whatsapp-templates

WhatsApp Templates

When to Use

Use this skill when building code to create, manage, or send WhatsApp template messages. Templates are required to initiate conversations outside the 24-hour window.

When Templates Are Required

Has user messaged you in the last 24 hours?
  -> YES: Send free-form message (text, image, buttons, etc.)
  -> NO: Must use template message
Need to send bulk/broadcast messages?
  -> YES: Use template (recommended for consistency)
Want proactive outbound notifications?
  -> YES: Must use template

Template Categories

Category	Use Case	Examples
UTILITY	Transactional updates	Order confirmations, shipping updates, appointment reminders
MARKETING	Promotional content	Sales, offers, product announcements
AUTHENTICATION	OTP/verification codes	Login codes, 2FA, password resets

Create Template

const template = await zavu.templates.create({
  name: "order_confirmation",
  language: "en",
  body: "Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} has been confirmed and will ship within 24 hours.",
  whatsappCategory: "UTILITY",
  variables: ["customer_name", "order_id"],
});
console.log(template.id); // tpl_xxx

Python:

template = zavu.templates.create(
    name="order_confirmation",
    language="en",
    body="Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} has been confirmed and will ship within 24 hours.",
    whatsapp_category="UTILITY",
    variables=["customer_name", "order_id"],
)

Go:

template, err := client.Templates.Create(context.TODO(), zavudev.TemplateCreateParams{
    Name:             zavudev.String("order_confirmation"),
    Language:         zavudev.String("en"),
    Body:             zavudev.String("Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} has been confirmed and will ship within 24 hours."),
    WhatsappCategory: zavudev.String("UTILITY"),
    Variables:        []string{"customer_name", "order_id"},
})

Ruby:

template = client.templates.create(
    name: "order_confirmation",
    language: "en",
    body: "Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} has been confirmed and will ship within 24 hours.",
    whatsapp_category: "UTILITY",
    variables: ["customer_name", "order_id"],
)

PHP:

$template = $client->templates->create([
    'name' => 'order_confirmation',
    'language' => 'en',
    'body' => 'Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} has been confirmed and will ship within 24 hours.',
    'whatsappCategory' => 'UTILITY',
    'variables' => ['customer_name', 'order_id'],
]);

Channel-Specific Bodies

Templates can have different bodies per channel. The default body is used for WhatsApp; SMS, Telegram, and Instagram fall back to body if no channel-specific body is set.

const template = await zavu.templates.create({
  name: "order_confirmation",
  language: "en",
  body: "Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} has been confirmed and will ship within 24 hours.",
  smsBody: "Order {{2}} confirmed. Ships in 24h.",       // SMS fallback
  telegramBody: "✅ Order {{2}} confirmed for {{1}}.",    // Telegram-specific
  instagramBody: "Order {{2}} confirmed!",               // Instagram-specific
  whatsappCategory: "UTILITY",
  variables: ["customer_name", "order_id"],
});

whatsappCategory only applies to the WhatsApp body. Channel-specific bodies don't require a category.

Template with Buttons

// Quick reply buttons
const template = await zavu.templates.create({
  name: "feedback_request",
  language: "en",
  body: "Hi {{1}}, how was your experience with order {{2}}?",
  whatsappCategory: "MARKETING",
  variables: ["customer_name", "order_id"],
  buttons: [
    { type: "quick_reply", text: "Great!" },
    { type: "quick_reply", text: "Could be better" },
  ],
});

// URL button
const template = await zavu.templates.create({
  name: "track_order",
  language: "en",
  body: "Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} has shipped!",
  whatsappCategory: "UTILITY",
  variables: ["customer_name", "order_id"],
  buttons: [
    { type: "url", text: "Track Order", url: "https://example.com/track/{{1}}" },
  ],
});

// Phone button
const template = await zavu.templates.create({
  name: "contact_support",
  language: "en",
  body: "Need help? Call our support team.",
  whatsappCategory: "UTILITY",
  buttons: [
    { type: "phone", text: "Call Support", phoneNumber: "+14155551234" },
  ],
});

// Contact info request button — asks the recipient to share their phone number.
// Label is fixed by WhatsApp ("Share Contact Info"), so `text` is not required.
// Useful for contacts who adopted a WhatsApp username (known only by BSUID).
const template = await zavu.templates.create({
  name: "callback_request",
  language: "en",
  body: "Hi {{1}}, we need a phone number to schedule your callback.",
  whatsappCategory: "UTILITY",
  variables: ["customer_name"],
  buttons: [
    { type: "request_contact_info" },
  ],
});

OTP Authentication Templates

// Copy code button
const template = await zavu.templates.create({
  name: "login_otp",
  language: "en",
  body: "Your verification code is {{1}}. Do not share this code.",
  whatsappCategory: "AUTHENTICATION",
  variables: ["otp_code"],
  addSecurityRecommendation: true,
  codeExpirationMinutes: 5,
  buttons: [
    { type: "otp", text: "Copy Code", otpType: "COPY_CODE" },
  ],
});

