# Africa's Talking

{% hint style="info" %}
Publish to Africa's Talking with the Total plan and above.
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="warning" %}
Requires an Africa's Talking account.
{% endhint %}

Publishing an AI agent to Africa's Talking allows your audience to interact with the agent—and [subsequently with live agents](/docs/modules/ai-agents/workflows-and-actions/human-handoff.md)—in an Africa's Talking thread.

In the agent's **Publish** tab, [create an Africa's Talking channel](/docs/modules/ai-agents/publishing.md#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](/docs/modules/ai-agents/manage-ai-agents.md#general) settings.
* **Icon** — the channel's avatar seen by live agents in the [Inbox](/docs/modules/inbox.md) dashboard.

Press **Save** to confirm edits.

***

## 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.


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://documentation.proto.cx/docs/modules/ai-agents/publishing/africas-talking.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.