WhatsApp broadcast

Official Cloud API only. Setup: setup. Pricing file: pricing.

Rules

• Only contacts with a recorded opt-in (opt_in_at column) are messaged. Never add an opt-in date the user did not record; ask instead.
• Only approved templates can be broadcast. Free-form text is not possible here.
• The user approves the exact recipient list, template and estimated cost.

Steps

1. node scripts/broadcast.mjs --init --dir wa-bc-<slug>
2. Fill broadcast.json (template name, language, category, bodyParams such as "{name}" that reference contacts.csv columns) and place the user's contacts.csv.
3. Preview: node scripts/broadcast.mjs --plan --dir wa-bc-<slug>. Report recipients, exclusions by reason (no opt-in, opted out, duplicate, invalid, US marketing) and the estimated cost with the rate card date.
4. Stop. Ask the user to run in their own terminal: node scripts/broadcast.mjs --approve --dir wa-bc-<slug>
5. Send: node scripts/broadcast.mjs --send --dir wa-bc-<slug>. It checks the template is APPROVED with the same category, then sends at a safe rate. Rerunning resumes and never double-sends.
6. Report sent, skipped and failed counts and where results.jsonl is.

Failure handling

• WA_TEMPLATE_CATEGORY: Meta re-categorised the template; update broadcast.json, re-plan (cost changes) and get a new approval.
• stoppedBy set: an account-level error (billing, restriction, quality). Do not retry; show the hint to the user.
• Skipped 131049 or 131050: per-user marketing limit or opt-out. Do not resend.