Meta & WhatsApp Business (Cloud API) setup

Convord handles incoming orders and messages through the WhatsApp Cloud API. Values below are read from your server .env into the whatsapp config group.

Prerequisites

1. A Meta Business app with the WhatsApp product enabled, and an active WhatsApp Business phone (test or live).
2. A stable public HTTPS URL for webhooks (use a tunnel such as ngrok for local testing).
3. Official docs: WhatsApp Cloud API — Get Started.

Server (.env) variables

Keys used for Graph calls and webhook verification:

• WHATSAPP_API_TOKEN — Temporary or system user token from Meta. Remember to rotate expiring tokens in production.
• WHATSAPP_PHONE_NUMBER_ID — From WhatsApp → API Setup: Phone number ID.
• WHATSAPP_VERIFY_TOKEN — A secret string you invent; Meta’s webhook “Verify” field must use the same value.
• WHATSAPP_API_URL — Optional; e.g. https://graph.facebook.com/v18.0 (bump the version when you upgrade).

Webhook URL

Use this full URL as the Meta “Callback URL”: https://convord.com/webhook/whatsapp

• GET verification: hub.verify_token must match WHATSAPP_VERIFY_TOKEN.
• POST events: incoming messages hit this endpoint; the app handles validation and processing.

After setup

Once “Verify” succeeds in Meta, send a test message from a allowed number and inspect application logs. Graph errors usually include detail in the response body.

More information

Read together with the Integration guide for customer linking and operations.

Full Meta Developer guide (Stages 1–7, repo) →