Sending a Flow

On this page, we will explore the different ways of sending a Flow to users.

Postman Collection

All the API requests mentioned below are documented in the Flows API postman collection which you can use to make API requests and generate code in different languages.

Business Initiated Conversations

To send a business initiated message with a Flow, you can create and send a message template with a WhatsApp Flow attached to it. We introduced a new button type called FLOW. Use this type to specify the Flow to be sent with the message template.

To send Flow message template you need to:

1. Create a message template with Flow
2. Send a message template with a Flow

Create a message template with a Flow

You can quickly build a Flow in the playground and pass the Flow JSON in the message template creation request. Or you can specify the ID or name of an already published Flow.

Below is an example request to create a message template with a Flow, see this page for full reference:

Sample request

curl -i -X POST \
https://graph.facebook.com/v16.0/<waba-id>/message_templates \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer TOKEN' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d'
{
  "name": "example_template_name",
  "language": "en_US",
  "category": "MARKETING",
  "components": [
    {
      "type": "body",
      "text": "This is a flows as template demo"
    },
    {
      "type": "BUTTONS",
      "buttons": [
        {
          "type": "FLOW",
          "text": "Open flow!",
          "navigate_screen":  "WELCOME_SCREEN",
          "flow_action": "navigate",

          "flow_id" : "<flow_id>",
          // or
          "flow_name" : "<flow_name>",
          // or
          "flow_json" : "{\"version\":\"5.0\",\"screens\":[{\"id\":\"WELCOME_SCREEN\",\"layout\":{\"type\":\"SingleColumnLayout\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"TextHeading\",\"text\":\"Hello World\"},{\"type\":\"Footer\",\"label\":\"Complete\",\"on-click-action\":{\"name\":\"complete\",\"payload\":{}}}]},\"title\":\"Welcome\",\"terminal\":true,\"success\":true,\"data\":{}}]}"
       }
      ]
    }
  ]
}'

Message templates can be created and sent in these languages.

Sample Response

{
  "id": "<template-id>",
  "status": "PENDING",
  "category": "MARKETING"
}

Send template with Flow

Now you can send a message template with a Flow using the request below

Sample request

curl -X  POST \
 'https://graph.facebook.com/v16.0/FROM_PHONE_NUMBER_ID/messages' \
 -H 'Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN' \
 -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
 -d '{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "recipient_type": "individual",
  "to": "PHONE_NUMBER",
  "type": "template",
  "template": {
    "name": "TEMPLATE_NAME",
    "language": {
      "code": "LANGUAGE_AND_LOCALE_CODE"
    },
    "components": [
      {
        "type": "button",
        "sub_type": "flow",
        "index": "0",
        "parameters": [
          {
            "type": "action",
            "action": {
              "flow_token": "FLOW_TOKEN",   //optional, default is "unused"
              "flow_action_data": {
                 ...
              }   // optional, json object with the data payload for the first screen
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}'

Sample Response

{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "contacts": [
    {
      "input": "<phone-number>",
      "wa_id": "<phone-number>"
    }
  ],
  "messages": [
    {
      "id": "<message-id>"
    }
  ]
}

User-Initiated Conversations

You are able to send your WhatsApp Flow once you have created it. You can send a Message with a Flow in a user-initiated conversation using a Message with a Call To Action (CTA). You send this message either through the On-Prem client or Cloud API with information specific to the Flow. The Flow is triggered when the user taps the CTA button.

As mentioned earlier, a message with a Flow is not much different from other types of messages. It uses the existing APIs, which are described on the following pages:

• Cloud API Interactive Messages documentation page describes how to send Interactive Messages with the Cloud API.
• On-Premises Interactive Object documentation page describes sending messages with On-Premise client.

To send a message with a Flow, we have introduced a new type of the Interactive Object named flow with the following properties.

Interactive message parameters

*See Flow JSON reference for entry screen details.

Now let's consider what a message sending request might look like using Cloud API:

Sample Request

curl -X  POST \
 'https://graph.facebook.com/v18.0/FROM_PHONE_NUMBER/messages' \
 -H 'Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN' \
 -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
 -d '{
  "recipient_type": "individual",
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "to": "whatsapp-id",
  "type": "interactive",
  "interactive": {
    "type": "flow",
    "header": {
      "type": "text",
      "text": "Flow message header"
    },
    "body": {
      "text": "Flow message body"
    },
    "footer": {
      "text": "Flow message footer"
    },
    "action": {
      "name": "flow",
      "parameters": {
        "flow_message_version": "3",
        "flow_token": "AQAAAAACS5FpgQ_cAAAAAD0QI3s.",

        "flow_name": "appointment_booking_v1",
        //or
        "flow_id": "123456",

        "flow_cta": "Book!",
        "flow_action": "navigate",
        "flow_action_payload": {
          "screen": "<SCREEN_NAME>",
          "data": { 
            "product_name": "name",
            "product_description": "description",
            "product_price": 100
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}'

Sample Response

{
  "contacts": [
    {
      "Input": "+447385946746",
      "wa_id": "47385946746"
    }
  ],
  "messages": [
    {
      "id": "gHTRETHRTHTRTH-av4Y"
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "api_status": "stable",
    "version": "2.44.0.27"
  }
}