The WhatsApp Business connector lets your organization's AI assistant and workflows send WhatsApp messages directly through Meta's official API, with no intermediary services. It is an organization connector: an administrator registers it in the Connectors area, and the sending phone number belongs to the organization.

Two WhatsApp rules worth understanding up front:

  • Free-form text only inside the 24-hour window: you can send any text to a person who wrote to you within the last 24 hours.
  • Templates to start conversations: outside that window, only pre-approved templates can be sent. That is why the connector has two separate send tools.

Part 1 — Prepare the Meta side (administrator, once)

You do not need an existing WhatsApp Business account to start: Meta creates a test one when you register the application.

  1. Go to developers.facebook.com with a Facebook account and create a (free) developer account.
  2. Create a Business-type application and add the WhatsApp product. Meta automatically provisions a test WhatsApp Business account with a test phone number.
  3. On WhatsApp → API Setup you will find the two values Yellow needs:
    • The Phone number ID (a long identifier, not the phone number itself).
    • An access token. The one on that page is temporary (24 hours) — enough for testing. For real use, create a system user in Business Manager (Business settings → Users → System users), assign it the application and generate a permanent token with the whatsapp_business_messaging permission.
  4. The test number can message up to 5 recipient numbers you verify by SMS from the same page — ideal for testing at no cost.

To go to production later: a phone number of your own that is not active on regular WhatsApp, display-name review, and Meta approval for the templates you want. Meta charges per business-initiated conversation (service conversations — replying within 24 hours — are free).

Part 2 — Register the connector in Yellow

  1. In the organization area, open Connectors → New connector → Catalog → WhatsApp Business.
  2. Enter the Phone number ID from Part 1.
  3. Paste the token into the credential field (stored securely, never shown again; to rotate it, paste a new one).
  4. Save and use Test connection — it reads the number's business profile to confirm token and number are correct.
  5. Enable Available in workflows and routines if workflows should send messages.

The tools

Tool What it does When it can be used
whatsapp_send_message free-form text inside the 24-hour window
whatsapp_send_template approved template (with parameters) always; starts conversations
whatsapp_get_business_profile reads the number's profile the connection test

With the test number, the hello_world template is pre-approved — the fastest way to see a message arrive.

Troubleshooting

  • "token expired" or similar — the 24-hour temporary token lapsed; generate a permanent one with a system user (Part 1, step 3).
  • The recipient receives nothing (test number) — their phone must be on the verified recipients list of the API Setup page.
  • "template not found" — the template name or language does not match any approved template of the account.
  • Free-form text fails — you are probably outside the 24-hour window; use a template.