Skip the install. Get this working in under 2 minutes.
Start a free trial on cloud.anythingmcp.com, add the WhatsApp Business Cloud API in one click, then point your AI client (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot or Cursor) at the generated MCP endpoint. No Docker, no git clone, zero engineering experience required.
Summary
Expose Meta's WhatsApp Business Cloud API as an MCP server with AnythingMCP. 14 ready-to-use tools for text, templates, media (image/audio/voice/video/document), location, interactive buttons, and business profile management. Bearer-token auth, no SDK, no client code.
Try asking
Example prompts for WhatsApp Business Cloud API
Click any prompt to copy it. Paste into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Gemini, Copilot or OpenClaw to run it against this connector.
Claude is AI and can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.
💡 No install? Use cloud.anythingmcp.com directly. Sign in, click Connectors → WhatsApp Business, paste your permanent System User access token + WhatsApp Business Account ID, mint an MCP API key — done. No Docker, no
git clone, no local server to run. You can skip the local-install steps below and jump straight to the client-wiring section.
WhatsApp Business on the Model Context Protocol
WhatsApp Business Cloud API is Meta's officially-hosted gateway for sending WhatsApp messages programmatically — text, pre-approved templates, media, location pins, interactive button flows, and business-profile management. AnythingMCP wraps it as an MCP server so any agent — Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, your own — can drive it with natural language.
The WhatsApp adapter ships built-in. There is no SDK to maintain and no client code to write: the engine handles the Bearer-token authentication and produces requests that exactly match Meta's messaging_product=whatsapp schema for every message type.
Why WhatsApp is awkward without AnythingMCP
| Step | What WhatsApp Cloud API requires |
|---|---|
| 1 | Generate a permanent System User access token in Meta Business Suite (≠ the temporary 24h dev token) with whatsapp_business_messaging + whatsapp_business_management permissions |
| 2 | Discover the phoneNumberId of each sending number under your WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) |
| 3 | Build the correct JSON body per message type — text/template/image/audio/video/document/location/interactive — each with its own schema and field-placement quirks |
| 4 | Stay on a currently-supported Graph API version (v15 is gone, v20 expires Sept 2026; the adapter ships on v22.0) |
| 5 | Respect the 24-hour customer service window — outside it you can only send pre-approved templates |
That's the entire BEARER_TOKEN auth profile + 14 message-shape tools, declared once as JSON in the adapter spec. No client code to maintain.
Install
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
Open http://localhost:3000/connectors/store, pick WhatsApp Business, and paste in:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
WHATSAPP_ACCESS_TOKEN | the permanent System User access token |
WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_ACCOUNT_ID | your WABA ID (e.g. 123456789012345) |
Mint an MCP API key from Profile → MCP API Keys and point your agent at http://localhost:4000/mcp.
Available tools (14)
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
whatsapp_list_phone_numbers | Discover the phoneNumberId of each number on your WABA |
whatsapp_list_message_templates | List approved templates with their components |
whatsapp_get_message_template | Fetch one template by ID |
whatsapp_send_text_message | Send free-form text (24h window only) |
whatsapp_send_template_message | Send a pre-approved template (always allowed) |
whatsapp_send_image | Send a JPG/PNG via public URL or media ID |
whatsapp_send_audio | Send an audio file — OGG-Opus renders as a true voice note |
whatsapp_send_video | Send an MP4/3GPP video |
whatsapp_send_document | Send a PDF/DOC/XLS with optional filename |
whatsapp_send_location | Send a location pin |
whatsapp_send_interactive_buttons | Send 1–3 reply buttons |
whatsapp_mark_message_as_read | Send a read receipt (double blue tick) |
whatsapp_get_business_profile | Read the public business profile |
whatsapp_update_business_profile | Update about/address/email/websites |
The 24-hour window, explained
WhatsApp enforces a customer service window: free-form messages (text, media, interactive, location) are only allowed in the 24 hours after the user last messaged your number. Outside that window the only allowed sends are pre-approved templates — you create them in Meta Business Suite, wait for approval, then call whatsapp_send_template_message with the template name and language code.
The adapter doesn't track the window for you. It just calls the API; Meta returns a 131047 "Re-engagement message" error if you try to send free-form text outside the window. The instructions field in the adapter explains the rule so your agent knows when to fall back to a template.
Media — URL vs upload
WhatsApp accepts media in two ways: upload a binary first to /PHONE_NUMBER_ID/media to get a media_id, or pass a public HTTPS link. AnythingMCP recommends the link path because the REST engine doesn't orchestrate the multipart upload + send dance in a single tool call. Host the file on a CDN or signed-URL bucket and pass the URL to whatsapp_send_image / audio / video / document. The mediaId field is available as an escape hatch if you pre-upload elsewhere.
Inbound messages — not in scope
This connector is outbound-only. WhatsApp delivers inbound messages via a webhook you host yourself, and AnythingMCP's current architecture is request/response. If you need a chatbot that replies to user messages, run a small webhook receiver next to your AnythingMCP instance and use this connector for the outbound side (plus whatsapp_mark_message_as_read for read receipts).
Next steps
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