One inbox for email, WhatsApp and live chat, with AI that drafts and sorts
I designed and built a shared inbox that puts a small firm's email, WhatsApp, live chat, SMS and social messages in one place, with AI that suggests replies, summarises threads and flags urgent or unhappy customers.
- Sector
- Customer service for small and mid-sized businesses (cross-sector)
- Stack
- TypeScript, Next.js, relational database, REST API and webhooks
- Status
- Live, in active testing
The problem
Small teams answer customers on five or six channels at once. Messages get missed, two people answer the same one, nobody can see the full history, and the slowest replies tend to go to the customers who are already unhappy.
The established help-desk tools solve this, but they are priced for larger companies.
What I did
I designed and built a multi-company shared inbox from scratch. Each business gets its own separate workspace and branding. Every channel lands in one view, with assignment, priorities, a waiting-time timer, saved replies and a full cross-channel history per customer.
On top of that I added AI: suggested replies, one-click summaries, auto-replies from the firm's own help articles, intent detection (billing, technical, cancellation risk) and escalation when a message reads as angry or asks for a manager. When staff edit an AI draft, the edit is logged so the suggestions can improve.
It also has a public API and webhooks, so other systems can create conversations and sync contacts. I now use it as the messaging layer for several of my other builds.
Tools and stack, in plain words
A modern TypeScript web app (Next.js) with a relational database, a choice of AI model providers so each business can bring its own, a REST API with webhooks, and a chat widget that goes on any website with one line of code.
Outcome
Live, with ongoing testing, and updated in regular releases. One place to answer every customer, with the history in front of whoever picks it up, and AI doing the first draft and the sorting.
Because it's built as a platform, the same inbox now carries the email and WhatsApp traffic for other products I've built, so none of them needed their own messaging code.
What it shows about how I work
I build the shared piece once and reuse it. And I keep a person in charge: the AI drafts and flags, the team decides.
FAQ
Can a small business manage WhatsApp, email and live chat in one inbox?
Yes. Him Yip built a shared inbox that brings email, WhatsApp, live chat, SMS and social messages into one view, with AI reply suggestions and summaries, aimed at small teams.
Does the AI reply to customers on its own?
Only where the business switches it on, such as answering website chat from its own help articles. Otherwise it suggests a reply and a person sends it.