Launch locations

Choose whether to manage agents with the Business Communications Developer Console or API.

Developer Console API

After you verify locations and launch the associated agent, it's time to launch locations. When you launch a location, you enable users to have conversations with that location.

Caution: After locations have been verified and associated with your Business Messages agent, only launch locations that you have permission to enable messaging for.

To edit allowed location entry points after verification, contact us. (You must first sign in with a Business Messages Google account. To register for an account, see Register with Business Messages.)

Pre-launch checklist

Before you launch your location, use the following checklist to catch any issues that might appear during the launch process.

Location configuration
Location verification Required. Verification that the location belongs to the brand that the agent represents. See Verify agents and locations.
Location-specific greeting Optional. The welcome message and optional conversation starters that are unique to a location. Overrides the agent-level greeting. See Begin the conversation.
Location-specific offline message Optional. A message that displays when a user starts a conversation outside of an agent's operating hours for that specific location. Overrides the agent-level offline message. See Begin the conversation.

Infrastructure readiness
Message routing is complete Required. Your infrastructure is ready to route location-specific messages to a live agent or automation capable of responding to such messages.

Conversation readiness
Live agents are available Required. Live agents are ready to respond to user messages as soon as the location launches.
Automation is complete and available Recommended. Any automation you've developed or integrated with is complete and ready to handle user messages as soon as the location launches.

Supported entry points

Locations support LOCATION entry points.

You need to specify entry points for each location before you verify or launch the location.

Launch a verified location

When you launch a verified location, the location is available to users within a few hours. Messages from users in conversations with locations include the locations' placeId. See Receive messages.

You should be ready to route messages based on placeId and respond to user messages before you launch a location.

Caution: If your agent doesn't meet minimum performance thresholds, your agent may be suspended.

To launch a location,

1. Open the Business Communications Developer Console and sign in with your Business Messages Google account.
2. Choose your agent.
3. In the left navigation, click Launch.
4. In the Verified locations section, choose the locations you want to launch, then click Launch.

Unlaunch a location

If you need to cancel a location launch or unlaunch a live location, you can mark the location as unlaunched. If the location was in a pending launch state, this cancels the location launch. If the location was launched, this removes the location from all configured entry points.

To unlaunch a location,

1. Open the Business Communications Developer Console and sign in with your Business Messages Google account.
2. Choose your agent.
3. In the left navigation, click Launch.
4. In the Verified locations section, choose the locations you want to unlaunch, then click Unlaunch.
5. Enter "UNLAUNCH", then click Unlaunch.

Next steps

Now that your locations are launched, users can start conversations on the locations' configured entry points. Identify and review the metrics you can use to measure your agent and locations' success.