Connect a WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) to Sent

This guide shows you how to connect a WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) to Sent and confirm that the channel can send. It assumes you administer a Meta Business Account and that your Sent account has cleared KYC review. If you are working through initial setup of all three channels, this step sits inside Channel Setup alongside your SMS number, RCS, and billing.

Before you start

Confirm all four requirements. The flow fails at a different stage for each one you skip.

• A verified Meta Business Account. Meta's business verification is separate from Sent's KYC review, and both must pass before Meta lets you share a WABA with a partner.
• A Facebook personal account with administrator access to that Meta Business Account. Meta blocks the authorization step for non-administrators.
• A phone number that is not linked to another WhatsApp Business Account. A number can belong to one WABA at a time, including numbers registered with the WhatsApp Business app.
• A Sent account with KYC approved. Sent locks channel configuration until compliance review clears.

For the long form of each requirement, see Prerequisites for WhatsApp setup.

curl "https://api.sent.dm/v3/me" \
  -H "x-api-key: $SENT_API_KEY"

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "channels": {
      "whatsapp": {
        "configured": true,
        "phone_number": "+14155550100",
        "business_name": "Acme Corporation"
      }
    }
  }
}

Connect a WABA to a Sender Profile

Sub-accounts created through the API take a different path: profiles inherit the organization's WABA by default, and you pass credentials only when a profile needs its own. Supply them on POST /v3/profiles:

curl -X POST "https://api.sent.dm/v3/profiles" \
  -H "x-api-key: $ORG_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Sales Team",
    "whatsapp_business_account": {
      "waba_id": "123456789012345",
      "phone_number_id": "987654321098765",
      "access_token": "EAAxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
    }
  }'

• waba_id and access_token are required. Create the token as a Meta Business Manager System User with the whatsapp_business_messaging and whatsapp_business_management permissions. Sent stores it and never returns it in a response.
• phone_number_id is optional. Provide it to use a number already registered under that WABA, or omit it to have a number provisioned and registered with the WABA during setup.
• Omit whatsapp_business_account entirely to inherit the organization's WABA. The request fails with 422 if the organization has not completed the Meta signup flow itself.

The sub-account profiles guide covers the full create-and-complete sequence, and the create profile reference lists every field.

Before your first WhatsApp message

• Send from an approved template. WhatsApp requires an approved template for business-initiated messages. Create a template in the dashboard, then send it with your first message.
• Expect your preview templates to disappear. Completing WABA setup removes the light-onboarding sample templates, which were never submitted to Meta, and submits your auto-reply templates to the new WABA for approval.
• Watch the onboarding send cap. Accounts that have finished channel setup but not the remaining compliance steps hit a stage send limit, after which messages are blocked with ERR_CHANNEL_SETUP_COMPLETED_QUOTA_EXCEEDED. See Trust & Safety.

If a stage fails

Related

• WhatsApp onboarding troubleshooting: every known Meta-side connection failure and its resolution.
• Channels: how Sent picks between SMS, RCS, and WhatsApp per message.
• Channel Setup: the surrounding onboarding steps, including your SMS number, RCS, and billing.
• WhatsApp template issues: template creation, approval, and rejection on a connected WABA.