For AI agents: the complete documentation index is available at https://docs.clickmax.io/en/llms.txt, the full documentation bundle is available at https://docs.clickmax.io/en/llms-full.txt, and this page is available as Markdown at https://docs.clickmax.io/en/features/max/create-whatsapp-template-with-ai.md.
  • English

      • How does AI create a WhatsApp message template?

      Ask straight in the chat — "create a WhatsApp welcome template and send it for approval" — or ask for a WhatsApp automation. Either way the AI creates a message template (an official template approved by Meta), shows you the final text, submits it to Meta only after you confirm, and closes with a button that opens the number's templates. That is the only way the message actually reaches someone who has not messaged you in the last 24 hours.

      Before you start:

      • Role: Owner, Admin, or Editor.
      • A WhatsApp number connected through the official API. See Connect WhatsApp. Without one, the AI explains what you need and opens the connection screen — see How do I ask the AI to connect a channel?.
      • WhatsApp Web does not use Meta templates: it sends free-form text. If your only number is on WhatsApp Web, the AI tells you templates need the official API.
      • Have in mind the text you want to send and which parts change per contact (name, order number, date).

      Why a template and not a free-form message

      WhatsApp only allows a message written on the spot inside the 24-hour customer care window — the 24 hours after the contact's last message to you. Outside that window, only an approved template is delivered.

      An automation started by a funnel, a tag, a schedule, or a purchase has no open window: the contact did not message you first. That is why the AI uses a template in those cases, and only uses free-form text when the automation itself starts from an incoming WhatsApp message.

      This is about delivery, not cost: Meta charges per conversation either way.

      1. The AI looks before it creates

      In order, it tries:

      1. A template you already have approved that already says what you want — nothing to wait for, it sends today.
      2. Meta's library, when the case is a common one (verification code, order update, appointment reminder). Meta already reviewed these, so approval is nearly immediate.
      3. A new template, written from scratch when neither of the above fits.

      2. The text is checked before it is saved

      A new template is checked against Meta's rules before it is saved, and every problem comes back at once for the AI to fix. The main rules:

      • variables are numbered in sequence, and the text cannot start or end with one — there is always fixed text around them;
      • each variable needs a real sample value (Meta reviews the sample, not just the template);
      • body up to 1024 characters, header and footer up to 60;
      • at most 10 emojis in the body, and no emoji, line break, or formatting in a text header;
      • buttons with labels up to 25 characters, at most 2 link buttons, and the coupon button only on marketing templates.

      The template name is automatically adjusted to the format Meta accepts: "Boas Vindas" becomes boas_vindas.

      3. Ask for changes by commenting on the template

      The AI shows the template in the WhatsApp bubble, with header, footer and buttons, the way the contact will see it. To ask for changes, comment right on the bubble:

      • On a passage: select the passage in the bubble and click Comment. The field opens over the text, next to the passage.
      • On the whole message: click the template. The field opens over the text, where you clicked.

      Write what to change and press Enter (Shift+Enter adds a line break). To close the field without commenting, click the template again. You can leave as many comments as you want: they show under the template and in a chip above the message field. With the next message you send, the AI gets all of them at once, adjusts the draft and shows the revised template. To drop a comment, use its X; to discard all of them, the chip's X.

      Comments only live on the screen: if you reload the page before sending your message, they are lost. To comment on other parts of the conversation (text, page or funnel cards) along with the template, see How do I comment on a Max reply?.

      4. You confirm the text before it goes to review

      Submitting the template to Meta is an external and practically irreversible action: review takes hours to days, and a rejected template hurts your number's quality rating. So the AI shows you the final text and only submits it after you confirm.

      5. Ask whether your templates were approved

      "Were my templates approved?" The AI reads the real status of each of the number's templates (with more than one official number, it asks which):

      • Draft: saved in Clickmax, not sent to Meta yet.
      • Under review: Meta is reviewing it.
      • Approved: ready to send.
      • Rejected or Paused: the AI shows the reason Meta gave and offers to rewrite it.
      • Send failed: it never reached Meta; the AI shows the reason and offers to fix and resubmit it.

      If Meta changed the template category (for example, from utility to marketing), the AI shows both.

      6. Inside an automation, it is built while the template is under review

      The AI does not wait for Meta to finish its work: it builds the whole automation and points the WhatsApp step at the template under review. The rest of the automation runs right away; WhatsApp sending starts once Meta approves the template.

      Outside an automation, the AI stops at the submitted template and the button to the number's templates. Track the template status in the WhatsApp area. See also Create WhatsApp message templates.

      If it didn't work

      • The AI said it cannot write a free-form message in your case: the automation does not start from an incoming WhatsApp message, so the 24-hour window is closed — ask for the template, which is the path that delivers.
      • The template has been under review for days: the deadline is Meta's, not Clickmax's; track it in the WhatsApp area.
      • Meta rejected the template: ask the AI to rewrite it from the rejection reason and submit again. See WhatsApp template send failed.
      • An action was blocked by an error: see the error codes (Portuguese).