Communication
WhatsApp Business Webhooks
Meta WhatsApp Business API. Receive events for messages, message status updates, and template updates.
Connecting WhatsApp Business to Hookbase
Create a source in Hookbase first — it gives you an ingest URL to paste into WhatsApp Business. Then:
- 1In the Meta App Dashboard, open App settings → Basic and copy the App secret (click Show)
- 2Paste the App secret into this Hookbase source
- 3Go to WhatsApp → Configuration and, under Webhook, enter your Hookbase ingest URL as the Callback URL
- 4Copy the Verify token Hookbase generated for this source into Meta's Verify token field, then click Verify and save. Hookbase answers Meta's check itself
- 5Once verified, subscribe to the webhook fields you need (e.g. messages)
Signature verification
Set the source's provider to whatsapp and paste the signing secret. Every request is checked before the event is stored, and anything that fails is rejected rather than quietly recorded.
- Algorithm
- HMAC-SHA256
- Header
- X-Hub-Signature-256
- Where to find the secret
- Meta App Dashboard → Your App → App settings → Basic → App secret (click Show). The WhatsApp → Configuration page is where the Callback URL and Verify token go, not the App secret.
WhatsApp Business event types
6 of the events people route most often. Hookbase accepts every event WhatsApp Business sends, whether or not it is listed here.
messages
A new message was received
message_status.delivered
A message was delivered
message_status.read
A message was read
message_status.failed
A message delivery failed
message_template_status_update
A message template status changed
account_update
Account status changed (e.g., phone number quality)
What a WhatsApp Business webhook looks like
A messages payload. Hookbase stores the raw body exactly as it arrived, so this is also what you get back on a replay.
{
"object": "whatsapp_business_account",
"entry": [
{
"id": "WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_ACCOUNT_ID",
"changes": [
{
"value": {
"messaging_product": "whatsapp",
"metadata": {
"display_phone_number": "15551234567",
"phone_number_id": "PHONE_ID"
},
"messages": [
{
"from": "15559876543",
"id": "wamid.abc123",
"timestamp": "1678901234",
"text": {
"body": "Hello!"
},
"type": "text"
}
]
},
"field": "messages"
}
]
}
]
}Start receiving WhatsApp Business webhooks
Create a source, paste the URL into WhatsApp Business, and watch the first event arrive. The free tier includes 1,000 events a month.
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