Creating the public Site for incoming messages

When a customer sends you a WhatsApp message or an SMS, WhatsApp (Meta) or Twilio has to deliver that message to your Salesforce org over the internet. They deliver it to a webhook — a web address in your org that can receive messages without anyone being logged in. In Salesforce, the way to expose such an address is a Salesforce Site: a public web endpoint attached to your org, used by a special limited user called the guest user.

REDA Connect does not create this Site for you — every org must set it up once, by hand, following the steps below. It takes about ten minutes. Without it, outgoing messages will still work, but nothing your customers send will ever reach Salesforce, and neither WhatsApp nor Twilio delivery receipts will arrive.

Step 1 — Register your Sites domain (first Site in the org only)

Every org has one Sites domain — a web address that all its Sites share. If your org has never used Sites before, register it now; if a domain already exists, skip to Step 2.

1. In Salesforce, click the gear icon (top right) and choose Setup.
2. In the Quick Find box (top left of Setup), type Sites and click Sites under User Interface → Sites and Domains.
3. If you see a screen asking you to choose a domain name, your org has no Sites domain yet. Enter a domain name — your company name is the usual choice. This name becomes part of the web address WhatsApp and Twilio will deliver to (for example yourcompany.my.salesforce-sites.com). It can never be changed once registered, so pick something you're happy to keep.
4. Click Check Availability, accept the terms, and click Register My Salesforce Site Domain.

Expected result: the Sites page now shows your domain at the top and an empty list of sites.

The Sites page with a registered domain — the notice at the top shows the domain all your Sites share, and the list below shows each Site with its Active flag. After Step 2, your REDA Connect site appears in this list.

Step 2 — Create the Site

1. Still on Setup → Sites, click New.
2. Fill in the new site form:

1. Leave every other field at its default and click Save.

Expected result: the Site's detail page opens, showing Site URL — an address ending in .my.salesforce-sites.com. Note this full URL down; you will use it in Step 4 and again when you connect WhatsApp and Twilio.

The saved Site's detail page: the Custom URLs section shows the Domain Name and Path that together form your Site URL — note the full address down. The Public Access Settings button above it is where Step 3 continues.

Step 3 — Give the guest user access to the two REDA Connect endpoints

Incoming messages arrive as the Site's guest user — an automatic, unlicensed user Salesforce creates for every Site. Out of the box this user can access nothing. It needs permission to run exactly two REDA Connect endpoint classes — and nothing else. No object permissions, no field permissions, no extra permission sets: REDA Connect is designed so that the guest user only hands the message over; all processing happens afterwards in Salesforce's own secure system context.

1. On the Site's detail page, click Public Access Settings. This opens the Site's guest user profile.
2. Find the Enabled Apex Class Access section (use the section links at the top of the page, or scroll), and click Edit.
3. In the Available Apex Classes list, select these two classes and move them to Enabled Apex Classes with the Add arrow:
   • rconn.WAPP_Inbound
   • rconn.TWILIO_Inbound
4. Click Save.

Expected result: Enabled Apex Class Access lists exactly those two classes.

The guest user profile after Step 3 — exactly the two REDA Connect endpoint classes are enabled, and nothing else. (Shown in the enhanced profile view, where the section is called Apex Class Access; in the standard profile view the same list appears under Enabled Apex Class Access.)

Step 4 — Write down your two webhook addresses

Your webhook addresses are built from the Site URL (Step 2) plus a fixed path. If you left Default Web Address blank:

WhatsApp:  https://<your-site-domain>/services/apexrest/rconn/wapp-inbound/
SMS:       https://<your-site-domain>/services/apexrest/rconn/twilio-inbound/

If you entered a path suffix (for example reda), it goes right after the domain:

WhatsApp:  https://<your-site-domain>/reda/services/apexrest/rconn/wapp-inbound/
SMS:       https://<your-site-domain>/reda/services/apexrest/rconn/twilio-inbound/

Both addresses must keep the trailing slash — the SMS address in particular is used as a prefix that REDA Connect extends per message, and without the final / delivery receipts will not be recognised.

Worked example

Suppose you registered the domain acmerentals and created the Site with the path suffix reda. Your Site URL shows as https://acmerentals.my.salesforce-sites.com/reda, so:

• into Meta (later, in Connecting the WhatsApp webhook) you will paste: https://acmerentals.my.salesforce-sites.com/reda/services/apexrest/rconn/wapp-inbound/
• into Twilio (later, in Connecting the Twilio webhooks) you will paste: https://acmerentals.my.salesforce-sites.com/reda/services/apexrest/rconn/twilio-inbound/

Troubleshooting

FAQ

Where to go next

• Setup roadmap — from install to first message — see where you are in the overall setup sequence.
• The Remote Site Setting WhatsApp media needs — the other one-time step that silently breaks incoming pictures and documents if skipped.
• Setting up WhatsApp or Setting up SMS with Twilio — connect your first channel.