Set up WhatsApp

Back to messaging or digital channels

Connect your agent to a WhatsApp Business sender so customers reach it from WhatsApp. Artemis reaches WhatsApp through a Business Solution Provider, and the provider you choose decides which credentials you collect, which webhook route you register, and where the sender lives.

The setup requires:

1. Choose a provider, then complete either Meta setup or Infobip setup to collect the routing identifier and credentials.
2. Artemis channel configuration using those values, then copy the generated webhook URL.
3. Webhook configuration with your provider: register the callback URL so inbound messages reach Artemis.

After you complete the configuration, your provider posts inbound WhatsApp messages to Artemis, which matches the sender identifier to this connection and hands the message to the deployed agent.

Important considerations

• The provider selector changes the whole setup: It decides which credential fields the dialog shows and which webhook route you register. Credentials from one provider never work with another’s route, so pick the provider before you collect anything.
• Who owns the WhatsApp Business account differs by provider: On Meta Cloud API, you hold it directly and Meta issues a test sender in minutes. That’s why most projects start there. On Infobip, Infobip holds it and onboards the sender for you, which removes the Meta paperwork at the cost of a provisioning wait.
• The Meta test token expires within 24 hours: To test and not to run. See Create a permanent access token.
• Verification proves less than it appears to: A webhook that returns 2xx proves only that your provider reached the runtime. It says nothing about whether your outbound credentials work.

Prerequisites

• An account with your chosen Business Solution Provider: A Meta developer account, or an Infobip account.
• For production on either path, the business details Meta requires for verification. Both routes wait on Meta review, so start early.
• An HTTPS-reachable Artemis runtime, since Meta calls the callback URL during verification.
• Artemis project access with permission to open Deployments -> Channels, and a deployed agent in the environment you intend to bind.

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Choose a provider first

Pick the provider before you collect anything, and keep the identifier, credentials, webhook route, and provider-side sender on that single path.

Provider	Routing identifier	Credentials
Meta Cloud API	Phone Number ID	Access Token and Phone Number ID for outbound, App Secret and Verify Token for inbound verification
Infobip	WhatsApp phone number, digits only	API Base URL with an API key or basic auth, plus a network allowlist for inbound verification
Gupshup	Business number the provider sends in the callback body	API username and password, plus an optional bearer token secret for inbound verification

Each provider also has its own webhook route. Meta uses the generic WhatsApp route, while Infobip and Gupshup each add their provider slug to the URL. Copy the route that matches the provider you selected in Artemis rather than assuming one URL serves all three.

Work through the provider section that matches your choice, then rejoin the shared path at Artemis channel configuration.

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Meta setup

Complete this section only if you selected Meta Cloud API. Everything here happens in Meta, before you open Artemis, and each screen depends on the one before it. Meta covers the same ground in its own words in the Cloud API get started guide.

1. Register as a Meta developer

   1. Go to Meta for Developers and sign in with your Facebook account.
   2. Complete developer registration when Meta prompts you, confirming an email address and a phone number.

   A personal Facebook account gets you started. You need a Meta Business portfolio only when you move past the test sender.

2. Create the app

   1. Open My Apps and select Create App.
   2. When Meta asks what the app does, choose the business messaging use case, or choose Other and then Business as the app type if Meta shows you that older flow.
   3. Enter an app name and a contact email, attach a Meta Business portfolio if you have one, and create the app.

   The app type matters, because only a business app exposes the WhatsApp product. Meta opens the App Dashboard once the app exists.

3. Add the WhatsApp product

   1. On the App Dashboard, scroll the Add products to your app list to WhatsApp and select Set up. If you’ve navigated away from that screen, the left menu carries an Add product entry that returns you to the same list.

   Meta provisions several things at once: a test WhatsApp Business Account, a test business phone number, and a set of pre-approved message templates. The test number reaches up to five verified recipients at no cost. The left menu now shows a WhatsApp section containing API Setup and Configuration, which are the two screens you’ll use.

