Templates

Overview

WhatsApp Message Templates are pre-approved message formats required for sending business-initiated messages. Templates must be approved by Meta before use.

List Templates

Retrieve all templates for your account.

GET /api/templates

Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
page	integer	Page number (default: 1)
limit	integer	Page size, 1–100. Default 50.
status	string	Filter by status (APPROVED, PENDING, REJECTED)
category	string	Filter by category (MARKETING, UTILITY, AUTHENTICATION)
account	string	Filter by WhatsApp account name
search	string	Case-insensitive match on name or display_name

Ordered by created_at DESC.

Caution

Whatomate stores templates as flat fields (header_type, header_content, body_content, footer_content, buttons, sample_values) — not as Meta's nested components array. The account is referenced by name via whatsapp_account; there is no account_id, and the filter parameter is account.

Response

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "templates": [
      {
        "id": "uuid",
        "whatsapp_account": "Main Business",
        "meta_template_id": "123456789",
        "name": "order_confirmation",
        "display_name": "Order Confirmation",
        "language": "en",
        "category": "UTILITY",
        "status": "APPROVED",
        "header_type": "IMAGE",
        "header_content": "",
        "body_content": "Hi {{1}}, your order #{{2}} has been confirmed!",
        "footer_content": "Thank you for shopping with us",
        "buttons": [
          { "type": "URL", "text": "Track Order", "url": "https://example.com/track/{{1}}" }
        ],
        "sample_values": [],
        "add_security_recommendation": false,
        "code_expiration_minutes": 0,
        "quality_rating": "UNKNOWN",
        "created_by_name": "Jane Admin",
        "updated_by_name": "Jane Admin",
        "created_at": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z",
        "updated_at": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z"
      }
    ],
    "total": 50,
    "page": 1,
    "limit": 50
  }
}

Get Template

Retrieve a single template by ID. Returns the same object shape as a list item.

GET /api/templates/{id}

Create Template

Create a new template locally. Creating does not submit it to Meta — call Submit Template for that.

POST /api/templates

Request Body

{
  "whatsapp_account": "Main Business",
  "name": "welcome_message",
  "display_name": "Welcome Message",
  "language": "en",
  "category": "MARKETING",
  "header_type": "TEXT",
  "header_content": "Welcome!",
  "body_content": "Welcome to our store, {{1}}! Use code {{2}} for 10% off your first order.",
  "footer_content": "Reply STOP to unsubscribe",
  "buttons": [],
  "sample_values": ["John", "SAVE10"]
}

Field	Type	Required	Description
whatsapp_account	string	Yes	Account name
name	string	Yes	Meta template name (lowercase, underscores)
language	string	Yes	Language code, e.g. en
category	string	Yes	MARKETING, UTILITY, or AUTHENTICATION
display_name	string	No	Friendly label shown in the UI
header_type	string	No	TEXT, IMAGE, DOCUMENT, VIDEO, or NONE
header_content	string	No	Header text when header_type is TEXT
body_content	string	No	Body text with {{1}}-style or named placeholders
footer_content	string	No	Footer text
buttons	array	No	Button definitions
sample_values	array	No	Example values Meta uses during review
add_security_recommendation	boolean	No	AUTHENTICATION templates — appends Meta's security line
code_expiration_minutes	integer	No	AUTHENTICATION templates — 1–90; 0 omits the expiry footer

Update Template

Update an existing template. Accepts the same body as Create.

PUT /api/templates/{id}

Delete Template

Delete a template.

DELETE /api/templates/{id}

Sync Templates

Pull templates from Meta for one account and upsert them locally (matching on account + name + language, restoring soft-deleted rows). Requires templates:sync.

POST /api/templates/sync

The account name can be given either as an ?account= query parameter or in the body:

{
  "whatsapp_account": "Main Business"
}

Omitting it returns 400 whatsapp_account is required; an unknown name returns 404. If Meta cannot be reached, the endpoint returns 502.

Submit Template

Submit a template for Meta approval.

POST /api/templates/{id}/publish

Response

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "id": "uuid",
    "status": "PENDING"
  }
}

Upload Template Media

Upload a media asset (image, video, or PDF) for a template's media header. This performs a resumable upload to Meta and returns a handle that you embed in the HEADER component's example when creating the template.

POST /api/templates/upload-media

Send the request as multipart/form-data:

Field	Location	Required	Description
account	form field or ?account= query	Yes	Name of the WhatsApp account. The account must have an app_id configured.
file	form file	Yes	The media file to upload (image/jpeg, image/png, video/mp4, or application/pdf).

curl -X POST "http://your-server:8080/api/templates/upload-media?account=main" \
  -H "X-API-Key: whm_your_api_key" \
  -F "file=@header.jpg"

Response

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "handle": "4::aW1hZ2UvanBlZw==:...",
    "filename": "header.jpg",
    "mime_type": "image/jpeg",
    "size": 24576
  }
}

Set the returned handle as header_content when creating a template whose header_type is IMAGE, VIDEO or DOCUMENT — Whatomate wraps it into Meta's example.header_handle on submission:

{
  "header_type": "IMAGE",
  "header_content": "4::aW1hZ2UvanBlZw==:..."
}

Caution

The WhatsApp account must have app_id set in its settings; otherwise the upload is rejected.

Template Parts

Meta's four components map onto flat fields in the Whatomate API:

Meta component	Whatomate fields
HEADER	header_type (TEXT | IMAGE | DOCUMENT | VIDEO | NONE) + header_content
BODY	body_content
FOOTER	footer_content
BUTTONS	buttons

Whatomate assembles the Meta components payload itself when you submit the template.

Template Variables

Positional Parameters

Use {{1}}, {{2}}, etc. for dynamic content:

Hello {{1}}, your order #{{2}} is ready for pickup at {{3}}.

Provide sample values as objects keyed by component + index:

{
  "body_content": "Hello {{1}}, your order #{{2}} is ready!",
  "sample_values": [
    { "component": "body", "index": 1, "value": "John" },
    { "component": "body", "index": 2, "value": "12345" }
  ]
}

Named Parameters

Templates also support named parameters for better readability:

Hello {{customer_name}}, your order #{{order_id}} is ready for pickup at {{store_location}}.

When using named parameters, provide sample values with param_name:

{
  "body_content": "Hello {{customer_name}}, your order #{{order_id}} is ready!",
  "sample_values": [
    { "component": "body", "param_name": "customer_name", "value": "John" },
    { "component": "body", "param_name": "order_id", "value": "12345" }
  ]
}

You do not set parameter_format yourself — Whatomate detects non-numeric placeholders and sends parameter_format: "NAMED" to Meta on submission.

URL Button Parameters

Templates can include URL buttons with dynamic variables. For example, a "Track Order" button with URL https://example.com/track/{{1}}:

{
  "type": "BUTTONS",
  "buttons": [
    {
      "type": "URL",
      "text": "Track Order",
      "url": "https://example.com/track/{{1}}",
      "example": "https://example.com/track/12345"
    }
  ]
}

When sending a template with dynamic URL buttons, provide the dynamic values via the button_params field in the Send Template Message endpoint. The key is the zero-based button index:

{
  "template_name": "order_shipped",
  "template_params": { "1": "John", "2": "12345" },
  "button_params": { "0": "12345" }
}

Note

Whatomate automatically detects if your template uses named parameters (non-numeric placeholders) and sets the appropriate format when submitting to Meta.

Caution

Template approval can take from a few minutes to 24 hours. Rejected templates must be modified and resubmitted.