WhatsApp Setup

WhatsApp Setup

Connect your agent to WhatsApp Business for customer-facing conversations.

Prerequisites

• A Meta (Facebook) developer account
• A WhatsApp Business account
• A phone number to register with WhatsApp Business

Setup steps

1. Create a Meta developer app

1. Go to developers.facebook.com
2. Click My Apps → Create App
3. Choose Business as the app type
4. Give it a name (e.g. "My AI Agent") and complete the setup

2. Add WhatsApp to your app

1. In your app dashboard, find Add Products
2. Click Set Up next to WhatsApp
3. Follow the setup wizard

3. Get your Meta values

1. Go to WhatsApp → API Setup in your app dashboard
2. Copy the Phone Number ID (this is not the display phone number)
3. Copy the temporary access token for a quick test, or generate a permanent System User token for production
4. Go to App settings → Basic and copy the App Secret — it's used to verify signed webhook requests
5. Note the Verify Token shown in your Belong AI Deploy dashboard — you'll enter this same value in Meta's webhook form

4. Connect in the wizard

1. On the wizard's messaging screen, select WhatsApp
2. Continue the deployment
3. After deploy, finish WhatsApp setup from the management dashboard by adding your access token, phone number ID, verify token, and Meta app secret

5. Register your webhook

Deployments stay private by default. If you selected WhatsApp on DigitalOcean or Google Cloud, the deployment opens public 443 for webhook routes only. Other providers need a separate public HTTPS entrypoint in front of the deployment.

1. Go to WhatsApp → Configuration
2. Copy the Callback URL shown in Dashboard → Connect AI & Messengers → WhatsApp (it's generated from your gateway URL and deploy ID)
3. Set the Verify Token to the value shown in that WhatsApp card
4. Make sure the App Secret in your dashboard matches the Meta app secret used for signed webhook requests
5. Subscribe to messages events

Testing

1. From the API Setup page, send a test message to your personal WhatsApp
2. Reply to the message
3. Your agent should respond — high-risk actions come back as review-only drafts for you to confirm

Production notes

• Temporary tokens expire after 24 hours — use a System User token for production
• WhatsApp requires a verified business to message users who haven't messaged you first
• Message templates need approval for outbound notifications