LINE Channel

Overview

The LINE channel connects a LINE Official Account so the people who add it as a friend appear in the Team Inbox alongside your other channels. LINE is the dominant messenger in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, and it runs the same auto-reply, flows, AI agent and broadcasts as the rest of WaDesk — plus LINE-specific extras like rich menus and Flex messages.

No app review required. Unlike WhatsApp or Instagram, a LINE Messaging API channel is self-serve. You create it, copy two values, and connect — usually under ten minutes.

How the Channel Works

  • LINE Official Accounts talk over the official Messaging API, authenticated with a Channel access token.
  • WaDesk gives you a webhook URL to paste into the LINE console. Every inbound event (message, follow, postback, sticker) is pushed to WaDesk instantly.
  • Each webhook delivery is signed by LINE and verified against your Channel secret, so forged requests are rejected.
  • People reach you by adding your Official Account as a friend — via its LINE ID, QR code, or an Add friend link.

Creating the Channel & Getting Your Credentials

Everything comes from LINE’s own developer console. Step by step:

  1. Create a LINE Business ID. Go to developers.line.biz/console and sign in (or register) with your LINE account or email.
  2. Create a Provider. A provider is your company/organisation. Click Create a new provider and give it a name.
  3. Create a Messaging API channel. Inside the provider, click Create a Messaging API channel. Fill in the channel name (this is the name customers see), description, category, and country/region.
  4. Open the Messaging API tab. Once created, open the channel and switch to the Messaging API tab.
  5. Issue the Channel access token. Scroll to Channel access token (long-lived) and click Issue. Copy the long string that appears.
  6. Copy the Channel secret. Switch to the Basic settings tab and copy Channel secret.
  7. Turn off the LINE auto-reply. Still on the Messaging API tab, open LINE Official Account featuresAuto-reply messages and set it to Disabled, and set Greeting messages to Disabled if you want WaDesk to send the welcome instead. Leaving LINE’s built-in auto-reply on means customers get two replies.
  8. Allow webhooks. On the same screen set Use webhook to Enabled.
Keep both values secret. The Channel access token can send messages as your brand, and the Channel secret is what proves an inbound request really came from LINE. If either leaks, reissue it in the console and re-connect in WaDesk.

Connecting in WaDesk

  1. Open the LINE pageChannels → LINE in the menu.
  2. Paste the Channel access token and Channel secret, then save. WaDesk verifies them against LINE immediately and shows the Official Account’s name and picture on success.
  3. Copy the webhook URL WaDesk shows you. It looks like https://your-domain.com/api/line/inbound/<token> — the token in the path is unique to this channel.
  4. Paste it into LINE. Back in the LINE console, on the Messaging API tab, put that URL in Webhook URL and click Update, then Verify. LINE should report success.
  5. Test it. Add your Official Account as a friend (scan the QR on the Messaging API tab) and send it a message — it appears in the Team Inbox within seconds.
Your site must be reachable over HTTPS. LINE refuses to call a plain http:// URL or an IP address. If Verify fails, this is almost always why.

Token Rotation

LINE supports rotating channel access tokens — short-lived tokens issued from a key pair instead of one long-lived string. WaDesk supports both. If you enable rotation on the LINE side, WaDesk stores the key id and refreshes the token automatically before it expires, so the channel never goes dark. If you use the simple long-lived token, nothing extra is needed.

API Limits & Rules

RuleWhat it means
Reply vs pushA reply (answering an inbound event with LINE’s reply token) is free but must be sent quickly and only once per event. A push (messaging someone out of the blue) counts against your monthly quota. WaDesk uses the reply path whenever it can.
Free message quotaLINE plans include a monthly number of free push messages; beyond that you pay per message, and on the free plan pushes stop. Check your quota in the LINE Official Account Manager.
Friend requiredYou cannot message someone who has not added your Official Account as a friend. There is no cold outreach on LINE.
Unfriend / blockA user can block or unfriend at any time; sends to them fail. WaDesk skips them on the next broadcast.
Multicast sizeBroadcasts go out in batches. WaDesk paces sends so you stay inside LINE’s rate limits rather than being throttled.

Using the Inbox

  • One thread per friend. Each LINE user who messages your Official Account gets a thread, labelled with their LINE display name and picture.
  • Media. Images, video, audio, files, stickers and location messages render inline and can be replied to.
  • Buttons and Flex. Quick replies and LINE Flex message cards built in your flows render natively in the LINE app.

Rich Menus

A rich menu is the tappable panel pinned to the bottom of a LINE chat — the fastest way to give customers a permanent set of shortcuts. In Channels → LINE → Rich menus you upload the menu image, define the tap areas, and point each area at a message, a URL or a flow. Publish it and it appears for every friend of the account.

Auto-Reply, Flows & AI

  • Auto-reply. Scope Welcome / Away / Out-of-hours / Keyword rules to your LINE channel in Auto Reply.
  • Flows. Set the Trigger node’s channel to LINE in the Flow Builder. Buttons, quick replies, media and question steps all run on LINE.
  • AI agent. Assign an agent to the channel for automatic replies with hand-off to a human.

LINE Broadcasts

The LINE broadcast composer reaches everyone who has added your Official Account. Pick the channel, choose your audience, write the message with a live preview, and send. WaDesk uses LINE’s narrowcast API where an audience filter is set, and paces the send to respect your rate and quota limits. Remember that broadcasts are push messages and consume your monthly allowance.

Troubleshooting

SymptomCause & fix
Verify fails in the LINE consoleYour webhook URL is not reachable over public HTTPS, or you pasted it with a typo. Copy it again from the WaDesk LINE page and re-verify.
No messages arrivingUse webhook is still Disabled in the LINE console, or the Channel secret in WaDesk does not match — signature checks then reject every delivery.
Customers get two repliesLINE’s own Auto-reply messages feature is still enabled. Disable it in the LINE console so only WaDesk answers.
Sends fail with a quota errorYou have used your plan’s free push messages for the month. Upgrade the LINE plan or wait for the reset; replies to inbound messages remain free.
“Invalid reply token”The reply window for that event has passed. WaDesk falls back to a push automatically; nothing to do.
WaDesk Documentation