Whatsapp Cloud API Skill — Development skill for Claude Code

WhatsApp Cloud API — Claude Skill

Field notes for building bots on Meta's WhatsApp Cloud API, packaged as a [Claude Code skill](https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills).

**The premise:** in this API, the default failure mode is silence. The three most common misconfigurations produce no error, no warning, and no failed request — the panel reports "connected successfully" and messages simply never arrive. Most of this document is about those.

Install

git clone https://github.com/guisa17/whatsapp-cloud-api-skill.git \
  ~/.claude/skills/whatsapp-cloud-api

Claude picks it up automatically. Invoke it with `/whatsapp-cloud-api`, or just describe a Cloud API problem and it will load on its own.

For a single project instead of your whole account, clone into `/.claude/skills/` .

What's inside

File
`SKILL.md`	The knowledge. Tokens, webhooks, Flows, limits, pricing, Coexistence, and a symptom→cause table
`references/diagnose.py`	Standalone diagnostic. Checks the three invisible steps and the verification handshake

The diagnostic

Copy it into a new project **before** writing bot logic — it's the highest-leverage thing you can build, and you want it before you need it.

export WHATSAPP_TOKEN=...
export WHATSAPP_PHONE_NUMBER_ID=...
export WHATSAPP_WABA_ID=...
export WHATSAPP_APP_SECRET=...      # optional, to check webhook fields
export WHATSAPP_VERIFY_TOKEN=...    # optional, to test the handshake
export WEBHOOK_URL=...              # optional, to test the handshake

python references/diagnose.py        # report only
python references/diagnose.py --fix  # also fix what can be automated

Only dependency is `httpx`.

How claims are tagged

Not everything here carries the same weight, so each claim says where it comes from:

• [verified] — confirmed against Meta's documentation or a live API call.
• [field] — observed in production. True at