Connecting Orion

The channels: WhatsApp, Telegram and voice

The channel is where you talk to Orion. There are three ways in, and you can use more than one at the same time:

WhatsApp

the main channel. That is where it sends you the morning brief, tells you what is stuck, and takes your requests through the day.

Telegram

an alternative to WhatsApp, with a bot that is yours (more on this below).

Voice in the mobile app

a spoken conversation in real time, no typing. It is part of the plans that include voice — see which ones at orionworkers.com/pricing.

Besides those three, the "Ask Orion" chat follows you on every page of the web dashboard — same conversation, same agent. It does not count as a channel for the free trial: the 14-day clock starts with the first of the three above.

The 14-day free trial starts with your first channel

The 14 days, no card needed, start counting from the first channel you connect: WhatsApp authorized, Telegram linked, or the first voice session — whichever happens first. It does not have to be WhatsApp.

Until August 14, 2026 there was a second path: a courtesy channel that unlocked on its own once the organization showed it was using the method. It has been withdrawn. Today the Orion channel is a subscription, with the 14-day trial as the way in; the Y Managers free period covers the panel seats, not the channel.

Which number to use (read this before you scan)

You have two options, and they give Orion different powers.

Option A — a number dedicated to Orion. A SIM/number that is Orion's alone. You talk to Orion the way you would talk to any contact in your list. That number can take on a public role: Orion serves whoever writes to it — answers questions, triages, books appointments — with a persona separate from the one it uses with you, and escalates to you whatever needs a human. It sees nothing of your personal WhatsApp: the only thing there is what you send it.

Option B — your own number. Orion moves into your WhatsApp, in the chat with yourself ("Message yourself"). Its replies come with the prefix *✨ Orion:* — that is how you tell what is it from what is you. In this mode the public role is locked off**, and the page says so: the number is yours, and Orion will not reply to your contacts.

What your own number switches on in exchange is the automatic relationship radar. It is worth knowing exactly what that means:

• It records who you talked to and when, and uses that to tell you who is going cold and to create contacts in the CRM on its own.
• From the messages you send in 1:1 conversations, it extracts the text; for the contacts you chose to track closely, it keeps a short summary (up to 280 characters) of what you sent, building the history of the relationship.
• It does not reply to your friends, family or customers, and does not mark your messages as read — this is enforced in code, it is not just a promise.
• What other people send you, it does not reply to — and what gets recorded changed on August 12, 2026. A message that arrives from a third party on your number still goes unanswered: it does not become a turn of the artificial intelligence, and it decides nothing on top of it. What gets kept depends on who the contact is: for the people you marked to track closely, it keeps a short summary of what they wrote to you as well (before, only what you wrote went into the history); for the other contacts already in your CRM, only the record that there was contact that day, with nothing of the content; and from someone who is not in your CRM, nothing is kept — a message from a stranger neither creates a contact nor leaves a trace.
• If you ask, it reads any conversation of yours. "Summarize my conversation with Ricardo" pulls up to 30 messages from that chat; an export by date range can pull up to 1000. You are the one who orders the reading, and what it reads goes into the context of that conversation with it.

On the first connection in your-own-number mode, it sends a privacy notice in the chat. The Connection page also has the link "How Orion handles your WhatsApp privacy", available at any time.

In short

want an assistant that also serves your customers? Dedicated number. Want the automatic relationship radar over your real life on WhatsApp? Your own number.

Connecting WhatsApp

1. In the dashboard, open Orion → WhatsApp (the page is called Connection).
2. Click "Connect & start 14-day free trial" — or "Connect WhatsApp", if you already have a plan.
3. The QR code appears in seconds. On your phone: WhatsApp → Linked devices → Link a device, then scan. The screen updates on its own once you scan.
4. Prefer it without a QR? Click "Link with a code instead", give the number, and type the displayed code into WhatsApp → Linked devices → Link a device → "Link with phone number instead".