   All of this is test infrastructure. It works for development and none of it works for production.

4. Find the Access Token and Phone Number ID

   Go to WhatsApp -> API Setup in the left menu. This screen carries most of what Artemis needs.

   1. Select Generate access token and complete the prompt, then copy the token. Meta issues a fresh one each time you open this panel, and it expires within 24 hours.
   2. Below the From field, Meta shows the test business phone number, and directly beneath that, a numeric Phone Number ID. Copy the ID.

   The Phone Number ID isn’t the phone number. It’s Meta’s internal identifier for the sender, and entering the displayed number instead is the most common reason a connection never receives traffic. The two values sit next to each other on this screen, which is exactly why they get swapped.

   See Create a permanent access token before you move past testing.

5. Find the App Secret

   The App Secret lives outside the WhatsApp section, so the left menu is the only way to reach it.

   1. Go to App settings -> Basic.
   2. Select Show beside App secret.
   3. Re-enter your Facebook password when Meta asks, then copy the value.

   Meta signs every inbound callback with this secret, and Artemis checks that signature. A wrong value here means every inbound message fails verification even though the webhook itself verified successfully, which makes it a confusing failure to diagnose later.

6. Choose a Verify Token

   Choose any secret string. Meta doesn’t issue this one, so you invent it and use the same value in two places: the Artemis connection, and the webhook configuration in Meta. A mismatch fails webhook verification.

   Treat it as a secret rather than a label, and store it where you can retrieve it, because Meta shows it back to you only while you edit the webhook.

7. Add a test recipient

   While the app stays in development mode, Meta delivers only to numbers you register, so your own number receives nothing until you add it.

   1. Return to WhatsApp -> API Setup.
   2. Select the To field and choose Manage phone number list.
   3. Add your WhatsApp number, then enter the confirmation code Meta sends you in WhatsApp.

   You can register up to five recipients. Select your number in the To field once it verifies.

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Infobip setup

Complete this section only if you selected Infobip. Infobip owns the WhatsApp Business account and the sender. You collect three things from the Infobip web interface instead of from Meta: the sender number, your account’s API base URL, and an API key.

1. Get a WhatsApp sender

   1. Sign in to the Infobip web interface.
   2. Go to Channels and Numbers -> Channels -> WhatsApp -> Senders.
   3. Note the sender number. Artemis wants it as digits only, with no plus sign, spaces, or punctuation.

   A trial account comes with a shared test sender that reaches numbers you verify, which is enough to prove the integration works. A production sender goes through Infobip onboarding, where Infobip registers the number with Meta and runs business verification on your behalf. Infobip’s WhatsApp over API guide covers what the channel supports once the sender is live. Start that process early, because it waits on Meta review rather than on Infobip.

2. Find your API base URL

   Infobip gives every account a personalized base URL in the form xxxxx.api.infobip.com, which you’ll see on the homepage once you sign in. Infobip explains the scheme under base URL.

   This URL isn’t a credential. It routes your requests to the data center serving your account, so a wrong one degrades or fails the integration rather than exposing it. Enter it in Artemis with the https:// scheme.

3. Create an API key

   1. Go to Developer Tools -> API Keys and create a key for this integration.
   2. Copy the key when Infobip displays it and store it in your secret manager.

   Infobip also shows an existing key on the homepage, but a dedicated key per integration lets you revoke this one without disturbing anything else.

   If your account authenticates with a username and password instead, note those rather than a key, and select basic authentication as the method when you create the connection.

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Artemis channel configuration

Create the connection before you register the webhook with your provider. Provider callbacks can arrive as soon as you save the webhook, and the runtime has to resolve an inbound sender to a saved connection before it can authenticate the event.

