role on the app.
OAuth completes but Faberiq says "No Facebook pages found for this account"You signed in with a Facebook account that does not admin any Page, or you unchecked the Page on Meta's asset-sharing screen. Reconnect and grant access to the Page.
Faberiq reports the configured Page ID is not availableThe Page ID you typed does not belong to the account you signed in with. The error lists the Pages that are available; copy the right ID or clear the field.
Faberiq cannot find an Instagram accountThe Instagram account is not a professional account, or it is not linked to the Page you shared. Fix the link (prerequisite 2) and reconnect.
Replies suddenly fail after weeks of workingThe stored token expired or you changed the Page/Instagram password or removed the app in Facebook settings, which invalidates tokens. Open the connector and run Continue again to re-authenticate.
Reply rejected for a specific customerUsually the 24-hour window: the customer's last message is older than 24 hours.
Everything looks right and DMs still do not arriveMeta occasionally drops a Page's webhook subscription. Open the connector in Faberiq and reconnect; Faberiq re-subscribes the Page and Instagram account on every successful OAuth.

Running Your Own Meta App (Self-Hosted Deployments Only)​

Skip this section on the hosted platform. If you operate your own Faberiq deployment, the OAuth sign-in and webhooks run through a Meta app that you own, and you must build it once:

  1. Create the app: go to developers.facebook.com, choose My Apps, then Create App. Pick the Business app type (or the use case that includes business messaging) and attach your Business Portfolio.
  2. Add products: from the app dashboard add Messenger, and for DMs add the Instagram messaging product (Meta labels it Instagram or Messenger API for Instagram depending on console version). Add Webhooks if it is not added automatically.
  3. Collect credentials: in the app's Settings, then Basic, copy the App ID and App Secret into the deployment's META_APP_ID and META_APP_SECRET environment variables.
  4. Configure the webhook: in the Messenger product's webhook settings, set the Callback URL to the value the Faberiq connect dialog shows as Webhook Callback URL (by default https://<your-host>/webhooks/meta), and set the Verify token to the same string you configured as META_WEBHOOK_VERIFY_TOKEN in the deployment. Meta immediately sends a verification request that Faberiq answers automatically; if the tokens do not match, Meta shows a validation error. Subscribe to the messages field for pages, and to messages and comments for Instagram.
  5. Register the redirect URI: add the dialog's OAuth Redirect URL (https://<your-host>/oauth/meta/callback) to the app's Facebook Login settings under valid OAuth redirect URIs.
  6. Development mode and testers: a new app starts in development mode. Only users who hold a role on the app (administrator, developer, or tester, managed under App roles) can exercise messaging. Add your test accounts there.
  7. Business verification and App Review: to serve the public, verify your business in the Business Portfolio's Security Center (legal documents, a few days of review), then request Advanced Access in App Review for the permissions listed earlier in this guide (pages_messaging, instagram_manage_messages, and the companions Meta bundles with them). You record a short screencast showing the message-and-reply flow. Until advanced access is granted, the app works only for role holders.

Meta renames console sections regularly; when in doubt, search the app dashboard for "Webhooks", "Roles", and "App Review".