Where to Begin: A New User Guide

Set up your initial channel

A channel represents either a phone number or a social media account that Rapidpro App can use to send and receive messages for you. Remember, your flows will not run unless a channel is connected!

Find detailed instructions on how to configure your first channel here.

Design your first flow

Once your first channel is active, you’re ready to begin working with flows.

To explore examples and create new ones, head to the Flows tab on the top navigation bar of your account.

We recommend starting with a simple test flow to get familiar with the basics. Begin by selecting the New Flow button inside the “Flows” tab:

A pop-up window will ask you to name the flow, optionally add a keyword trigger, and choose a flow type. In this demonstration, we’ll design a registration example. We selected “Messaging” since it works with SMS and social platforms. More details about supported languages can be found here.

After selecting Create, you’ll be redirected to the flow editor.

In our registration flow, the process begins by asking each contact for their name, storing it in their profile, and assigning them to a group.

The first step is to request the contact’s name:

Next, we need to capture their reply using a Wait for Response action. Simply click the small red “exit” dot on the Send Message node and drag downward to link it:

The Wait for Response node appears automatically. Here, we’ll save the answer as “Name”. Since we want an open-ended response, the rule can remain blank, which will collect All Responses.

To make the name reusable later, we must store it. Use the Update the Contact action after the response is collected. Click the red exit from the “Wait for Response” node and drag downward to create a new node. Change the default “Send Message” to Update the Contact. This node will appear green.

Inside the “Save to field” menu, select Name. In the value box, typing @ will show available variables. Here, we’ll use @results.name.

Once confirmed, the contact’s name is stored in the flow:

The flow now successfully asks for a name, captures it, and saves it:

To complete the process, we’ll add each participant to a group named “Completed Registration”. This can be done by hovering over the “Update the Contact” node, clicking the blue “+”, and selecting Add Contact to a Group.

Select the appropriate group or create a new one if necessary:

Here’s how the flow should appear now:

That’s all! The registration flow has successfully requested the contact’s name, stored it, and placed them into a group. As a final step, you may send a confirmation message to let them know registration is complete.

Notice that instead of using the full name, we inserted the @contact.first_name variable for a more personal touch. More about variables can be found here.

To test your flow, use the built-in simulator available in the flow editor:

By completing this example, you’ve covered the essentials and are ready to build more advanced workflows. Explore the full library of resources in our Help Center, or reach out to us through the support widget.

Don’t miss our training videos and the blog for updates and new features!