Commands let your team drive NearSync by message, without opening it. #task, #deal, #in, #status and around twenty more.
They exist for the people who are not at a desk. A site visit ends with #log, not with a promise to write it up later.
Where they come from
Commands are workflows. They are built in the Automation Hub in Operations, like any other automation, with a trigger of type WhatsApp command.
The catalogue in WhatsApp settings is a catalogue, not a builder. It shows what exists, whether each is active, and whether it needs a PIN. To change what a command does, you go to the workflow.
That matters because it means the list is never out of date. It reads what is actually built rather than a hardcoded list somebody has to remember to update.
Switching them on
Each command has an active state. A command that exists but is inactive does nothing when messaged.
Two things gate a command beyond that:
Permissions. Commands respect roles, so somebody without expense approval cannot approve an expense by message. #help lists what that person can actually run, which is why it is the command worth teaching first.
A PIN, for some. See The Action PIN.
Who can use them
Only staff. A command from a number that is not a known team member does nothing, which is the intended behaviour rather than a failure.
Building your own
Any workflow can carry a WhatsApp command trigger, so a command can do whatever an automation can: create records, send messages, start approvals, call a webhook.
Start from the ones that ship before writing your own. Most teams find #task, #log and #status cover the majority of what they wanted.
See Every Command and Shortcut for the full shipped list.
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