// One-tap autofill (Android)
const template = await zavu.templates.create({
  name: "login_otp_autofill",
  language: "en",
  body: "Your verification code is {{1}}.",
  whatsappCategory: "AUTHENTICATION",
  variables: ["otp_code"],
  addSecurityRecommendation: true,
  codeExpirationMinutes: 10,
  buttons: [
    {
      type: "otp",
      text: "Autofill",
      otpType: "ONE_TAP",
      packageName: "com.example.app",
      signatureHash: "abc123hash",
    },
  ],
});

Submit for Meta Approval

Templates must be approved by Meta before use:

// Submit template for review
const submitted = await zavu.templates.submit({
  templateId: "tpl_abc123",
  senderId: "snd_abc123",
  category: "UTILITY",
});
console.log(submitted.status); // "pending"

Track approval via webhooks (template.status_changed event) or polling:

const template = await zavu.templates.get({ templateId: "tpl_abc123" });
console.log(template.status); // draft | pending | approved | rejected

Category Is Meta's, Not Yours

The category you submit is a request. Meta decides the one that counts, and it can reassign it — most often UTILITY to MARKETING — either at approval or months later on a template that is already live. That reassignment changes what every send on that template costs.

template.category reports the category Meta currently assigns, so read it rather than assuming the one you submitted is still in force:

const template = await zavu.templates.get({ templateId: "tpl_abc123" });
console.log(template.category); // UTILITY | MARKETING | AUTHENTICATION

A recategorization arrives as a template.status_changed webhook carrying data.category. It fires even when the approval status did not move, so a recategorization shows up as an event whose previousStatus and currentStatus are identical — branch on category, not only on currentStatus:

if (event.type === "template.status_changed") {
  const { templateId, currentStatus, category } = event.data;
  if (category !== myStoredCategory(templateId)) {
    // Meta moved the billing category. Reprice before the next send.
  }
}

To reconcile templates that drifted before you were listening, run POST /v1/templates/sync — see below.

Sync Templates from WhatsApp

A template created outside Zavu — in Meta Business Manager, or by another tool — does not exist in Zavu until you import it. If a template.status_changed webhook is missed, a template stays pending forever. And a template Meta recategorized while nothing was listening keeps reporting its old category. POST /v1/templates/sync fixes all three: it imports Meta templates Zavu does not have (or links them to an existing template with the same name) and refreshes both the status and the category of the ones it does.

A template whose category changed but whose status did not is still counted in updated — that is the case worth running this for.

Not generated in the SDK yet — call it over REST:

# Sync every WhatsApp sender in the project
curl -X POST https://api.zavu.dev/v1/templates/sync \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ZAVU_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{}'

# Or scope it to one sender's WhatsApp Business Account
curl -X POST https://api.zavu.dev/v1/templates/sync \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ZAVU_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"senderId": "snd_abc123"}'

{
  "accountsSynced": 1,
  "imported": 2,
  "linked": 1,
  "updated": 3,
  "skipped": 12,
  "errors": []
}

• The call is synchronous: it waits for Meta, so it can take a few seconds per account. List templates right after to see the result.
• skipped counts Meta templates left alone — already linked, or rejected / disabled on Meta (those are never imported).
• A non-empty errors with a 200 means one account failed; the rest still synced.
• Returns 400 when no sender in the project has a WhatsApp Business Account.

Send Template Message

await zavu.messages.send({
  to: "+14155551234",
  messageType: "template",
  content: {
    templateId: "tpl_abc123",
    templateVariables: { "1": "John", "2": "ORD-12345" },
  },
});

Python:

zavu.messages.send(
    to="+14155551234",
    message_type="template",
    content={
        "templateId": "tpl_abc123",
        "templateVariables": {"1": "John", "2": "ORD-12345"},
    },
)

Template Lifecycle

draft -> pending (submitted to Meta) -> approved (ready to use)
                                     -> rejected (edit and resubmit)

Other Operations

// List templates
const templates = await zavu.templates.list({ limit: 50 });
for (const tpl of templates.items) {
  console.log(tpl.id, tpl.name, tpl.status);
}

// Get template
const tpl = await zavu.templates.get({ templateId: "tpl_abc123" });

// Delete template (draft only)
await zavu.templates.delete({ templateId: "tpl_abc123" });

Constraints

• Template names: lowercase, underscores only (e.g., order_confirmation), unique per project: creating a second template with the same name returns 409 conflict
• Variables use positional format: {{1}}, {{2}}, {{3}}
• A WhatsApp variable value may not contain line breaks, tabs or more than 4 consecutive spaces. Meta refuses those at delivery, so Zavu rejects the send with 400 invalid_request and names the value in details.field. Replace them (e.g. with ·) before sending; SMS and Telegram templates accept them
• Max 3 buttons per template
• Button text: max 25 characters (not used for request_contact_info — WhatsApp fixes its label)
• OTP ONE_TAP requires Android packageName and signatureHash
• addSecurityRecommendation only for AUTHENTICATION templates
• codeExpirationMinutes: 1-90, only for AUTHENTICATION
• Meta approval typically takes minutes to hours, but can take up to 24h
• Rejected templates can be edited and resubmitted