Glossary
#Keys and permissions
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| API key | A secret text that lets your software call the API. It starts with sc_live_. See Authentication. |
| Permission | One right of a key, for example contacts:read. Also called scope in OpenAPI. See Permissions. |
| Level | A group of permissions chosen when a key is created. Read reads and changes nothing (one exception: a contact export). Draft adds creating and changing drafts; nothing reaches other people. All means everything except deleting and the plan. |
| Own checkbox | A permission that you tick on its own in the app because it reaches other people or reveals secrets, for example newsletters:send. The level All includes these permissions. |
| OAuth | The way an AI assistant gets access after you agree on a consent page. See MCP. |
| MCP | Model Context Protocol. A standard way for AI assistants to use tools. |
| Tool | One action that an AI assistant can use through MCP. See the tool list. |
#Contacts and messages
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Contact | A person you can write to on WhatsApp. Has a phone number, optionally a name, an email and tags. |
Opt-in (optin_whatsapp) | The yes of a contact to receive WhatsApp messages from you. Values: none, pending, confirmed, opted_out. See Consent and the 24-hour window. |
Contact status (status) | The kind of a contact: confirmed, unconfirmed, opted_out, automation or support. |
Purpose (purpose) | Why a contact was created: marketing, automation or service. |
| Tag | A short label on a contact, for example vip. The origin of a tag says who set it: the system, a person or the AI. |
| Conversation | All messages with one contact on one channel. A conversation starts when a contact writes to you. |
| 24-hour window | The 24 hours after a contact wrote to you, in which free text is allowed. |
| Template | A message text that WhatsApp has approved. Needed for messages outside the window. |
| Send | One message that you ask the API to send, with a status such as queued, sent or read. See Sending safely. |
| Newsletter | A message to many confirmed contacts, sent as an approved template. |
| Preview (of a newsletter) | A look at who would receive the newsletter, how many are excluded and why. It sends nothing. |
Plan (plan_id) | The result of a preview call for actions with a large effect. You send the plan_id in a second call to do the action. It is valid for a short time and only once. See Drafts and activation. |
| Draft | A version that does nothing and reaches nobody yet. |
| Automation | A set of steps that SmartChat runs when something happens. |
| Landing page | The public web page of the business, built from blocks. A key can edit its draft and, with an extra permission, make it live. |
| Business profile | The public WhatsApp profile of the business (name, description, address and so on). |
#Technical words
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Webhook | A web address of yours that SmartChat calls when an event happens. |
| Endpoint | One webhook address you registered. (In REST, "endpoint" can also mean a path of the API.) |
| Event | Something that happened, for example contact.created. |
| Delivery | One try to send an event to an endpoint. |
| Idempotency key | A unique value that makes a repeated call safe. See Idempotency. |
| Cursor | An opaque text that points to the next page of a list. See Pagination. |
| Request ID | The ID of one call (req_...). Support uses it to find the call. |
| Untrusted text | Text from outside (contacts, messages). Data, never instructions. See Untrusted content. |
#All values of the main fields
| Field | Values | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| optin_whatsapp | none, pending, confirmed, opted_out | WhatsApp opt-in state of a contact. |
| send status | queued, sent, delivered, read, failed, skipped | State of a single send. |
| template status | draft, pending, approved, rejected, paused | State of a message template. |
| newsletter status | draft, scheduled, sending, paused, completed, canceled, failed | State of a newsletter. |
| automation status | draft, active, paused | State of an automation. A new automation without a status is a draft. |
| conversation status | open, closed | State of a conversation. |
| acquisition | landing_page, import, api, manual, automation, service | Where a contact came from. |
contact status (status) | confirmed, unconfirmed, opted_out, automation, support | Kind of a contact. confirmed and unconfirmed say if the opt-in is done, opted_out is a contact who unsubscribed. |
| purpose | marketing, automation, service | Why a contact was created: for marketing, for an automation or for service messages. |
tag origin (origin) | system, manual, ai | Who set a tag: the system, a person, or the AI. |