WhatsApp agent

Let people use your product from a WhatsApp conversation. Flow handles the conversation while Flow Messaging—or your own provider—delivers the messages.

Try it from the starter

Terminal

npx @flow-engineer/flow link --channel whatsapp
npm start

Open the phone link, write first and ask “What’s on the menu?” If the trial channel is not available, link reports the available alternatives. Shared trial numbers are for testing, not real customer data.

Check it worked: the agent replies on WhatsApp and the playground’s Debug view shows the tool call.

Connect your own sender

Set FLOW_MESSAGING_KEY and FLOW_MESSAGING_WHATSAPP_SENDER for your own Flow Messaging sender. The starter connects WhatsApp when that sender is set.

In a custom entry point, the channel is fm.whatsapp():

Channel configuration fragment

import { flowMessaging } from "@flow-engineer/flow/flow-messaging";

const fm = flowMessaging();
const channels = [fm.whatsapp()];
// Pass channels to buildAgent({ channels }), then await agent.resume().
// Start delivery with fm.start(agent, { cursorFile: ".flow/flow-messaging-cursor" }).

See Flow Messaging setup for sender provisioning, or use whatsapp(provider) with your own sending callbacks.

What changes on WhatsApp

• Messages can use reply buttons, lists, photos, links and reactions. Carousels require provider support. More than three buttons go as a list with the agent’s own label.
• Free-form replies depend on the channel’s reply window. Outside it, business-initiated messages need an approved template; declare the templates your agent may use.
• The adapter maps button taps to choice: { id, title } so your tools can distinguish choices.

Flow Messaging sends exactly what it is given or refuses it; the adapter picks what WhatsApp takes, and a refusal reaches the agent with what the channel does not take.

Framework 0.8.0 also preserves a refusal received over the event stream before the send’s HTTP response. The send rejects with the channel’s reason; it does not wait until the delivery timeout. Reminders and nudges explains templates, quiet hours and opt-outs.