Instagram DM automation.Answered in seconds.
When someone DMs a keyword, mentions you in a story or opens your link, Breakreach answers in seconds: your link, a question with buttons, a check that they follow you, and a handoff to your team when a person should take over. Included in every plan, from $29 a month.
DM hasprice
northbeam.coffee
Instagram · Direct
Hi! What's your wholesale price for 10 kg?
Here's our café price list, free shipping from 5 kg 👇
See the price list
1 hour later
They opened the price list
Want a free tasting kit for your café?
Yes please
Handed off to your team, in the Inbox
A trigger, a few steps, and it runs.With a preview of every branch.
- 1Pick what starts itA keyword in a DM, a story mention or reply, your ref link, or any DM.
- 2Build the flowMessages with a link button or choices, waits, conditions and a handoff. Each choice gets its own branch.
- 3Check what they see, turn it onClick any step or branch and the preview plays the conversation the person will get.
Five ways a conversation starts.Always started by the person.
A keyword in a DM
PRICE, GUIDE, LINK or an emoji. Contains or exact, with case and accents ignored.
A story mention
Thank everyone who tags you in a story, with a code or a link.
A story reply
Answer replies to your stories, all of them or only the ones with a keyword.
A ref link
ig.me/m/you?ref=bio in your bio, a QR code or an ad starts its own flow.
Any DM
A welcome or away message for everyone who writes, once per person.
Start from a flow that works.Every word and step can change.
Hey @maya.brews! Here's the guide you asked for 👇Open the guideA keyword in a DM
Send a link
They DM a keyword, they get the link.
Here it is @maya.brews 🙌Open the guideA keyword in a DM
Follow to get the link
The link goes to followers. Others are asked to follow first.
Thanks for the mention @maya.brews! 🙌 Here's 10% off your next order: THANKS10A story mention
Thank story mentions
Everyone who mentions you gets a thank-you.
Happy to help Maya! Is it for you or for a team?Just meFor a teamA keyword in a DM
Qualify, then hand off
Ask one question, answer or pass it to your team.
Thanks for your message Maya! We read every DM and answer within a few hours.Any DM
Welcome every DM
An instant reply while you're away.
Blank
Your own flow
A trigger and a first message, then up to 40 steps with branches.
See where each person is.And why a flow stopped.
Every step, logged
Open a person to see each message sent, the choice they tapped, the link they opened and how the flow ended.
Stops when you answer
Reply yourself, in Instagram or in Breakreach, and the automation leaves that conversation to you.
Handoffs land in the Inbox
A handed-off conversation is marked “Needs a reply”, with the note you wrote, until someone marks it done.
Each person, once
A person goes through a flow once by default, or again after a cooldown you choose.
What is Instagram DM automation?Answers that run while you're away.
It's what answers when you're not there. Someone writes PRICE after seeing your reel, and within seconds they have the price list. A customer tags you in a story and gets a thank-you with a discount code. A café asks about wholesale, answers one question, and lands in your Inbox flagged for a reply.
A coffee brand sends its brew guide to everyone who DMs GUIDE, but only to followers. A fitness coach asks “beginner or advanced?” and sends the right program to each. A SaaS founder puts ig.me/m/founder?ref=demo in a launch post and every person who opens it gets the demo link and a question about their team size.
In Breakreach it sits next to the posts you schedule and the comments you answer. The same Inbox shows the conversations your automations handed off.
Is DM automation allowed on Instagram?Yes, inside Meta's rules.
Instagram's messaging API exists for this, and Breakreach uses it with the permission Meta approved for Breakreach in September 2026. You connect with Instagram's own login. Tools that log in as you or tap through the app break Instagram's terms and put the account at risk.
The rules are built in, so a flow can't break them by accident:
- Replies onlyEvery flow starts from a message, a story mention or reply, or your ref link. Nothing is sent first.
- Inside the 24-hour windowBefore each message, Breakreach checks the person wrote in the last 24 hours. If not, the message isn't sent and the flow ends.
- A person always winsWhen someone on your team answers, the automation stops for that conversation.
What are the limits?Meta's rules, and what Breakreach adds.
| Rule | Limit | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Reply window | 24 hours after their last message | Waits in a flow go up to 23 hours, so the next message still lands in time. |
| Message | 1,000 bytes, 640 characters with a button | Links work. {username} becomes their @handle, {first_name} their first name. |
| Choices | Up to 13, 20 characters each | Shown as quick replies under the message. Typing the choice works too. |
| Flow size | 40 steps, branches 6 levels deep | Room for a follow check, a question and a few answers. |
| People in a flow | One flow at a time per person | A second keyword while someone is in a flow is taken as their answer. |
| Story mentions | Public accounts, and private ones that follow you | Instagram doesn't send mentions from other private accounts. |
| Accounts | Instagram professional accounts | Business or creator accounts connected with Instagram login. |
How does “follow to get the link” work?Instagram tells Breakreach who follows you.
