How to automate Instagram DMs for an online store without breaking Meta's rules

What Meta lets an automated account do

Conversations begin only when an Instagram user messages you. Meta's Instagram messaging documentation says that your app has 24 hours to respond to any message a user sends to your account. Meta's policy for the Messenger Platform and the Instagram Messaging API adds that messages inside the 24-hour window may contain promotional content, so a product link or a discount code in a reply is fine.

After the window closes, the options narrow. Meta's messaging documentation describes a separate 7-day Human Agent window, which lets a person reply manually after the automated window has closed. The policy page states that One-time Notification, News Messaging and Sponsored Messaging are not available for the Instagram Messaging API, so there is no automated promotional follow-up outside the window.

What is allowed in common store situations

Disclose that the chat is automated

Meta's policy says that where legally required, automated chat experiences must disclose that a person is interacting with an automated service. It names the start of a thread, a significant lapse in time, and the moment a chat moves from a human to an automated reply. It flags California and German users for extra attention and recommends disclosure as good practice even where the law does not demand it. A short first line such as "I'm the store's AI assistant, and a teammate can step in any time" covers it.

Set it up so Meta's rules are the default

• Use an Instagram professional account, and give any tool you connect only the permissions it needs. Kylix also needs the account linked to a Facebook Page.
• Get people to message first. A link in your bio, an ad that opens a DM or a story sticker all do this.
• Treat comment replies as a one-shot. Meta allows a single private reply per comment, and it has to be sent in time.
• Keep a human path. Decide in advance which topics (refunds, damaged items, anything sensitive) go to a person, and make sure someone can answer inside 24 hours.
• Plan for reconnection. Ask how often your tool needs you to reconnect Instagram, because a lapse stops replies until you do.

Limits worth knowing before you write replies

• Text and links must be 1,000 bytes or less, so keep replies short and put detail behind a link. Meta's messaging documentation also lists images, audio, video and PDFs as supported types.
• Group messaging is not supported, and messages in the requests folder that have been inactive for 30 days are not returned by the API.
• Misusing message tags is a policy risk. Meta's policy says use of tags outside approved use cases may result in restrictions on your ability to send messages.

How Kylix handles Instagram

Kylix's Instagram DM channel is included from Starter and connects through Meta with the Facebook Page linked to your professional account. It replies only within 24 hours of the customer's last message, which matches Meta's rule. It can recognise the buyer from their Shopify order, answer, create a discount code and send a checkout link in the thread.

When a person should take over, the full conversation goes to your shared inbox under Needs you. If you reply from the inbox, Kylix pauses on that thread for 12 hours so the two of you do not talk over each other, and you can hand the conversation back. Access needs a reconnect about every 60 days. Replies to Instagram comments with a DM offer are coming soon and are not live.