1. Open Artemis and select the project.

2. Go to Deployments -> Channels -> WhatsApp -> + New. The New WhatsApp Connection dialog opens.

3. Configure the fields that apply whichever provider you chose:

   Artemis connection field	Source / Notes	What it controls
   Display Name	You choose it	The label operators see in the connections list. Name it for the sender and the environment it serves, because a project can hold several WhatsApp connections. Routing ignores this value.
   Provider	Your chosen Business Solution Provider	Decides which credential fields the dialog shows and which webhook route you register later, so set it before you fill in anything below it.
   Environment	Your published environments	The environment whose active deployment answers incoming messages. Leave the working copy default only while you develop, and bind the connection to an environment later from the Deployment tab.
   Provider Verification Strength	Defaults to Weak	How far the runtime trusts the provider’s identity assertion when it links a sender to an existing session. Choose Strong only when you trust the provider’s assertions enough to base continuity and account-linking decisions on them.
   Initial Status	Defaults to Active	Whether the connection starts handling messages. Active takes traffic immediately. Inactive saves the configuration in a disabled state, which suits a connection you’re staging ahead of a launch.

4. Configure the routing identifier and credential fields, which change with the provider:

   Meta Cloud API

   Artemis connection field	Source / Notes	What it controls
   Phone Number ID	WhatsApp -> API Setup, below the test phone number	Routes inbound messages to this connection. The runtime matches the sender identifier on each callback to this value, so a wrong entry here produces a connection-not-found result rather than an authentication error.
   Access Token	WhatsApp -> API Setup, or a system user token for production	Authenticates every outbound message Artemis sends.
   Phone Number ID	Same value as the routing identifier	Identifies the sender on outbound messages.
   App Secret	App settings -> Basic	Verifies the signature Meta puts on each inbound callback. Without it, Artemis can’t confirm that a callback came from Meta.
   Verify Token	You invent it	Meta echoes it during the webhook handshake, and Artemis compares the two.

   Meta Cloud API asks for the Phone Number ID twice, once as the routing identifier and once as an outbound credential. Enter the same value in both. Other providers use different values in each field, which is why they stay separate.

   Infobip

   Artemis connection field	Source / Notes	What it controls
   WhatsApp Phone Number	Channels and Numbers -> Channels -> WhatsApp -> Senders	Routes inbound messages to this connection. Enter the sender number as digits only, because a stray plus sign or space produces a connection-not-found result.
   Authentication Method	Matches how your Infobip account is set up	Whether Artemis authenticates with an API key or with a username and password.
   API Base URL	The Infobip homepage, in the form xxxxx.api.infobip.com	Your account’s personalized host, entered with the https:// scheme. Requests to the wrong base URL take a suboptimal route or fail outright.
   API Key	Developer Tools -> API Keys	The key Artemis sends on every outbound call to Infobip. The dialog shows credential fields for basic authentication instead when you select that method.

   Infobip doesn’t sign its callbacks with a shared secret the way Meta does, so Artemis verifies inbound traffic by source network. Confirm with your Infobip contact which addresses their platform sends from, and allowlist those before you go live.

5. Select Create.

6. Open the connection and copy the Webhook URL from the Overview tab. The URL carries the route for the provider you selected, so copy it rather than constructing it. If the dialog reports that the runtime URL is unavailable, configure Runtime first, then reopen the connection.

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Webhook configuration with your provider

The webhook is what turns a one-way integration into a conversation. Until your provider has a callback URL, your agent can send but never receives.

Meta Cloud API

In your Meta app, go to WhatsApp -> Configuration in the left menu. The Webhook row sits at the top of this screen.

1. Select Edit. Meta opens a dialog with two fields.
2. Paste the Artemis Webhook URL into the callback URL field, and the same Verify Token you entered in Artemis into the verify token field.
3. Select Verify and save. Meta immediately calls the URL with a challenge and expects your verify token back, so the dialog stays open with an error when the handshake fails. A dialog that closes means the URL verified.
4. Below the webhook row, find the webhook fields list, select Manage, and subscribe to the messages field.

