The full guide
LINE Official Account chatbot: auto reply, bookings and a shared inbox with the Messaging API
Build a LINE Official Account chatbot on the Messaging API: the token and secret, the webhook, reservations, AI replies, the shared inbox and LINE's message quota.
In Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, customers message a café, a salon or a shop on LINE the way others message on WhatsApp or Instagram. A LINE Official Account that answers at once, offers a reservation and passes the hard questions to the right person turns those chats into visits. LINE's built-in auto-response is a list of fixed answers; the Messaging API lets a tool answer with real flows instead. This guide shows how to build a LINE Official Account chatbot with ChatinFlow: connecting the Messaging API channel, the webhook, the welcome menu, reservations, AI replies, the handover to your team, and the message quota rules LINE sets for every account.
What is a LINE Official Account chatbot?
A LINE Official Account is LINE's account for businesses: customers add it as a friend and write to it like to any contact. A chatbot is what answers when nobody on the team is looking: a greeting, a menu, a reservation or the answer to the question people ask every day.
LINE gives every Official Account two ways to answer automatically. Auto-response messages in LINE Official Account Manager match keywords to fixed replies. The Messaging API sends every message to a webhook, so a tool can answer with real flows, branches, saved answers and AI. ChatinFlow uses the Messaging API, and the same flows can answer Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and KakaoTalk.
LINE auto-response vs a Messaging API chatbot
| LINE auto-response messages | A Messaging API chatbot in ChatinFlow | |
|---|---|---|
| How it decides | A keyword and one fixed reply | Flows with branches, conditions and saved answers |
| Reservations | Not in the chat | Free times from your calendar, booked by tapping |
| Your team | In LINE Official Account Manager | In the shared inbox with every other channel |
| AI answers | No | On a paid plan, from your own sources and key |
| Other channels | LINE only | The same flows on Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and more |
Auto-responses are enough for a handful of fixed answers. Once customers book, ask follow-up questions or need a person, a Messaging API chatbot carries the conversation.
What you need before you start
- A LINE Official Account for your business, outside the EU, where LINE does not offer them.
- Its Messaging API channel, turned on from LINE Official Account Manager and opened in the LINE Developers console.
- A ChatinFlow workspace. LINE can be the one channel on the free plan.
How to connect LINE to a chatbot, step by step
1. Open the Messaging API channel
In LINE Official Account Manager, turn on the Messaging API for your account. Then open its channel in the LINE Developers console.
2. Issue a channel access token and copy the channel secret
On the Messaging API tab, issue a long-lived channel access token. On the Basic settings tab, copy the channel secret. Paste both in Settings, Channels, LINE in ChatinFlow. ChatinFlow sets the webhook address for you.
3. Turn on the webhook and turn off auto-responses
On the Messaging API tab, turn on Use webhook. In LINE Official Account Manager, turn off auto-response messages, so a customer never gets LINE's fixed reply and your flow's answer at the same time.
4. Build the welcome flow
Start from a template in Automations: a menu of your usual questions, reservations or a code for a first visit. Test it from your own LINE app before you share the account.
LINE auto reply: how answers and the message quota work
LINE treats two kinds of messages differently:
| Message | How it is sent | Counts toward your quota? |
|---|---|---|
| The answer right after a customer message | LINE's reply token | No |
| A message sent later | A push message | Yes, from your LINE plan |
That rule shapes a good LINE flow:
- Answer in the same turn. The text, the quick replies and the buttons go together in the reply.
- Let taps carry the conversation. Each tap is a new customer message with its own free reply.
- Plan follow-ups knowingly. A reminder the next day is a push message and uses your quota.
When someone blocks your account, ChatinFlow stops messaging them until they add you as a friend again.
Quick replies and buttons on LINE
Flows on LINE answer with quick replies for short choices such as days, times, sizes or yes and no, and buttons for the main paths, such as Reserve, Menu and Talk to us. A tap continues the flow and the answer is saved on the contact when you ask for it.
Taking reservations on LINE
Reservations are what LINE chats are made of: "A table for four on Friday?", "Is there a time for a cut tomorrow?". A booking flow answers in turns:
- The party size or the service, as quick replies.
- The day, from the days with free times in Bookings.
- The time, from that day's real free times.
- The confirmation, with the time and a way to change it, saved on the guest's record.
Each step answers a tap, so the whole reservation goes out with free replies.
AI chatbot for LINE
On a paid plan, an AI reply answers the questions a menu can't, from your own sources: the menu, the price list, your FAQ. It runs on your own OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or Azure key and goes out as the reply to the customer's message. Use the menu for the everyday questions and let AI handle the open ones.
