WhatsApp and artificial intelligence

Webhook

A webhook is an automatic notice that one system sends to another system's web address when something happens, without the second one having to ask. On WhatsApp, Meta uses webhooks to deliver every incoming message, and the status of outgoing ones, to the residence's software.

Published on 19 October 2026

Also known asHTTP callback · callback · event notification · webhook endpoint

What it is exactly

The idea is to turn the question round. Instead of one program checking every few seconds whether there is anything new, the other one tells it when something happens: it makes an HTTP request to an address it has been given, with the details of the event inside, in JSON format. On the WhatsApp Business Platform it is the way in for everything: without a webhook set up, software using the Cloud API can send messages but never finds out that someone has written to it. It is switched on in the app, field by field, and the subscription is tied to the WhatsApp Business account, the WABA.

What arrives by webhook	Example in a residence
An incoming message	The resident writes "no hot water in 214" and the notice reaches the server with the text, the phone number and the time.
The status of a sent message	A parcel notice has been sent, delivered or read.
Account changes	A template's quality rating has changed, or the account's status has.

Worth knowing

What people take for granted: that if the residence's server does not respond, messages are lost. Meta retries delivery, less and less often, for up to seven days. For that very reason a notice can arrive twice, and whoever receives it has to recognise the duplicate so as not to open two maintenance tickets for the same shower.

Sources

Related terms