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Behavior rules let you define exactly how Whatsy handles messages before the LLM ever gets involved. Each rule pairs a condition (what to look for in an incoming message) with an action (what to do when that condition matches). Use rules to suppress replies for certain contacts, enforce quiet hours, route specific conversations to a different persona, or silently archive spam — all without writing any code.

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Creating a behavior rule

1

Open the Behaviors view

Open the Whatsy app and click Behaviors in the left sidebar. You’ll see a list of your existing rules, each showing its condition type, trigger value, and current enabled/disabled state.
2

Add a new rule

Click the + New Rule button in the top-right corner. The rule editor opens as a sheet on top of the Behaviors view.
3

Name the rule

Enter a descriptive name in the Rule Name field so you can identify it at a glance (e.g. “Skip newsletter keywords”, “Work contacts – formal persona”, “Quiet hours 10pm–8am”).
4

Choose a condition type

Open the Condition dropdown and select one of the four condition types:
  • Keyword Match — triggers when the message text contains a specific word or phrase
  • Contact Label — triggers for contacts tagged with a specific WhatsApp label
  • Time of Day — triggers during a specified hour range
  • Message Type — triggers for a specific media type (e.g. image, video, any)
5

Enter the condition value

Fill in the value field that appears below the condition picker. The label updates to guide you — for example, Keyword to match, Contact label, or Hours range (e.g. 9-17). Enter the exact text, label name, hour range, or message type you want to match.
6

Choose an action

Open the Action dropdown and select what Whatsy should do when the condition matches:
  • Skip Reply — ignores the message; no reply is sent
  • Reply with Persona — uses a specific persona instead of the currently active one
  • Notify Only — logs the message without sending a reply
  • Archive — archives the conversation automatically
7

Enable and save

Make sure the Enabled toggle is on, then click Save. The rule appears in your Behaviors list immediately and begins applying to incoming messages.

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Condition types

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Action types

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Example rules

Here are three real-world rules you can create right away: 1. Ignore marketing messages 2. Route work contacts to a formal persona 3. Enforce quiet hours overnight
Rules are evaluated from top to bottom in the order they appear in your Behaviors list. The first rule whose condition matches a given message is the one that gets applied — subsequent rules are not checked. If you need more specific rules to take priority, drag them above more general ones.
To test whether a rule is triggering correctly, temporarily pause auto-reply using the Running / Paused toggle on the Dashboard, send yourself a test message from another phone, then check the Activity Logs view. Each log entry shows which action was taken (replied, skipped, archived, etc.) so you can verify the rule fired as expected.