Verification alone delivers nothing. Meta verifies the URL whether or not you subscribe to anything, so a verified webhook with no subscription looks correct on screen and still sends your agent no traffic. Check this first when the setup looks right and nothing arrives.

Infobip

In the Infobip web interface, go to Channels and Numbers -> Channels -> WhatsApp -> Senders.

1. Find the tile for your sender and open its three-dot menu.
2. Select Edit configuration.
3. Turn on forwarding to a URL, which Infobip labels as forwarding to HTTP in some accounts, and paste the Artemis Webhook URL into the URL field.
4. Select Save.

Infobip has no verification handshake, so saving the configuration is the whole registration. Infobip documents what arrives on that URL under inbound messages. Nothing confirms the URL works until a real message arrives, which makes the test in the next section the only proof you have.

Configuration lives on the sender rather than on the account, so a second sender needs its own forwarding configuration and its own Artemis connection.

Validation checklist

Validation item	Expected result
Choose a provider	The provider selected in Artemis matches the account where the sender lives.
Complete provider setup	Meta: app created, WhatsApp product added, test recipient verified. Infobip: sender available, base URL and API key collected.
Collect credentials	Routing identifier and credentials copied from the same provider account.
Create the Artemis connection	Connection saved as Active with the provider’s fields and the intended environment.
Register the callback URL	Meta: the webhook dialog closes after Verify and save. Infobip: forwarding is on for that sender.
Subscribe the events	Meta only: the webhook subscribes to the messages field.
Send a live message	A real WhatsApp conversation produces exactly one agent reply. See Verify the connection.

Verify the connection

Artemis doesn’t synthesize provider callbacks, so a real WhatsApp message is the only way to confirm the integration works end to end.

1. From a WhatsApp account you registered as a test recipient, send the business sender a short message you can search for later. A distinctive string makes the message easy to find in session records.
2. Check that the agent replies once, from the intended sender and the intended environment. Duplicate replies point to duplicate provider subscriptions, another automation on the same number, or repeated webhook delivery rather than an agent fault.
3. If no reply arrives, open Sessions and search for the message you sent. A session that exists tells you the webhook works and the outbound path failed, while no session tells you nothing reached the runtime at all. The two need different fixes, so make this check before you change any configuration.
4. If the agent sends buttons or lists, select a button and a list row and confirm the action returns to the same session. WhatsApp limits how many reply buttons a message carries and how long their labels run, so check that your authored content renders in WhatsApp rather than only in preview.
5. Test only the message types your provider enables, then confirm the agent handles the downloaded attachment rather than only acknowledging it.

A webhook that returns 2xx proves only that your provider reached the runtime. It says nothing about whether your outbound credentials work. Always confirm a real two-way conversation before you call the channel done.

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Create a permanent access token

This section applies to Meta Cloud API only. Infobip API keys don’t expire on a schedule, so rotate them on your own policy instead.

The token on the API Setup page expires within 24 hours, which is enough to test and not enough to run. Replace it with a system user token, which lasts until you revoke it. Meta explains how the token types differ under access tokens.

This work happens in Meta Business Suite rather than the App Dashboard, and it needs a Meta Business admin.

1. Create a system user

   1. Open Meta Business Suite and select your business portfolio from the dropdown at the top of the page.
   2. Select its settings icon to open Business settings.
   3. Go to Users -> System users and select Add.
   4. Name the system user, set its role to Admin, and create it.

   A system user represents your integration rather than a person, which is why its token survives staff changes.

2. Assign the app and the WhatsApp account

   1. Select the system user you created and select Assign assets.
   2. Assign your app and your WhatsApp Business account, granting full control on each.
   3. Reload the page and confirm both show as assigned before you continue, because a token generated before the assets attach can’t reach them.
3. Generate and store the token

   1. Select Generate token, choose your app, and set the expiration to never.
   2. Select the whatsapp_business_messaging permission so the token can send and receive messages, and whatsapp_business_management so it can manage templates and account settings.
   3. Generate the token and copy it straight into your secret manager, because Meta displays it once and never again.
   4. Update the Access Token on the Artemis connection from the Credentials tab.