Hand a LINE chat to a person
A flow can ask whether the customer wants a person, assign the chat to a teammate or the next free agent and alert the team. LINE chats sit in the shared inbox next to every other channel, and the automation stays quiet while a teammate writes. A teammate's reply after the customer's message is no longer fresh goes out as a push message.
Collect customer details on LINE
A flow can ask for what you need and save it on the contact: a name, a phone number, a preferred day, a size. Saved answers fill the next messages ("See you Friday, Aiko!"), tags sort customers into groups such as first visit or regular, and a teammate who opens the chat sees everything the flow collected.
Opening hours and after-hours answers
A condition in the flow checks whether you are open right now. During opening hours, the flow can offer a person; after closing, it answers with the menu, takes the reservation for tomorrow and tells the customer when the team is back. Holidays and special days use the same schedule, so the answer always matches the door.
Your first week with a LINE chatbot
- Day 1. Connect the Messaging API channel, turn on the webhook, turn off auto-responses.
- Day 2. Publish the welcome menu with four quick replies.
- Day 3. Add reservations from your real free times.
- Day 4. Add the after-hours answer and the handover to your team.
- Day 5. Read the Activity tab: which questions came in, which ones reached a person.
- Day 6. Turn the most common handed-over question into a menu answer.
- Day 7. Share the account: a QR code at the counter and a link on your site.
Can you send LINE broadcasts?
Not through ChatinFlow. The LINE integration answers people who write to your account and runs the flows they start. Campaigns to all your friends are left out; LINE's own broadcast tools stay in LINE Official Account Manager under LINE's terms.
LINE chatbot ideas for your business
- Cafés and restaurants. Opening hours, today's menu, table reservations for a party size.
- Salons and studios. Prices, a booking with the stylist, a reminder the day before.
- Shops. Store hours, stock questions handed to staff, a code for the first purchase.
- Schools and academies. Class times, a trial lesson, the fee list.
- Clinics. A consultation booking and aftercare questions answered by AI from your pages.
LINE chatbot message templates you can copy
LINE vs KakaoTalk vs WhatsApp for business
| LINE | KakaoTalk | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Where it leads | Japan, Taiwan, Thailand | South Korea | Most of the world |
| How you connect | Messaging API channel | Open Builder chatbot and a skill | WhatsApp Business API number |
| Answers | Reply token free, later messages from your quota | One per customer message | Free inside the 24-hour window |
| Broadcasts in ChatinFlow | No | No | Yes, with approved templates |
How to measure your LINE chatbot
Each automation's Activity tab lists every run. In Analytics, the Channels tab puts LINE next to your other channels: conversations started, answered without a person and turned into reservations. Watch how often people ask for a person and on which question; that question belongs in the menu next.
Common mistakes with LINE chatbots
- Leaving auto-responses on. The customer gets LINE's fixed reply and your flow's answer.
- Forgetting Use webhook. Without it, ChatinFlow never sees the message.
- Follow-ups without a plan. Every later message counts toward your quota; put the content in the reply instead.
- A long first message. A short welcome with four quick replies gets more taps than a paragraph.
LINE Official Account chatbot FAQ
How do I make a LINE chatbot without coding?
Turn on the Messaging API for your LINE Official Account, paste the channel access token and secret in ChatinFlow, turn on the webhook and build the answers as flows with quick replies and buttons. No code is involved.
Do LINE chatbot replies cost money?
A reply right after the customer's message uses LINE's reply token and doesn't count toward your monthly quota. Messages sent later are push messages and count toward the quota of your LINE plan.
Can I use LINE's greeting message with ChatinFlow?
Turn off auto-response messages so your flows answer. Your welcome flow then answers the first message with the menu.
Is a LINE Official Account available in Europe?
No. LINE does not offer Official Accounts in the EU, so businesses there can't connect LINE.
Can the LINE chatbot answer in Japanese, Thai and English?
Yes. Flows answer with the words you write, so a menu can be in Japanese, Thai or English, and AI replies follow the language of the customer's message. Many businesses keep one flow per language and start each one from the words customers use.
Can a QR code start the LINE chat?
Yes. LINE gives every Official Account a QR code and a friend link. Put the code at the counter, on the menu or on your site, and the first message a new friend sends starts your welcome flow.
Is LINE on the free plan?
Yes. The free plan connects one channel other than WhatsApp, and LINE can be that channel.
Sources
- Messaging API overview, LINE Developers, on the webhook, replies and push messages.
- Sending messages, LINE Developers, on reply and push messages.