APAC channels onboarding: LINE and WeChat

This guide walks you end to end through the APAC-region channels — LINE (Japan, Thailand, Taiwan) and WeChat (China) — from first credential connect through send, inbound webhook, and error handling. KakaoTalk (Korea) and Zalo (Vietnam) follow the same shape with channel-specific quirks; the fold-in notes below cover them. The guide complements the per-channel references (LINE, WeChat, KakaoTalk, Zalo) — those document the API shapes; this guide is the ordered playbook you follow the first time.

Pick the right channel per region

Do not activate every APAC channel at once. Pick one:

LINE — the right default in Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan. Dominant share in those markets.
WeChat — China’s super-app. Template-only Official Account messaging.
KakaoTalk (Korea) — Alimtalk (template-only transactional) and Friendtalk (free-form to followers).
Zalo (Vietnam) — template-only ZNS notifications.

If you are unsure, start with LINE unless your audience is Korea/China/Vietnam.

1. LINE — connect the channel

LINE is a bring-your-own-credential channel: you register a Messaging API channel with a LINE Official Account, then paste its token and secret into Orbit.

In the LINE Developers Console, create or open a Messaging API channel for your LINE Official Account.
From the channel’s Messaging API tab, copy the long-lived Channel access token. From Basic settings, copy the Channel secret.
In Orbit, go to Channels → LINE → Connect and paste both values. Orbit stores them encrypted at rest under settings.channels.line.
Set the channel’s Webhook URL in the LINE Developers Console to https://api.orbit.devotel.io/api/v1/webhooks/inbound/line and enable Use webhook. All tenants share this single URL — Orbit resolves the receiving tenant from the LINE channel id (destination) on each event.

The credentials section of the LINE channel page covers rotation and the rule that the token must never sit in git.

2. LINE — send a template-free message

Ordinary text, image, video, sticker, flex, and location messages on LINE are template-free — you send a plain body and pick the type per message. (Template-only applies only to Zalo ZNS, WeChat, and KakaoTalk Alimtalk.)

curl -X POST https://api.orbit.devotel.io/api/v1/messages/line \
  -H "X-API-Key: dv_live_sk_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "to": "U4af4980629...",
    "body": "Your order has shipped.",
    "type": "text"
  }'

Field	Required	Description
`to`	yes	Recipient LINE id — a user (`U…`), group (`C…`), or room (`R…`) id taken from an inbound event.
`body`	yes	Message body, 1–5000 characters.
`type`	no	`text`, `image`, `video`, `audio`, `location`, `sticker`, or `flex`. Defaults to `text`.

The sender is selected automatically from the connected channel credentials — you do not pass a token on the request. 202 Accepted means queued; terminal delivered / failed arrives on the delivery-status webhook.

Sender identity

LINE is a profile channel: your Official Account’s name and avatar are the sender. There is no sender_id to pass per message — identity is bound to the channel you connected.

3. LINE — inbound and webhooks

Inbound user messages, follows, joins, and postbacks are POSTed to your registered webhook endpoint with the standard Orbit inbound envelope (channel: "line"). Every inbound carries the sender’s LINE id — store it on the contact so replies reuse it. Delivery-status callbacks (LINE delivery events) land separately on /api/v1/webhooks/dlr/line; Orbit wires them as part of connect — you do not register them yourself. Signature verification (HMAC-SHA256 against the stored channel_secret) is enforced before any event reaches your endpoint.

4. LINE — errors you will actually see

Code	HTTP	Cause	Fix
`INVALID_RECIPIENT`	422	`to` is empty or not a usable LINE id.	Send to a user (`U…`), group (`C…`), or room (`R…`) id captured from inbound.
`VALIDATION_ERROR`	422	`to` or `body` missing; `body` > 5000 chars; a `flex` message’s `flex_contents` invalid JSON.	Correct the request body and retry.
`MESSAGE_SEND_FAILED`	502	LINE rejected the push or was unreachable.	Check the failure reason on the status webhook; re-paste the token if it rotated.
`RATE_LIMITED`	429	> 80 sends/minute for the tenant.	Honour `Retry-After`; stage bulk sends through Campaigns.

