Automated text-based messaging interaction using natural language understanding technologies enables text-based messages to be received from users and interpreted by a self-service application platform so that the self-service application platform can respond to the text-based messages in an automated manner. The characters and strings of characters contained within the text message are interpreted to extract words, which are then processed using a natural language understanding engine to determine the content of the text-based message. The content is used to generate a response message from static and/or dynamic grammars to automate the process of interacting with a user via text-based messages. Multiple text-based message formats are supported, including text messages transmitted using Short Messaging Service (SMS), instant messaging, chat, and e-mail.