One real limit on the code: WhatsApp restricts how often codes can be issued, and that restriction applies to the whole account, not just to you. That is why the dashboard issues one code on demand and offers no "try again" button — if it does not come, use the QR, or reload the page later.

As soon as the connection closes, Orion sends the first message and introduces itself. That is where the setup Orion runs itself picks up.

Telegram: the bot is yours

Unlike WhatsApp, Telegram works with a bot that you create and own. On the Orion → Telegram page, the path has three steps:

1. In Telegram, talk to @BotFather and create a bot. It gives you back a token (something like `123456:ABC…`).
2. Paste the token into the dashboard and choose a PIN of your own.
3. Send that PIN to your bot, inside Telegram. That is how the system confirms that the person who pasted the token is you.

Once that is done, the dashboard shows the bot's name and the status "connected". The Telegram channel is part of the paid plans — see which ones at orionworkers.com/pricing.

Additional service numbers

If you want a separate number to serve the public — reception, support — today it comes in through one path only: the official WhatsApp API (Meta), in the "WhatsApp service numbers" block on the same Connection page (the block was called "Additional WhatsApp numbers" until August 11, 2026). The old QR path was withdrawn on August 5, 2026, and with it went the sales prospecting number option: additional numbers exist today only in the customer service role.

Each additional number is a billed item on your plan, and the dashboard refuses the connection before the pop-up even opens if the organization has no active subscription.

Before you start, get this ready:

• Your business's Facebook. You sign in with it, and the WhatsApp account created stays in your name. The number and the conversations are yours; the platform only receives permission to use them.
• A free number. It must not already be in use on WhatsApp. If it is, delete its WhatsApp account first — otherwise the connection fails.
• How to receive the code. You will receive a code to prove the number is yours. On a landline or a virtual number, ask for it by phone call: SMS never arrives on that kind of line.
• A payment method on the WhatsApp account. Without it, WhatsApp blocks sending even with everything else in place.
• Business verification (optional at first). It unlocks higher limits and requires company documents. You can start without it, on lower limits.

And the limits that are WhatsApp's, not ours — worth reading before you click:

• Connecting does not switch the number on right away. WhatsApp reviews the account first. It usually takes a few hours and can take up to 24. During that time the number shows as Under review and cannot send or receive yet.
• 24-hour window. Free-form replies are allowed for up to 24h after the customer's last message. Outside that window, only pre-approved message templates go out.
• The number becomes a business line. It stops working in the regular WhatsApp app on a phone.
• A daily limit that scales. Business-initiated conversations start with a low cap that rises automatically as the number delivers with quality.

Once active, the number gets a Public role button, where you set the role, the tone, the conversation flow, and what it must never do. The fullest use of a service number is booking for your clients — see Your clients.

Groups

The list of groups Orion appears in is split by channel: the WhatsApp ones are on the Connection page, below the numbers, in the WhatsApp groups block; the Telegram ones are at Orion → Telegram, in the Telegram groups block. Each group carries two independent decisions — one switches on and off, the other has three positions — and it is worth understanding the difference before you click:

Participation

authorizes Orion to reply there. The Authorize button shows up on the row of any group, on either channel, and asks for a confirmation before it takes effect — you are putting an artificial intelligence, and a record, inside a room full of people who signed nothing, and the deal is that you tell them. No group is authorized by default; you authorize them one by one, and only after a group is authorized do the reply policy and the group role field appear, where you write a persona just for that group. One difference worth knowing today: this switch really governs WhatsApp groups. In a Telegram group the authorization is saved, but it is not yet what decides whether the bot speaks — it replies when the message reaches it, with no reply policy and no tools in that turn. The category, right below, is another switch: what it decides about capture already applies on both channels.

