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Summary

Z-API WhatsApp gateway from Brazil: check the instance connection, browse chats and contacts, verify numbers on WhatsApp and send text, image and document messages through a WhatsApp number linked by QR code.

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Example prompts for Z-API

Click any prompt to copy it. Paste into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Gemini, Copilot or OpenClaw to run it against this connector.

Z-API · live via MCP

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Z-API + Microsoft Copilot

Prerequisites

See the full setup instructions baked into the connector (visible in the in-app store when you select the connector). The required environment variables for this connector are:

ZAPI_INSTANCE_ID, ZAPI_INSTANCE_TOKEN, ZAPI_CLIENT_TOKEN

Step 1 — Get credentials

In the Z-API panel (app.z-api.io), open Instances, create or pick an instance and click edit. Copy the instance ID into ZAPI_INSTANCE_ID and the instance token into ZAPI_INSTANCE_TOKEN.
Open the Security tab, module Account Security Token, click Set Up Now and copy the token into ZAPI_CLIENT_TOKEN. Then click Activate Token so every request has to carry it.
Link the phone: scan the instance QR code with WhatsApp (Linked devices). Until the number is linked, every send fails.
Start with z_api_get_status: connected: false means the QR code has to be scanned again, smartphoneConnected: false that the phone is offline.

Z-API is a third-party gateway that runs a WhatsApp Web session for your number. It is not Meta's official WhatsApp Business API, and WhatsApp may restrict numbers that send in bulk. Phone numbers are digits only, with country and area code and no +, spaces or dashes (5511999999999). The send tools write real WhatsApp messages: confirm the recipient and the text first, and never retry a send that returned a messageId. If you turned on IP restriction in the Z-API Security tab, allow the AnythingMCP outbound address.

Step 2 — Install the adapter

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HelpCode-ai/anythingmcp/main/docker-compose.quickstart.yml -o docker-compose.yml
printf 'JWT_SECRET=%s\nENCRYPTION_KEY=%s\n' "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" > .env
docker compose up -d

Step 3 — Add the connector in Microsoft Copilot

Your server URL: in AnythingMCP, open MCP Servers → the server this connector is on, and copy its URL (https://cloud.anythingmcp.com/mcp/…). Use it wherever this guide shows YOUR_SERVER_ID.

Microsoft Copilot uses MCP servers through agents built in Copilot Studio: you add AnythingMCP to an agent as a tool, then publish the agent to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams. Copilot Studio connects from Microsoft's cloud over Streamable HTTP, which AnythingMCP supports.

In Copilot Studio, open your agent (or create one), go to Tools and choose Add a tool → New tool → Model Context Protocol.
Enter a Server name (for example AnythingMCP), a Server description that says what the connector does, and the Server URL https://cloud.anythingmcp.com/mcp/YOUR_SERVER_ID. Copilot Studio uses the description to decide when to call the server.
Under authentication, choose API key, set Type to Header and the header name to X-API-Key, then select Create.
In Add tool, choose Create a new connection, paste an MCP API key from AnythingMCP (MCP Servers → your server → API keys) and select Add to agent.
Try it in the agent's Test pane: ask for something that needs the Z-API tools.
Select Publish, then Channels → Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams, keep Make agent available in Microsoft Copilot selected and choose Add channel. See agent in Teams installs it for you; in Microsoft 365 Copilot, type @ and pick the agent.

Prefer per-user sign-in? Choose OAuth 2.0 → Dynamic discovery instead of an API key: each user then signs in to AnythingMCP the first time the agent calls it.

Self-hosting? Use your instance's public HTTPS address instead of https://cloud.anythingmcp.com. Copilot Studio connects from Microsoft's cloud, so localhost does not work.

Available tools

Tool	What it does
`z_api_get_status`	Check whether the Z-API instance is linked to a WhatsApp account and whether the phone is online
`z_api_get_instance`	Get the Z-API instance name, connection flag, payment status and expiry date (Unix timestamp in `due`)
`z_api_get_device`	Get the phone linked to the instance: its number, profile name, device model and whether it is a WhatsApp Business account
`z_api_check_phone_exists`	Check whether a phone number has a WhatsApp account
`z_api_list_chats`	List the WhatsApp chats of the linked number (people and groups) with phone or group ID, name, unread count and last message time
`z_api_get_chat`	Get metadata of one chat: unread count, last message time, mute and spam flags, profile status and notes (WhatsApp Business only)
`z_api_list_contacts`	List WhatsApp contacts known to the linked number, including people from shared groups, with phone, saved name and WhatsApp profile name
`z_api_list_queue`	List messages still waiting in the instance's send queue, with phone, text and IDs
`z_api_send_text`	Send a WhatsApp text message to a contact or group from the linked number
`z_api_send_image`	Send an image by public HTTPS URL to a contact or group, with an optional caption
`z_api_send_document`	Send a document (PDF, XLSX, DOCX...) by public HTTPS URL to a contact or group

FAQ

Which Copilot is this for? Microsoft 365 Copilot at work, through agents built in Copilot Studio. The Microsoft Copilot app for personal accounts has no option to add your own MCP server.

What do I need? A work account with access to Copilot Studio (a license or a trial) to build the agent. People who use it in Microsoft 365 Copilot or Teams need access to the agent: share it with them, or ask an admin to publish it to the organization. If your organization applies data policies to Power Platform connectors, they cover MCP servers too.

The agent doesn't call the tools. Check that the header name is exactly X-API-Key and that the key belongs to the same MCP server as the URL, and make the server description specific: Copilot Studio uses it to decide when to call the server. Publish the agent again after each change; in an open chat, type "start over" to get the new version.

Next steps

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Connect Z-API to Microsoft Copilot via MCP

Example prompts for Z-API

Z-API + Microsoft Copilot

Prerequisites

Step 1 — Get credentials

Step 2 — Install the adapter

Step 3 — Add the connector in Microsoft Copilot

Available tools

FAQ

Next steps

Your Z-API agent is one click away.

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