Guide · Setup · For the owner who has to click it themselves

Setting up Conversation Routing in Meta Business Suite: the terms only you can sign, the five ways a configuration appears, and the empty-route trap

Conversation Routing decides which of the systems on your WhatsApp number answers a customer. Meta's setup page makes two things clear before anything else: only the business can switch the full feature on, by accepting a set of terms no partner can accept for it, and the configuration is made only by clicking in Meta Business Suite, with no way for software to do it. Here is what you will find there, the five ways a configuration comes into being, and the one situation that leaves a route empty.

Published 1 October 2026 · Updated 4 October 2026

Before you start: the terms only you can sign

Until the business accepts Meta's terms, half the feature is missing

Meta's page says that standby visibility, the escalation partner and thread control all require the business to have accepted the Meta Business Agents and Platform Terms of Service. Until then, the Conversation Routing screen shows only the five entry points; basic routing to a primary responder works, but no system can watch a conversation it does not own or take one over. Meta adds, in bold, that a partner cannot accept these terms on the business's behalf, and that a missing standby or escalation option is almost always this and nothing else.

You also need access to manage the WhatsApp account, at least one connected responder, and a working idea of what an entry point and a thread owner are. The routing guide covers those two in plain language.

What the screen contains

Meta's page describes a configuration at two levels: an account default that applies to every number, and optional per-number overrides for named numbers. Within either, three groups of settings.

Message routing: One primary responder per entry point: a plain customer message, a reply from a click-to-WhatsApp ad, a reply to a utility template, a reply to a marketing template, and an incoming call. The call setting routes only the call and never changes who owns the message thread.
Thread control: At most one escalation partner, which can take a thread from its current owner, explicitly or simply by sending a service message. A pass with no named target also lands here.
Conversation visibility: Standby visibility, granted partner by partner and off by default. A standby partner receives copies of the customer's messages, the owner's replies and the delivery receipts on threads it does not own, but may not reply until it receives or takes the thread. Without standby, Meta says an eligible partner may get an AI-generated summary when it becomes the responder, not the full feed.

Five ways a configuration comes into being

A partner is onboarded through Embedded Signup. If no configuration exists and the account qualifies, Meta creates a safe default from the responders already on the account. The business then opens Conversation Routing to review it.
The business assigns a partner in Meta Business Suite. Granting a partner routing-relevant access from the WhatsApp Accounts page creates the same safe default, on the same condition. Agency-only access changes nothing.
A WhatsApp account is linked to a Messaging account. For a direct integrator with exactly one partner available, Meta seeds that partner as primary for every entry point and as escalation partner, automatically.
The business enables a Business Agent on a number. The agent becomes the sole primary for the messaging entry points; the previous primaries move to standby so they keep their context; call routing is untouched. This is the one path that changes an existing configuration. The Business Agent guide has the rest.
The business opens Conversation Routing and edits it directly. Choose the account default or a per-number override, map the five entry points, pick the escalation partner, grant standby explicitly, save, and review before live traffic.

Meta states the rule behind the first three paths twice: an existing configuration is never overwritten, and the partner being onboarded is never allowed to replace the current responder automatically. It also states, in bold, that configuration is UI-only: there is no public interface a partner's software could use to set it.

Before you add another provider

Meta's page for businesses that own the account, dated 30 September 2026, is about the first two paths above. On an account with no configuration, assigning another partner can create one, and from that moment messages stop going to every connected system. An existing system that is not chosen as primary may stop receiving incoming messages, receive standby copies only if it was granted them and is built to handle them, and have some of its replies rejected. Two details catch owners out. The change arrives gradually, because a conversation that already has an owner keeps it until it goes quiet or is routed again, so a broken system can look fine for a while. And the kind of partner does not decide which system becomes primary; only the configuration does, so check it rather than assume. Meta's steps:

Open Conversation Routing first. If a configuration already exists, adding a provider does not overwrite it. After assigning, review the account default and any per-number settings: who is primary, who has standby, who is the escalation partner.
If none exists, list every system on every number. An existing provider's, one your own team runs, a provider connected through another provider, and any automatic reply bot. The account default applies to every number unless a number has its own settings.
Ask each one to confirm it is ready. Meta gives providers reading for this. From Meta's provider-side page, ready means the system listens for ownership changes, no longer treats an incoming message as permission to reply, copes with the escalation partner taking a conversation, and tells you which entry points it needs, whether it needs standby, and whether it should be the escalation partner.
Assign the new provider only after every one has confirmed. If one is not ready, sort out the changes first. Calls follow their own route, separate from who owns the text conversation, so a system that handles calls should check call routing as well.

When a partner is removed

Fewer than two responders left: The configuration is deleted, routing is switched off, and the account returns to the default in which every connected system receives everything.
Two or more left: The removed partner is dropped from primary, standby and escalation wherever it appeared, and routing stays on.
Nobody is chosen for you: Meta's warning: no replacement primary or escalation partner is selected automatically. Routes the removed partner held are empty until the business reassigns them, and it should do so immediately.

Finishing, and what to check when it misbehaves

Once a configuration exists, Meta's finish-setup list is short: confirm the primary, escalation and standby choices are the intended ones; make sure each participating system is subscribed to the notices its role needs, ownership changes for everyone and the standby feed for standby partners; and make sure no system assumes that receiving a message means it may reply.

No configuration appeared after onboarding: One already existed, which the automatic paths never overwrite, or the account has only one responder.
Assigning a partner changed nothing: The relationship is agency-only or otherwise not routing-relevant.
The Business Agent is not shown as primary: Check that the terms are accepted, the agent is eligible, and the number's settings are right.
An existing system lost its traffic: Review the primary and standby assignments; it was probably moved to standby.
A removed partner left an empty route: Select a replacement primary or escalation partner in Conversation Routing.

Questions

Can our agency or software provider set this up for us?

Not the terms, and not the screen. Meta's page says only the business can accept the terms and that the configuration is made in Meta Business Suite with no public interface for software. A partner can tell you which choices to make; the clicks are yours.

We cannot see the standby or escalation options. Is something broken?

Meta's page says to check one thing before anything else: whether the business has accepted the Meta Business Agents and Platform Terms of Service. Until it has, only the entry points are shown.

If we add a new partner, will it take over our conversations?

Not automatically. Meta says the onboarding partner is never allowed to replace the current responder on its own, and an existing configuration is never overwritten by onboarding. The one exception is enabling a Business Agent, which does make the agent the primary. On an account with no configuration, though, adding a partner can create the first one, which changes who receives messages; run the checklist above first.

We removed a partner and now some customers get no reply. Why?

The routes that partner held are empty, and Meta chooses no replacement for you. Open Conversation Routing and reassign the primary and, if it was the escalation partner, that too.

Sources

Meta's developer documentation: Conversation Routing, Get started, read 1 October 2026.
Meta's developer documentation: Prepare before assigning a partner, read 4 October 2026.
Meta's developer documentation: Prepare for Conversation Routing, read 4 October 2026.

More plain-language notes like this one are on the guides page.

Need someone to tell you exactly which boxes to tick in Conversation Routing?

We set up a business's WhatsApp number on a proper system that is ready to be the primary, to stand by, or to take an escalation, and we walk the owner through the Meta Business Suite screen choice by choice, since those clicks can only be the business's own. A short call is the easiest way to see whether it fits your business.

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