WhatsApp Business API setup and AI chatbot

WhatsApp

Connect a WhatsApp Business number and the same AI that powers your chat widget answers WhatsApp chats — grounded in your knowledge base, with tool calls and live handoff. Replies can use native WhatsApp UI: tappable buttons and list menus, not just text.

Prerequisites

• A website in your workspace. WhatsApp numbers are connected under a website, since they share that website's knowledge base, tools and AI settings. Create one under Websites → New Website first. No actual website? Create one anyway with https://meta.com as the domain — it only groups the number, and the chat widget stays switched off until you set a real domain.
• A Facebook Business account and a phone number that is not already registered on the WhatsApp consumer or Business app. Meta requires the number to be free before it can join the Cloud API.
• A knowledge base, if you want grounded answers — see Training & knowledge. WhatsApp answers from the same content as your widget.

Connect your number

1. Open WhatsApp in the dashboard sidebar and click Connect WhatsApp.
2. Pick the website the number belongs to, and choose a 6-digit PIN. The PIN registers the number for Cloud API messaging — keep it, you'll need it again if the number is ever re-registered.
3. Continue with Facebook. Meta's Embedded Signup popup walks you through selecting or creating a WhatsApp Business Account and phone number, and verifying it.
4. When the popup closes, the number appears in your list, connected. There is no developer setup, no Meta app to create, and no access token to paste.

How an incoming message is answered

A customer message arrives in realtime over Meta's webhook and runs through the exact same AI pipeline as the chat widget — retrieval from your knowledge base, tool calls, and escalation to a human agent. Every WhatsApp chat appears in Conversations alongside widget, Instagram and email threads, so your team works one inbox.

Because WhatsApp supports interactive messages, the assistant can answer with reply buttons (up to 3 choices) or a list menu (4–10 choices) instead of asking the customer to type. These behave like quick actions in the widget: a tap, not a sentence.

The 24-hour window

This is the rule that surprises most teams, and it is Meta's, not ours. Once a customer messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens. Inside it you can send anything — free text, buttons, lists, media. Once it closes, free-form messages are rejected, and the only way to re-open the conversation is an approved template message.

IotaBot enforces this for you: if the window has closed, a plain reply is refused with a clear message rather than silently failing, and you're prompted to send a template instead. Each new inbound message re-opens the window for another 24 hours.

Message templates

Templates are pre-written messages Meta reviews and approves — order updates, appointment reminders, a nudge to restart a conversation. They can carry variables you fill in at send time.

1. Open a connected number and go to its Templates tab.
2. Click Sync now to pull in the templates already approved on your WhatsApp Business Account, or create one and submit it for approval.
3. Approved templates become available when replying outside the window, and to WhatsApp campaigns — see Marketing campaigns.

Where to click, start to finish

WhatsApp (sidebar) → Connect WhatsApp → pick a website and set a 6-digit PIN → Continue with Facebook → complete Meta's Embedded Signup → open the connected number → Templates tab → Sync now → answer chats from the Conversations inbox.