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Move to production

A test sender covers development and nothing else. Who does the production paperwork depends on your provider.

On Meta Cloud API, you complete business verification, add a payment method, register a business phone number in WhatsApp Manager, and get your display name approved. You do all of this from Meta Business Suite. On Infobip, Infobip runs the sender registration and verification for you, and you supply the business details it asks for. Either way the work waits on Meta review, so start it well ahead of your launch date.

Two WhatsApp rules shape what your agent can say, whichever provider carries the traffic:

The customer service window. After a customer messages you, you can reply freely for 24 hours. Outside that window, an outbound message needs an approved template, so an agent that reaches out first needs templates approved before it can start a conversation at all. Template approval is its own review, and a rejected template blocks the conversation you wrote it for.

Separate senders per environment. Use different senders, credentials, webhooks, and connections for development and production. Sharing a sender means test traffic reaches the same conversation history as customer traffic.

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Manage the channel connection

Opening a WhatsApp connection from Deployments -> Channels shows four tabs. The header carries the connection name, its environment, its status, and a delete control.

Overview

Connection Summary records what the connection is and when it changed.

Field	Description
Status	Whether the connection currently handles messages.
Created and Updated	Date and time of creation, and of the last change.
Environment	The environment whose deployment answers messages.
Source Type	Reads Channel Connection.
Source ID	Identifies the connection uniquely. Quote it when you raise a support ticket.

Setup Instructions below the summary carries the values you need on the provider side, each with a copy control.

Value	Description
Webhook URL	The callback URL to register with your provider. It already carries the provider route, so copy it rather than building it by hand.
Routing identifier	The value this connection matches inbound messages to, shown as the Phone Number ID or the WhatsApp phone number depending on your provider. Check it here first when messages arrive and no session appears.

Credentials

The platform encrypts credentials after you save them, so every field reads as saved rather than showing its value. Leave a field empty to keep the current value, or enter a new value to replace it.

The fields below the first one change with your provider. Meta Cloud API shows the access token, Phone Number ID, App Secret, and Verify Token. Infobip shows the authentication method, API base URL, and either an API key or basic authentication credentials.

Field	Description
Use Auth Profile	Switches the connection to a saved auth profile in place of the fields below. Prefer it when the same credentials serve more than one connection, since a rotation then touches one profile.
Outbound credential	Authenticates outbound messages. Replace it here when you rotate a Meta token or an Infobip API key.
Inbound verification	Confirms that a callback came from your provider. Changing the Verify Token here breaks the Meta webhook until you change it in Meta as well.

Select Save Credentials to apply your changes.

Configuration

Under General, update the Display Name and the Provider Verification Strength.

Under WhatsApp Settings, the routing identifier appears read-only. You can’t change it after creation, so a connection pointed at the wrong sender needs replacing rather than editing.

Authorization message

The connection sends this message when a tool needs the user to authorize before the conversation continues. Edit the template to match your agent’s voice, since the default reads as system text rather than as the agent talking.

The editor lists the variables you can insert, offers a preview, and expands to show every available variable. The variables cover the number of outstanding authorizations, the profile each one belongs to, and the link the user follows.

Select Save Changes to apply your changes.

Deployment

Agent Version carries an Environment dropdown that selects which deployed version handles incoming messages.

Active Deployment shows the bound version and when someone deployed it. Check this pair when the channel connects but the agent behaves like an older build: the connection follows whatever the environment currently has deployed, not the version you last edited.

Select Save Changes after you switch the environment.

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Key values reference

Each value sits on a different provider screen, and two of them look alike enough to swap by accident. Use the table for your provider to collect everything in one pass.

