Use the official WhatsApp API with ZapClaw and keep the app on your phone

In short: ZapClaw connects your WhatsApp Business number to Meta's official WhatsApp Cloud API through Coexistence. Your system sends through a REST API and receives incoming messages on its webhook, while you keep answering from the WhatsApp Business app. No Meta app of your own and no App Review.

What you need to connect

• The WhatsApp Business app on the number, version 2.24.17 or newer, in regular use.
• Two-factor authentication on the personal Facebook account that authorizes the connection.
• The number not connected to another provider. If it is, disconnect it there first.
• A computer to run the connection, with your phone at hand to confirm it in the app.

You do not need a company tax ID or a verified business to connect. The full checklist.

What the official WhatsApp API is

The WhatsApp Cloud API is Meta's official way for a business system to send and receive WhatsApp messages, part of the WhatsApp Business Platform. Using it on your own takes a Meta app, and keeping the number in the WhatsApp Business app or connecting other businesses' numbers takes Tech Provider status, with Business Verification and App Review. ZapClaw is a Meta Tech Provider and does that part for you: you get a REST API and a webhook.

What ZapClaw gives you

• Meta's official API, not an unofficial library. Messages go through Meta's WhatsApp Cloud API, not through a client that imitates WhatsApp Web, the kind of connection that goes against WhatsApp's terms and puts numbers at risk. Meta's policies apply, as they do to every business on the API.
• The number stays in the app. With Coexistence you keep answering from the WhatsApp Business app on your phone while your system uses the API on the same number.
• A REST API out, a webhook in. Send text, templates, media, locations, contacts, reactions and interactive messages with an X-API-Key header. Incoming messages reach your webhook signed with HMAC-SHA256, with up to 3 delivery attempts.
• Unlimited numbers on the paid plans. Connect your own numbers or your clients' through Embedded Signup, with no App Review on your side, and route each event by its phone_number_id.
• Works with what you already run. n8n, Chatwoot, your own backend or an AI agent: anything that makes an HTTP call and receives one.

How it works

1. Create your account and connect the number in Meta's window, through Embedded Signup: use the number of your WhatsApp Business app, and choose Connect a WhatsApp Business app if Meta shows that option.
2. In the dashboard, enter your webhook URL and create an API key.
3. Send with one call. Each incoming message reaches your webhook as a message.received event, with the sender in data.from and your number in account.phone_number_id.

curl -X POST https://api.zapclaw.app/api/v1/send/text \
  -H "X-API-Key: zc_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "from": "15551617409", "to": "15555550100",
      "text": "Order #1234 is confirmed" }'

201 Created
{
  "message": {
    "status": "sent",
    "wamid": "wamid.HBg..."
  }
}

What it costs

• Free: 500 messages a month and 1 number, with no card and no end date. At the limit, sending pauses and new messages are held until you subscribe.
• Business: US$ 29 per month, with 20,000 messages included and unlimited numbers.
• Agency: US$ 49 per month for agencies, with 3 clients and 60,000 messages included and unlimited numbers.

Meta bills its WhatsApp message fees to you directly, with no ZapClaw markup. Every plan and price.

Who it is for

Developers, makers and agencies who run a bot, an AI agent, a CRM or an automation on WhatsApp and want Meta's official API without building on Meta themselves. It does not fit bulk broadcasting, or anyone who depends on groups or calls, which Meta does not support on Coexistence numbers.

Go further

• The API and webhook documentation, with every endpoint and payload.
• Unofficial WhatsApp API or the official one: what changes when you move.
• WhatsApp API prices compared, with Meta's fees by country.
• WhatsApp in n8n, with a flow you can import.