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This guide takes you from creating an account to the first customer conversation handled by your AI agent. Onboarding builds the agent for you from your website; the rest is connecting a channel and checking the result. The setup itself takes a few minutes, plus up to 15 minutes for WhatsApp to start receiving messages.

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Before you start

  • Your store’s website address. Popcorn reads it to detect Shopify, Salla, or Zid and to find the pages your agent learns from.
  • Admin access to your store, so you can approve the connection when your store’s authorization window opens.
  • A phone with WhatsApp. The number you sign up with is the one you use to test the agent before going live.
  • To go live on WhatsApp: a WhatsApp Business number and a Meta Business account. See Connect WhatsApp.

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Set up Popcorn

1

Create your account

On the sign-up page, fill in Full Name, Email, Phone, and Password (longer than 8 characters), then click Sign up. Or click Continue with Google; if Google does not provide a phone number, Popcorn asks for one on the next screen (One more thing…) before continuing.Your first sign-in goes straight to onboarding. If a teammate invited you by email, the sign-up page says You’ve been invited to join [workspace] and you join their workspace instead.The app is available in English, Arabic, and Spanish. Switch with Language at the bottom of the sidebar.
2

Enter your website

On What’s your website URL?, type your store address (for example mystore.com) and click Continue. Popcorn detects whether the site runs on Shopify, Zid, or Salla, and discovers your pages from the sitemap or the homepage. The button reads Setting up your assistant… while this runs.If the analysis fails, the screen says Failed to analyze website; check the address and try again. If your site blocks automated visitors, the next screen shows No usable pages were found.
3

Choose the pages your agent learns from

On Select pages to include in your knowledge base, pages are grouped by type. The ones Popcorn recommends (policies, shipping, support pages and similar) carry a Recommended tag and are already selected. You can select up to 8 pages and must keep at least one. Select all, Select N recommended, and Clear all change the selection in one click.Product pages are not offered here: products come from your store connection, not from the Knowledge Base.Click Connect [Platform] Store if Popcorn detected Shopify, Zid, or Salla, or Continue with N pages for any other website.
4

Connect your store

Shopify, Zid, and Salla stores see Connect your [Platform] store, with the list of what Popcorn syncs: all products and inventory, customer data and orders, shopping cart and checkout, and real-time order tracking. Click Connect [Platform] Store. Your store’s authorization page opens in a popup, so allow popups if your browser blocks it. After you approve, the popup closes and onboarding continues.You can click Skip for now (knowledge base only) and connect later from Integrations. Without a store, the agent answers from the Knowledge Base only; it cannot recommend products, take orders, or track them.
5

Wait for the agent to be created

Creating Your AI Assistant shows four stages: creating your workspace, indexing the pages you chose, training your AI agent, and Almost ready. The screen notes that this usually takes about a minute.If a stage fails, or nothing has completed after five minutes (Processing is taking longer than expected), Popcorn returns you to the page selection with the error and removes the half-built agent, so you can simply try again, with the same pages or a different selection.
6

Test the agent

On Your AI Assistant is Ready!, pick how to try it:
  • Test on WhatsApp: click Open WhatsApp & Test or scan the QR code. This opens a chat with Popcorn’s sandbox number, +19384005252. Message it from the phone number on your Popcorn profile. If the agent does not answer, open the agent under Agents, click Manage Sandbox, and add your number with Add Sandbox Number. The chat appears in your Inbox with the source Sandbox.
  • Test Here: a chat window opens in the bottom right corner of the page after a few seconds, the same chat your website visitors would use.
Ask about a policy from a page you selected, then about something you did not include, to see how the agent answers and how it behaves when it does not know.Click Connect My WhatsApp Number when you are ready, or Go to Dashboard to finish later.
7

Connect a channel

Go to Channels → WhatsApp and click Login with Facebook to link your WhatsApp Business number through Meta. After the setup completes, it can take up to 15 minutes before messages start arriving. The number then appears under the Account tab. Requirements and details: Connect WhatsApp.For your website, go to Channels → Website Chat. Turn on Show on my store to display the chat on your connected store, or copy the Embed Code and paste it before the </body> tag of every page where the chat should appear. See Website Chat.A number that is not assigned to a specific agent is answered by your default agent, so the agent onboarding created starts replying as soon as the channel is live.
8

Review the agent

Go to Agents. The onboarding agent is named after your business (for example “Acme Assistant”) and carries the Default badge. Open it to review:
  • Agent tab: the name and the Agent Instructions generated from your website. Edit them to set tone, scope, and language; see Writing instructions.
  • Configuration tab: what the agent is allowed to do. Onboarding turns on Customer Information, Media Support, Auto Close, Follow-up (one follow-up), and Handover. If you connected a store, turn on Product Recommendations, Checkout, and Order Tracking here so the agent can sell from your catalog. See Capabilities.
  • Knowledge Base and Channels tabs: what the agent can read and where it answers.
Click Test Agent at any time to chat with the agent in your browser. After editing, save the agent, then click Publish changes. Customers keep talking to the current version until you publish; after that, new customer chats use the update. See Test and publish.
9

Watch the first conversation

Open Inbox. Conversations the agent is handling show Autopilot is On and are listed under Assigned to AI. When the agent hands over, because the customer asked for a person or a case in your instructions applies, autopilot turns off and the conversation moves to Needs Attention, where your team takes it. Each AI reply uses one credit. See Inbox overview.

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What onboarding created

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Where credits come in

  • Every reply your agent sends uses 1 credit, on WhatsApp, website chat, and in test conversations alike.
  • WhatsApp campaigns use credits too: 1 credit per 10 campaign messages and 1 credit per 5 automated campaign messages.
  • When credits run out, the agent stops replying and every new customer message is handed to your team. The app shows a Top Up Credits banner; buy credits or change plan under Billing, and see what was spent under Billing → Credit Usage.
Details: Plans and credits.

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What happens next

  • Add knowledge. Create folders and articles under Agents → Knowledge, or import a page with Import from a link. Only published articles in folders the agent has access to are used. See Writing articles.
  • Invite your team. Go to Settings → Team Members and click Invite Team Members. Roles decide who can publish agents, send campaigns, or only read. See Team and roles.
  • Prepare checkout. Set delivery coverage under Settings → Shipping and accepted methods under Settings → Payment so the agent can complete orders. See Shipping and payment.
  • Show products in WhatsApp. Connect the Meta catalog so the agent can send product cards. See Products in WhatsApp.
  • Send your first campaign. Create a template, wait for Meta’s approval, then send it to an audience. See Campaigns overview.

How Popcorn works

The concepts behind what you just set up.

Agent troubleshooting

Agent not replying, wrong answers, or changes not showing.