LINE_INVALID_TOKEN (401) is raised only at connect time. A token rotated after connect surfaces as MESSAGE_SEND_FAILED until you re-paste the current token — see LINE credential handling.

5. WeChat — Official Account onboarding

WeChat is template-only: you cannot send free-form text to a follower. You must provision a WeChat Official Account, get your templates approved, and register its access token with Orbit.

Register a WeChat Official Account and create template messages in the WeChat OA admin console. Each approved template receives a template id.
Obtain the OA access token via the WeChat token grant. It is short-lived (~2 hours); rotate it centrally before expiry.
In Orbit, go to Settings → Channels → WeChat and paste the access token. Orbit stores it encrypted at rest under settings.channels.wechat.

When an external sender-id is needed

Ordinary template sends address the follower by to = their OA-scoped openid — no sender-id on the request. If a WeChat campaign you run needs a branded sender identity that is not the connected OA, that identity is bound to the OA at connect time (not per send) and is the OA’s responsibility.

6. WeChat — template-only send

Send with POST /api/v1/messages/wechat. Select the approved template with template_name and fill its placeholders with template_params.

curl -X POST https://api.orbit.devotel.io/api/v1/messages/wechat \
  -H "X-API-Key: dv_live_sk_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "to": "oABCdef1234567890ghijklmno",
    "template_name": "ORDER_SHIPPED_V2",
    "template_params": { "order_id": "A1024" }
  }'

A send without an approved template_name is rejected with VALIDATION_ERROR (422). For bulk sends, submit a campaign with channel: "wechat" rather than looping the single-send endpoint.

Inbound and fallback

Inbound replies arrive on the standard message.received webhook with channel: "wechat"; WeChat’s delivery callback advances your outbound message to delivered / failed. WeChat is deliberately positioned as the last-hop fallback to SMS when a WeChat send fails — see Fallback chains.

7. Folded-in channels (KakaoTalk, Zalo)

KakaoTalk (Korea): two message types. Alimtalk — template-only, pre-approved template code, to any phone number. Friendtalk — free-form body text to users who added your channel as a friend. Select with metadata.kakao_message_type; details in the KakaoTalk channel page.
Zalo (Vietnam): template-only ZNS (Zalo Notification Service) messages — no free-form send shape. Details in the Zalo channel page.

Where to go next

Send and receive messages — the cross-channel send pattern.
Inbox setup — route inbound APAC-channel traffic to your team.
Best practices — platform-wide sending hygiene.
LINE channel page · WeChat channel page — per-channel API references.

WhatsApp

Guides

Messaging Controls

Audience & Support Tools

APAC channels onboarding: LINE and WeChat

APAC channels onboarding: LINE and WeChat

Pick the right channel per region

1. LINE — connect the channel

2. LINE — send a template-free message

Sender identity

3. LINE — inbound and webhooks

4. LINE — errors you will actually see

5. WeChat — Official Account onboarding

When an external sender-id is needed

6. WeChat — template-only send

Inbound and fallback

7. Folded-in channels (KakaoTalk, Zalo)

Where to go next

​APAC channels onboarding: LINE and WeChat

​Pick the right channel per region

​1. LINE — connect the channel

​2. LINE — send a template-free message

​Sender identity

​3. LINE — inbound and webhooks

​4. LINE — errors you will actually see

​5. WeChat — Official Account onboarding

​When an external sender-id is needed

​6. WeChat — template-only send

​Inbound and fallback

​7. Folded-in channels (KakaoTalk, Zalo)

​Where to go next

APAC channels onboarding: LINE and WeChat

Pick the right channel per region

1. LINE — connect the channel

2. LINE — send a template-free message

Sender identity

3. LINE — inbound and webhooks

4. LINE — errors you will actually see

5. WeChat — Official Account onboarding

When an external sender-id is needed

6. WeChat — template-only send

Inbound and fallback

7. Folded-in channels (KakaoTalk, Zalo)

Where to go next