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Catalog templates
Updated: Jun 18, 2026
This document explains how to create catalog templates. See Sell Products and Services to learn more about product catalogs and ways to showcase your products.
Catalog templates are marketing templates that allow you to showcase your product catalog entirely within WhatsApp. Catalog templates display a product thumbnail header image of your choice and custom body text, along with a fixed text header and fixed text sub-header.
When a customer taps the View catalog button in a catalog template message, your product catalog appears within WhatsApp.
Creating catalog templates
Requirements
You must have inventory uploaded to Meta in an e-commerce catalog connected to your WhatsApp Business account.
Request syntax
Use the Message Templates API to create a catalog template. Once your template is approved, you can use the Messages API to send it in a template message.
curl -X POST "https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/<WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_ACCOUNT_ID>/message_templates" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '
{
"name": "<NAME>",
"language": "<LANGUAGE>",
"category": "MARKETING",
"components": [
{
"type": "BODY",
"text": "<BODY_TEXT>",
"example": {
"body_text": [
[
"<EXAMPLE_BODY_TEXT>"
]
]
}
},
{
"type": "FOOTER",
"text": "<FOOTER_TEXT>"
},
{
"type": "BUTTONS",
"buttons": [
{
"type": "CATALOG",
"text": "View catalog"
}
]
}
]
}'Request parameters
| Placeholder | Description | Sample value |
|---|---|---|
<BODY_TEXT> String | Required. Template body text. Variables are supported. Maximum 1024 characters. | Now shop for your favorite products right here on WhatsApp! Get Rs {{1}} off on all orders above {{2}}Rs! Valid for your first {{3}} orders placed on WhatsApp! |
<EXAMPLE_BODY_TEXT> String (of an array of strings) | Required if body text uses variables. Sample strings to replace variable placeholders in <BODY_TEXT> string. Maximum 1024 characters. | 100 |
<FOOTER_TEXT> String | Optional. Template footer text. Variables are supported. Maximum 60 characters. | Best grocery deals on WhatsApp! |
<LANGUAGE> String | Required. Template language and locale code. | en_US |
<NAME> String | Required. Template name. Maximum 512 characters. | intro_catalog_offer |
Example request
curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/v17.0/102290129340398/message_templates' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer EAAJB...' \
-d '
{
"name": "intro_catalog_offer",
"language": "en_US",
"category": "MARKETING",
"components": [
{
"type": "BODY",
"text": "Now shop for your favorite products right here on WhatsApp! Get Rs {{1}} off on all orders above {{2}}Rs! Valid for your first {{3}} orders placed on WhatsApp!",
"example": {
"body_text": [
[
"100",
"400",
"3"
]
]
}
},
{
"type": "FOOTER",
"text": "Best grocery deals on WhatsApp!"
},
{
"type": "BUTTONS",
"buttons": [
{
"type": "CATALOG",
"text": "View catalog"
}
]
}
]
}'Example response
{
"id": "546151681022936",
"status": "PENDING",
"category": "MARKETING"
}Sending catalog template messages
You can send approved catalog templates in a template message. See Sell Products and Services to learn more about product catalogs and ways to showcase your products.
Requirements
You must have inventory uploaded to Meta in an e-commerce catalog connected to your WhatsApp Business account.
Request syntax
Use the Messages API to send a catalog template message using a catalog template with an APPROVED status.
curl -X POST "https://graph.facebook.com/v19.0/<WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID>/messages" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '
{
"messaging_product": "whatsapp",
"recipient_type": "individual",
"to": "<TO>",
"type": "template",
"template": {
"name": "<NAME>",
"language": {
"code": "<CODE>"
},
"components": [
{
"type": "body",
"parameters": [
{
"type": "<TYPE>",
"text": "<TEXT>"
}
]
},
{
"type": "button",
"sub_type": "CATALOG",
"index": 0,
"parameters": [
{
"type": "action",
"action": {
"thumbnail_product_retailer_id": "<THUMBNAIL_PRODUCT_RETAILER_ID>"
}
}
]
}
]
}
}'Request parameters
| Placeholder | Description | Sample value |
|---|---|---|
<CODE> String | Required. Template language and locale code. | en_US |
<NAME> String | Required. Template name. | intro_catalog_offer |
<THUMBNAIL_PRODUCT_RETAILER_ID> String | Optional. Item SKU number. Labeled as Content ID in the Commerce Manager. The thumbnail of this item will be used as the message's header image. If the parameters object is omitted, the product image of the first item in your catalog will be used. | 2lc20305pt |
<TEXT> String | Required if template uses variables. Template variable. | 100 |
<TO> String | Required. Customer phone number. | +16505551234 |
<TYPE> String | Required if template uses variables. Template variable type. | text |
Example request
curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/v17.0/106540352242922/messages' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer EAAJB...' \
-d '
{
"messaging_product": "whatsapp",
"recipient_type": "individual",
"to": "+16505551234",
"type": "template",
"template": {
"name": "intro_catalog_offer",
"language": {
"code": "en_US"
},
"components": [
{
"type": "body",
"parameters": [
{
"type": "text",
"text": "100"
},
{
"type": "text",
"text": "400"
},
{
"type": "text",
"text": "3"
}
]
},
{
"type": "button",
"sub_type": "CATALOG",
"index": 0,
"parameters": [
{
"type": "action",
"action": {
"thumbnail_product_retailer_id": "2lc20305pt"
}
}
]
}
]
}
}'Example response
{
"messaging_product": "whatsapp",
"contacts": [
{
"input": "+16505551234",
"wa_id": "16505551234"
}
],
"messages": [
{
"id": "wamid.HBgLMTY1MDM4Nzk0MzkVAgARGBI5RkEwM0EyODFEQzQ2NDYzQTMA"
}
]
}