WhatsApp

Connect your agent to WhatsApp so it can send and receive messages

Your agent can have direct conversations with people over WhatsApp — receiving messages and responding in natural conversation, just like in the portal. Each person who messages the WhatsApp number gets their own ongoing 1:1 chat with the agent.

Example use cases

• A customer support agent that handles inquiries via WhatsApp 24/7
• A booking assistant that confirms appointments through WhatsApp messages
• An internal helper that team members can reach from their phone without opening the portal

Prerequisites

• A Meta (Facebook) developer account
• A phone number to register with WhatsApp Business (can be new or existing)
• The Abundly agent you want to connect

How to connect

1. Create a Meta App

   Go to developers.facebook.com, create a new app, and add the WhatsApp product. This gives you a test phone number and API access.

2. Create a System User and generate a permanent token

   In Meta Business Settings, go to Users → System Users, create one, and generate a token with these permissions:

   • whatsapp_business_messaging
   • whatsapp_business_management

   The temporary token from the API Setup panel expires hourly — the System User token is permanent.

3. Enable the WhatsApp capability

   In the Abundly portal, open your agent’s capabilities and enable WhatsApp. The settings panel shows your webhook URL, verify token, and a place to store your credentials.

4. Add your credentials

   Create a WhatsApp secret with your Phone Number ID (from Meta’s API Setup panel), the Access Token you generated, and your app’s App Secret (Meta App Dashboard → App Settings → Basic) in App Secret (signs webhooks). Meta signs its webhook events with that secret, so the agent only accepts events that really come from Meta and nobody else can send it fake messages. The capability can’t be saved without it.

   Already set up? Agents set up before the signing secret existed keep working with unsigned events until they are saved again; then the WhatsApp secret needs App Secret (signs webhooks) — edit the secret to add it.

5. Configure the webhook in Meta

   In your Meta App Dashboard under WhatsApp → Configuration, set the Callback URL and Verify Token shown in the capability panel. Then subscribe to the messages webhook field.

6. Publish the app

   Under App Settings → Basic, fill in a privacy policy URL, app icon, and category, then click Publish. This switches the app to live mode so real messages are delivered to your webhook.

   Publishing does not make your app public — it just enables production webhook delivery.

7. Subscribe the app to your WABA

   This step is sometimes needed if webhooks don’t arrive after publishing. Call the Graph API to explicitly subscribe your app:

   curl -X POST "https://graph.facebook.com/v21.0/YOUR_WABA_ID/subscribed_apps" \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN"
   
8. Send a test message

   Send a WhatsApp message to your registered number. You should see it arrive in the agent’s activity.

Access control

Only whitelisted phone numbers can message the agent. Add allowed numbers in the capability settings panel under Allowed Senders — the agent will ignore messages from anyone else.

WhatsApp enforces a 24-hour session window. After a user messages, the agent can reply freely for 24 hours. After that, only pre-approved template messages can be sent to initiate a new conversation.

Learn more

Email & SMS

Other messaging channels your agent can use

Slack

Connect your agent to Slack for team communication