# Africa's Talking

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Publish to Africa's Talking with the Total plan and above.
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Requires an Africa's Talking account.
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Publishing an AI agent to Africa's Talking allows your audience to interact with the agent—and [subsequently with live agents](https://documentation.proto.cx/docs/modules/ai-agents/workflows-and-actions/human-handoff)—in an Africa's Talking thread.

In the agent's **Publish** tab, [create an Africa's Talking channel](https://documentation.proto.cx/docs/modules/ai-agents/publishing/..#add-a-channel) or select an existing one from the table to open its settings.

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## Basic Settings

In the **Basics** accordion, the following options are available:

* **Name** — the internal name of the channel, used to distinguish from any other Africa's Talking channels the agent is published to.
* **Default chat language** — the language used by the AI agent at the start of a new chat. Available languages are set in the agent's [General](https://documentation.proto.cx/docs/modules/manage-ai-agents#general) settings.
* **Icon** — the channel's avatar seen by live agents in the [Inbox](https://documentation.proto.cx/docs/modules/inbox) dashboard.

Press **Save** to confirm edits.

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## Connecting to Africa's Talking

In the **Configuration** accordion, three values are required from your Africa's Talking account:

* **Username** — your Africa's Talking username.
* **API Key** — generated in Africa's Talking account (Settings > API Key).
* **Short code** — generated in Africa's Talking account (SMS > Shortcodes > Create Shortcode).

Then, you'll need to integrate a Proto webhook in your Africa's Talking account (SMS > SMS Callback URLs > Incoming Messages).

Follow these steps for the complete setup:

1. Login to Africa's Talking.
2. Create a **New Team**.
3. In the team, create an **App**, including setting the **Name**, **Username**, **Country**, and **Currency** of your app.
4. Select the app just created and you will be able to view its dashboard.
5. Copy the **Username** of the app, and in Proto paste it into Africa's Talking's **Username** field.
6. Back in the Africa's Talking app dashboard, go to **Settings** > **API Key**.
7. Generate an **API Key**, and in Proto paste it into Africa's Talking's **API Key** field.
8. Back in the Africa's Talking app dashboard, go to **SMS** > **Shortcodes** > **My Shortcodes**, and apply for a short code by filling in the request form.
9. Once a short code is received, in Proto paste it into the Africa's Talking's **Shortcode** field.
10. In Proto's Africa's Talking's **Webhook** accordion, copy the **Webhook URL**.
11. Back in the Africa's Talking app dashboard, go to **SMS** > **SMS Callback URLs** > **Incoming Messages** page and add the Webhook URL.