Promotional messages, offers, announcements, or other content intended to drive engagement or sales. Subject to WhatsApp's marketing messaging policy.
UTILITY
Transactional messages such as order confirmations, shipping updates, appointment reminders, and account alerts.
AUTHENTICATION
Messages specifically for account authentication flows (similar to OTP), using WhatsApp's native authentication template format.
Template Components
WhatsApp message templates are structured into distinct components. Each can contain static text (defined in the template) and dynamic variables (filled at send time via the API). The components array in the request body maps directly to these template sections.
Component Type
Description
When to Include
Header
Top section of the message. Can contain text, an image, a document, or a video. Dynamic variables supported for text headers.
Include when the template has a header with dynamic content. Pass an empty parameters array if the header is static.
Body
The main message text. Supports dynamic variables ({{1}}, {{2}}, etc.) defined in the template. Each variable needs a corresponding parameter object.
Always include. Pass an empty parameters array if there are no dynamic variables.
Footer
A short line of text at the bottom of the message. Typically static.
Include only if the template has a footer. Usually no parameters needed.
Button
Interactive buttons (quick reply or call-to-action). Dynamic URL suffixes or quick-reply payloads can be injected.
Include only if the template has buttons with dynamic values.