WhatsApp Business Setup

Connect your WhatsApp Business Account to Assistaffer

A step-by-step guide to creating your Meta Developer App, connecting your WhatsApp Business Account, and generating the credentials you need.

Steps

  1. Create a Meta Developer account
  2. Create a Meta App
  3. Add the WhatsApp product
  4. Connect a WhatsApp Business Account
  5. Get your Phone Number ID
  6. Create a System User and generate a permanent access token
  7. Configure the webhook in Meta
  8. Enter your credentials in Assistaffer
1

Create a Meta Developer account

You need a Meta (Facebook) account to access the developer portal.

  1. Go to developers.facebook.com and click Get Started.
  2. Log in with your Facebook account or create a new one.
  3. Complete the developer registration (accepts terms, verifies email).
ℹ️ If your organization already has a Meta Business portfolio, use an account that is linked to it. This simplifies connecting your WhatsApp Business Account later.
2

Create a Meta App

The Meta App is the container that holds your WhatsApp integration.

  1. In the developer portal, click My Apps → Create App.
  2. Choose Business as the app type.
  3. Enter a name for the app (e.g. "Assistaffer – My Clinic").
  4. Select the Business portfolio that owns the WhatsApp Business Account, then click Create App.
⚠️ Make sure to choose the correct Business portfolio. The WhatsApp Business Account you connect in the next steps must belong to this portfolio.
3

Add the WhatsApp product

Enable WhatsApp messaging on your Meta App.

  1. On the App dashboard, scroll to Add Products to Your App.
  2. Find WhatsApp and click Set up.
  3. You will land on the WhatsApp Quickstart page. Skip the quickstart — you will configure everything manually in the following steps.
4

Connect a WhatsApp Business Account

Link an existing WABA or create a new one.

  1. In the left sidebar, go to WhatsApp → API Setup.
  2. Under Step 1: Select a WhatsApp Business Account, choose an existing account from the dropdown or click Create new WhatsApp Business Account.
  3. If creating a new WABA, enter a display name and timezone, then confirm.
  4. Once a WABA is selected, a test phone number will appear automatically. You can add your own registered business phone number under WhatsApp → Phone Numbers → Add Phone Number.
ℹ️ Each Assistaffer organization maps to one WhatsApp phone number. If you have multiple locations, add a separate phone number per location and configure each as a different organization in Assistaffer.
5

Get your Phone Number ID

This identifies which number Assistaffer listens to and sends from.

  1. In the left sidebar, go to WhatsApp → API Setup.
  2. Under Step 2: Send messages with the API, you will see your phone number listed with a Phone Number ID below it (a long numeric string, e.g. 123456789012345).
  3. Copy this value. You will paste it into the WhatsApp Phone Number ID field in your Assistaffer organization settings.
💡 The Phone Number ID is not the phone number itself — it is a numeric identifier assigned by Meta. It looks like 123456789012345.
6

Create a System User and generate a permanent access token

System User tokens do not expire and are required for production use.

⚠️ Do not use the temporary access token shown on the API Setup page — it expires after 24 hours. Always generate a System User token for production.
  1. Go to business.facebook.com (Meta Business Suite) and open your Business portfolio.
  2. In the left sidebar, go to Settings → Users → System Users.
  3. Click Add, enter a name (e.g. "Assistaffer Bot"), set the role to Admin, and confirm.
  4. Click Add Assets on the new System User. Select Apps, choose the Meta App you created in Step 2, and grant Full control.
  5. Click Generate New Token on the System User row.
  6. Select your Meta App, set token expiration to Never, and enable the permission whatsapp_business_messaging. Click Generate Token.
  7. Copy the token immediately — Meta will only show it once. This is your Meta Access Token.
💡 You also need to add the WhatsApp Business Account as an asset on the System User: in Add Assets, choose WhatsApp Accounts, select your WABA, and grant Full control.
7

Configure the webhook in Meta

Tell Meta where to send incoming messages.

  1. In the Meta App dashboard, go to WhatsApp → Configuration.
  2. Under Webhook, click Edit.
  3. Set the Callback URL to your Assistaffer backend webhook endpoint:
    https://<your-backend-url>/api/meta/whatsapp/webhook
  4. Set the Verify Token to the value you have in META_WEBHOOK_VERIFY_TOKEN in your backend environment.
  5. Click Verify and Save. Meta will send a verification request to your backend — it must be running and reachable.
  6. After saving, click Manage and subscribe to the messages field under your phone number.
ℹ️ For local development you can use a tunnel tool such as ngrok to expose your local backend. For production, deploy your backend and use its public URL.
8

Enter your credentials in Assistaffer

The last step — connect your organization to the WhatsApp number.

  1. Log in to Assistaffer and open your organization's Settings page.
  2. In the WhatsApp Phone Number ID field, paste the Phone Number ID you copied in Step 5.
  3. In the Meta Access Token field, paste the System User token you generated in Step 6.
  4. Click Save.
🎉 Your WhatsApp Business Account is now connected. Send a message to your business number to test the AI booking agent.
⚠️ The Meta Access Token is stored securely and is never displayed again after you save. To rotate it, generate a new token in Meta Business Suite and paste it into the field — leaving the field blank keeps the existing token unchanged.