Category (WhatsApp and Telegram): says what kind of group it is. There are three positions, and you pick one on the group's row:

• Regular (the default): nothing in the content is captured. If Orion takes part there, it answers from public knowledge only — the documents marked as visible to guests — and nothing from the group goes into the organization's library.
• 🏢 Internal work (company colleagues only): the content starts being captured and may be shared with other people in the company. In return, Orion uses the organization's internal knowledge there, documents can be filed in the library, and you work on the work plan right from there.
• 🤝 External work (clients, partners): the content is captured, including what the people from outside write. Orion uses only public knowledge, files something into the library only when you ask, and the work plan is not accessible from that group.

The category is not retroactive, you change or withdraw it whenever you want, and Orion itself writes in the group to say what changed — with a different text for each case. Withdrawing stops the capture from that moment on; what has already been captured stays stored. And on Telegram the capture is partial by default: with the bot's group privacy on (BotFather's default), only mentions and replies to the bot reach it.

One does not imply the other: a group can be captured without Orion replying in it, and it can reply without being captured. And undoing one does not undo the other — revoking participation does not remove the category, and the capture goes on. It is a big enough subject to have its own chapter — it is in The AI team, and the privacy part is in the security and privacy chapter.

The setup Orion runs itself

You do not need to configure anything in the dashboard. Right after you connect, Orion itself runs a four-step setup conversation, straight in the channel you just switched on.

1/4 · Personality 🧠 — in a single message, it asks: what your company does, what you want to be called and how it should sound (formal or casual), and whether there is anything it must never do. An example it gives itself: "I run a dental clinic. You can call me Dr. Paulo, speak professionally but in a friendly way. Never confirm appointments without my approval." It gives back a summary and asks for your OK before saving. If you already have a personality set, it shows the current one and asks whether you want to keep it or adjust it.

2/4 · Contact 📇 — your mobile number with area code and your best email. It uses the email to send you reports and to include you on calendar invitations.

3/4 · Google 🔗 — it sends a link to connect your Google account. The details are in Google and Microsoft 365, below.

4/4 · Automatic routines ⏰ — it proposes three daily routines already adapted to what you told it about your business (for example, a summary of the calendar at 8am and an end-of-day review at 6pm). You answer "1 and 3", describe them your own way, or answer skip.

At the end, if Orion is on a dedicated number, it may ask whether you want it to serve your customers too — that is optional, and answering no leaves everything as it is.

The setup commands

skip

skips the current step. You can pick it up later.

later

pauses everything for 3 days. It also works with "not now", "pause", "stop".

setup or continue: picks up where you left off, at any time.

If you stop halfway, it gives you a gentle nudge now and then — never between 9pm and 8am in your local time, and at most three times; after that it stops and waits for you to call. It does not press.

Language

Orion speaks Portuguese, English and Spanish. The starting language comes from your time zone: time zones in Portuguese-speaking countries (and an unknown time zone) start in Portuguese; the rest start in English. After that it mirrors the language you write in — if you write in Spanish, it answers in Spanish.

If you write several messages in a row in a language different from the saved one, it asks once whether you also want to change the language of the messages it sends on its own (reminders, briefs). And you can pin it whenever you want: "talk to me in Portuguese".

Google and Microsoft 365

Connecting one of these two accounts is what most increases what Orion can do. You can connect both, one, or neither — nothing here is required.

Google

Two ways, pick the easier one: through the link Orion sends in step 3/4 of the setup, or through the dashboard, at Orion → Google → "Connect Google". Authorize on the Google screen and the page refreshes on its own.

Three limits worth making clear from the start, because they explain almost every "why couldn't it do it?":

It does not read your Gmail inbox. The permission requested is send, not read. For Orion to read what arrives, use the email forwarding described below.

In Drive, it only sees what it created itself. That is the minimum scope (`drive.file`). If you ask "list my Drive files", only the files Orion created come back — your older documents it does not see, does not open and does not edit. When it tries, that is exactly what it answers.

It does not grant access to anyone. When it creates a document or spreadsheet, Orion gives you back the link; sharing it with someone else is up to you. (In OneDrive, on the Microsoft side, it can generate a sharing link — the asymmetry is real.)