A condition step asks Instagram whether the person who wrote follows your account. Instagram answers that question for anyone who has messaged you, which is everyone in a flow. Followers go down the “yes” branch and get the link.
The others get a message asking them to follow, with an “I followed” button. Tapping it checks again: if they now follow you, the link goes out; if not, you can hand the conversation to your team or try once more. The “Follow to get the link” template is set up that way.
Does it work on Facebook Messenger?The same flows, on your Page.
DM automations run on Facebook Pages through Messenger too, with keyword DMs, any DM and ref links (m.me/your-page?ref=…). Story mentions, story replies and the follow check exist on Instagram only.
Messenger opens to every Page once Meta approves one more Page permission for Breakreach. Until then it's limited to accounts testing the app, and Instagram works for everyone.
Breakreach or ManyChat?It depends on how big the bot gets.
ManyChat is a chatbot builder, and it goes further than Breakreach: a visual canvas, email and phone capture into contact fields, tags and sequences, and WhatsApp, Telegram and SMS on top of Instagram and Messenger. If your DMs are a full sales funnel with segments and broadcasts, ManyChat is the better tool. Its price grows with the number of contacts.
Breakreach covers the flows most creators and small brands run: keyword replies, story mentions, ref links, a follow check, a question with buttons and a handoff to a person. It comes inside the scheduler you already use to publish on 15 networks, with Comment to DM, the Inbox and the analytics, at a flat price from $29 a month and no contact count.
Can I set it up from ChatGPT, Claude or the API?The same automations, without the dashboard.
With Breakreach connected in ChatGPT or Claude, describe the flow: “when people DM PRICE, ask if it's for a café; send individuals the price list and hand cafés over to me”. The assistant builds the automation and can tell you later who went through it and where they stopped.
Developers get the same through /v1/dm-automations in the REST API, four tools in the MCP server, and webhooks such as dm_automation.handoff to open a ticket or ping a channel when a flow hands someone over. The calls and payloads are on the DM automations API page.
- REST API and webhooksCreate, edit and pause automations, read every run, get an event when a flow starts, hands off or ends.
MCP serverList, create, edit and delete automations from ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor or Codex.
DM automations, answered.
Meta's rules, pricing and how flows work.
Automatic answers to the direct messages your Instagram account receives. When someone DMs a keyword like PRICE, mentions you in a story or opens your ig.me link, Breakreach answers in seconds and walks them through the steps you set: a link, a question with buttons, a check that they follow you, and a handoff to your team.
Yes. Breakreach uses Instagram's official messaging API with the permission Meta approved for it in September 2026, and keeps to Meta's rules: it only answers people who wrote first, and only within 24 hours of their last message. You connect with Instagram's own login and never share your password.
No. Meta doesn't allow a business to start a DM conversation, so every flow starts from something the person did: a DM, a story mention or reply, or a tap on your ref link followed by a message.
The automation stops for that person as soon as you or someone on your team replies, from the Instagram app, Business Suite or the Breakreach Inbox, and other automations leave them alone for 12 hours. A conversation an automation handed off waits in the Inbox until someone marks it done.
Yes. A condition step asks Instagram whether the person follows your account. Followers get the link; the others get a message asking them to follow, with an “I followed” button that checks again.
The same automations run on Facebook Pages through Messenger, with keyword DMs, any DM and ref links. They open to everyone once Meta approves one more Page permission for Breakreach; until then they're limited to accounts testing the app.
Comment to DM answers a comment on a post with one private DM. DM automations answer messages and can hold a whole conversation. They work together: when someone replies to your Comment to DM message with a keyword, a DM automation can pick it up.
DM automations are included in every Breakreach plan, from $29 a month for 5 social accounts, with no limit on contacts or messages beyond Meta's own.
Yes. With Breakreach connected in ChatGPT or Claude, describe the flow in plain words, for example: when people DM PRICE, ask if it's for a café, send individuals the price list and hand cafés over to me. The same automations are in the REST API and the MCP server.
Let your DMs answer themselves.And keep the ones that matter.
DM automations are in every plan, from $29 a month.