Send message — estimate

Action buttons. Mutually exclusive with quickReplies. Max 3 items.

Instagram / Facebook: also mutually exclusive with template. A Meta message carries one body shape, so sending both is a 400 rather than a silent drop of the buttons. The buttons and message render as Meta's button_template (one bubble with the text and the buttons below it), so message must be 640 characters or less when buttons are attached (400 otherwise).

WhatsApp: buttons always render as interactive reply buttons. Only title and payload are used; type, url, and phone are ignored (WhatsApp has no URL/phone button in this field; use the interactive field with type: cta_url for a link button). payload becomes the button reply ID delivered on the message.received webhook when the user taps. To send a simple reply-button message, provide title + payload and set type: postback, e.g. { "type": "postback", "title": "Yes", "payload": "yes" }.

Combine buttons with attachmentUrl and attachmentType image, video, or file to render one WhatsApp message with a media header, body text, and reply buttons. Audio is not a supported interactive header and returns 400 when combined with buttons.

WhatsApp-only. Send one or more contact cards.

WhatsApp and iMessage. Send a location pin (on iMessage it renders as a native map bubble).

Platform-dependent template payload. Ignored on Telegram.

Instagram / Facebook: a generic template (carousel). Set type: generic and provide up to 10 elements, each with a title (required) and optional subtitle, imageUrl, and buttons. Mutually exclusive with the top-level buttons field (sending both is a 400); put the card's buttons on its elements instead. On Facebook, imageAspectRatio (horizontal, the default, or square) sets how Messenger renders the element images; Instagram has no such setting and rejects it.

WhatsApp: sends an approved WhatsApp template message, the only message type WhatsApp accepts when the 24-hour customer-service window is closed. Provide exactly one element carrying the template reference: { "elements": [{ "name": "order_update", "language": "en_US", "components": [...] }] } (type is ignored on WhatsApp). components is optional and is forwarded unchanged as the template.components array of Meta's Cloud API send payload; use it to fill body/header variables and button parameters, e.g. [{ "type": "body", "parameters": [{ "type": "text", "text": "John" }] }]. Templates with media headers (image, video, document) must include the header component with its media link here at send time. To send a template to a phone number with no existing conversation, or to have media headers filled in automatically from the template definition, use the create-conversation endpoint (POST /v1/inbox/conversations) instead.

WhatsApp-only. Rich interactive payload for list messages, CTA URL buttons, Flow prompts, location requests, voice-call buttons, and commerce messages (single product, product list, catalog, and carousel). When set, takes priority over buttons and quickReplies. The shape mirrors Meta's Cloud API interactive object for the types in the enum below.

Use buttons / quickReplies for simple button replies (WhatsApp's interactive.type: "button"): the abstraction caps at 3 buttons and handles the auto-conversion for you. Use this field only for the types listed in the enum below.

All interactive messages are session messages: they can only be sent inside the 24-hour customer service window opened by the user's last inbound message.

Commerce types (product, product_list, catalog_message, and product carousels) require a Meta catalog connected to the WhatsApp Business Account in Commerce Manager. Media carousels (image/video cards) do not need a catalog.

For product, body is optional (WhatsApp renders the product card itself) and header is not allowed (the product image is the header). For product_list, a header with type: "text" is required. For carousel, top-level header/footer are not supported; media goes on each card instead.

For voice_call, the message renders WhatsApp's native call button; tapping it starts a voice call to your business number. Requires WhatsApp Business Calling to be enabled on the sending number. The optional parameters.payload string is echoed back on the calls webhook (as cta_payload) for attribution.

For location_request_message, action may be omitted (we default it to { "name": "send_location" }). WhatsApp renders a localized "Send location" button; the user's reply arrives as a regular location message in the conversation.

For request_contact_info, action may be omitted (we default it to { "name": "request_contact_info" }). WhatsApp renders a localized share button that cannot be relabelled, so put the reason for asking in body.text: this is a consent prompt, and a bare request converts badly. The reply arrives as an inbound contacts message with metadata.contactsOrigin set to contact_request, and we fold the shared number back into the contact automatically. A contacts message with origin other is a card the user picked from their address book and is NOT proof of their own number.

For catalog_message, action may also be omitted (we default it to { "name": "catalog_message" }).

For address_message, parameters.country is required (Meta rejects the whole send without it); everything else in parameters (values, saved_addresses, validation_errors) is forwarded to Meta as-is. This is Meta's native structured shipping-address capture, generally available in India as of 2026-08; check Meta's documentation for current country availability before relying on it elsewhere. The submitted address arrives as an nfm_reply on the message.received webhook, same as a Flow submission, but with metadata.nfmReplyName set to address_message so you can tell the two apart.

Tap events come back via the message.received webhook with metadata.interactiveType set to list_reply or nfm_reply. Carts submitted from commerce messages arrive as metadata.order; product inquiries arrive as metadata.referredProduct.

Telegram-native keyboard markup. Ignored on other platforms.

Quick reply buttons. Mutually exclusive with buttons. Max 13 items.