The page itself sums up the permissions requested: your email address, Calendar, Gmail send, Drive files it creates, and read-only Contacts.

Microsoft 365

If your company lives in Outlook and Teams, this is your chapter. Open Orion → Microsoft 365 and click "Connect Microsoft 365". A Microsoft window opens; after you authorize, close it — the page refreshes on its own.

On most accounts this is one click and needs no IT admin. If your company has turned off per-user consent, the Microsoft screen will say "Approval required". In that case, click "Generate admin link" on the same page: the link comes already copied, you send it to IT, and their approval unblocks the whole organization at once.

And the limits, which here are different from Google's:

It reads your Outlook inbox — directly, with no forwarding. Connecting Microsoft 365 grants email read access. It is more power and it is also less privacy than the Google side; the choice is yours, and disconnecting is one button on the same page.

Teams channel messages are not accessed. It reads and writes in 1:1 conversations and in group chats. Team channels (those tabs inside a team) would require an admin permission that the product deliberately does not request.

Personal Microsoft accounts do not work. The connection is built for corporate/educational accounts (work or school).

If a new feature asks you to reconnect, reconnect. The permissions for files, drafts, OneNote and To Do were added on July 28, 2026. Anyone who authorized before that keeps email, calendar and Teams working normally, but the new features will answer by asking for a reconnection — which is the same button as the first time.

About sending things on your behalf

This is worth stating precisely, because it is a point where the promise and the behavior have to match.

When Orion is about to fire off a send to a third party (email, WhatsApp, Teams message, calendar invitation with external guests), there is an automatic hold: the system holds the send, shows you a draft field by field — "Send confirmation — nothing has been sent yet" — and only sends after your yes. That draft is assembled by the system itself, not narrated by the model, and your yes is bound to that exact text: change one comma and you have to confirm again.

This hold fires when the turn read external content before sending — an email, an attachment, a web page, a group message. It is a defense against planted instructions: what it has just read may be exactly what is asking for the send.

On a direct request from you, on a clean turn — "send an email to João saying we're set for Friday" —, there is no hold from the system: it resolves the contact and sends. And in voice conversation there is no hold at all, in any case.

In practice, the habit that works: when you want to review first, split it into two requests. "Write the email to João about the proposal, but don't send it yet." You read it, adjust it, and only then: "go ahead and send it."

Forwarded email

This is the optional step that most changes the routine of anyone who lives in the inbox. It exists because Orion does not read your Gmail — the permission it asks for on Google is send. Forwarding is what gives it the other side.

1. In the dashboard, open Orion → Emails and click Copy on the address field. It has the form `[email protected]`.
2. In your provider (Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Yahoo…), set up auto-forwarding to that address.
3. Gmail sends a confirmation email to the forwarded address — one you would never see. Orion confirms it on its own and tells you on WhatsApp: "✅ Your email is now connected."

From then on, the question that unlocks everything is simple: "anything important in my email?". It summarizes what arrived, sorts out what matters, reads the whole email when you ask, opens attachments (PDF, image, Word, Excel, CSV, text) and drafts replies. The reply goes out through the account you connected — Gmail, if Google is connected; Outlook, if it is Microsoft.

The Emails page shows what it has already received, with the counters for New, Skimmed, Read and Total.

If nothing arrives, it tells you. When Google is connected but no email has ever reached the agent's address, Orion notices — because not even the provider's confirmation showed up — and sends you a message explaining what is missing. It does this once and repeats at most one more time, a few days later. After that, it stops.

Corporate email can block it. Many Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 admins block external auto-forwarding. If that is your case, ask IT to allow "external auto-forwarding" — or connect a personal email.

On Microsoft 365 there is no forwarding. Anyone who connected Microsoft has already granted read permission: Orion reads Outlook directly, without this step. If you use both, forwarding still serves mailboxes that are not in Outlook.