Meta Cloud API

Value	Where to find it	Where it goes
Phone Number ID	WhatsApp -> API Setup, directly below the test business phone number	The routing identifier and the outbound credential field in Artemis
Access Token	WhatsApp -> API Setup for testing. For production, Business settings -> Users -> System users in Meta Business Suite	The Access Token field in Artemis
App Secret	App settings -> Basic, revealed by selecting Show	The App Secret field in Artemis
Verify Token	You choose it	The Verify Token field in Artemis, and the webhook configuration in Meta
Webhook URL	The Overview tab of the Artemis connection	The callback URL in WhatsApp -> Configuration in the Meta app

Infobip

Value	Where to find it	Where it goes
Sender number	Channels and Numbers -> Channels -> WhatsApp -> Senders	The WhatsApp Phone Number field in Artemis, as digits only
API Base URL	The homepage of the Infobip web interface, in the form xxxxx.api.infobip.com	The API Base URL field in Artemis, with the https:// scheme
API Key	Developer Tools -> API Keys	The API Key field in Artemis
Webhook URL	The Overview tab of the Artemis connection	The forwarding URL in the sender’s Edit configuration screen

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Troubleshoot connection issues

Symptom	Likely cause	Recommended action
The agent never replies, and a session exists	The recipient isn’t verified on a test sender	On Meta, development mode accepts inbound messages from anyone but delivers only to verified recipients, so add your number under WhatsApp -> API Setup. On an Infobip trial sender, verify the recipient number in Infobip.
The agent never replies, and no session exists	Nothing reached the runtime	On Meta, confirm the webhook subscribes to the messages field, that the callback URL verified, and that the App Secret matches. On Infobip, confirm forwarding is on for that sender and that the URL matches the connection.
The runtime reports no connection found	The routing identifier doesn’t match the inbound callback	Compare the sender identifier on the inbound callback with the value saved in Artemis, and confirm the provider selector matches the provider that sent it. On Infobip, check for a plus sign or spaces in the saved number.
Inbound messages arrive but no reply goes out	The outbound credential is wrong or expired	Check the outbound credential, the sender identifier, the account-specific base URL where your provider uses one, the connection status, and whether a runnable deployment exists. A temporary Meta token that expired overnight produces exactly this symptom.
Inbound callbacks reach the runtime but fail verification	The inbound verification setting doesn’t match the provider	On Meta, the App Secret doesn’t match the app that sent the callback. On Infobip, your allowlist is missing the address their platform sent from.
Customers receive duplicate replies	More than one subscription or automation answers the same number	Remove duplicate provider subscriptions, disable any other automation on the number, and account for provider retry behavior.
Text works but buttons or lists fail	The content exceeds a provider limit, or the authored action is gone	Check the provider’s limits, the reply payload IDs, whether your provider supports the interactive type, and how the agent handles the returned action.
Text works but media fails	The message type isn’t enabled, or the file breaks a policy	Confirm the provider enabled that message type, the credentials can download media, size and host policies allow it, and the agent handles attachments.
Outbound sends fail outside the customer service window	The 24-hour window has closed	Send an approved WhatsApp template instead.

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Provider reference

Use these pages when you need detail beyond what this article covers.

Meta Cloud API

Resource	Use it for
Cloud API get started	Meta’s own walkthrough of app creation, the test sender, and the first test message.
Access tokens	How user, system user, and business tokens differ, and which permissions each one needs.
My Apps	Returning to an app you created, or checking which app owns a sender.
Meta Business Suite	Business settings, system users, business verification, and WhatsApp Manager.

Infobip

Resource	Use it for
WhatsApp over API	Sender configuration, inbound routing, and what Infobip supports on the channel.
Inbound messages	The message types users can send you and how Infobip stores inbound media.
Base URL	Why Infobip personalizes the base URL and what a wrong one does.
Developer resources	Authentication methods, API keys, and the wider API reference.

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