# WhatsApp Template Validator - Pre-submit Checker (`fabien1106/whatsapp-template-validator`) Actor Validate WhatsApp Business templates before submitting to Meta. Catches all 30+ rejection reasons in seconds and returns an AI-fixed version. - **URL**: https://apify.com/fabien1106/whatsapp-template-validator.md - **Developed by:** [Fabien](https://apify.com/fabien1106) (community) - **Categories:** Automation, AI, Social media - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $50.00 / 1,000 template validations This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ![WhatsApp Template Validator — Catch Meta rejections before they happen, with AI auto-fix](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fabiendeurrieu/whatsapp-template-validator-assets/main/00-hero.png) ## 🛡️ WhatsApp Template Validator — Catch Meta rejections before they happen **Stop wasting hours on rejected WhatsApp Business templates.** This Actor validates your templates against Meta's 30+ rejection rules in 2 seconds — and returns a fixed version when something's wrong. ![Validation results across 4 templates — mixed PASS / FAIL with quality scores](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fabiendeurrieu/whatsapp-template-validator-assets/main/02-results-table.jpg) ### Why this Actor? Submitting a WhatsApp Business template to Meta is a black box. You wait 1 to 24 hours, and if it gets rejected, you get a vague reason like `INVALID_FORMAT` or `INCORRECT_CATEGORY`. Then you guess. Then you resubmit. Repeated rejections damage your account quality score. This Actor reproduces Meta's review logic locally, in milliseconds. It checks: - ✅ All structural rules (variables, length limits, button counts, format) - ✅ Category logic (UTILITY vs MARKETING vs AUTHENTICATION) — the #1 rejection reason - ✅ Policy compliance (sensitive data, prohibited industries, URL shorteners, wa.me links) - ✅ Locale-specific gotchas (GDPR opt-out, LGPD, regional restrictions) - ✅ AI quality scoring with predicted approval probability ### What you get back For every template you submit, the Actor returns: | Field | Description | |---|---| | `verdict` | PASS / WARN / FAIL | | `qualityScore` | 0–100 prediction of approval likelihood | | `issues[]` | Detailed list of every problem with severity, location, and fix | | `fixedTemplate` | AI-rewritten template that resolves all errors | | `metaCategoryPrediction` | What Meta will likely re-categorize the template as | ### Use cases - **Pre-submit gate in CI/CD** — block PRs that introduce rejected templates - **BSP / agency workflows** — validate batch templates before pushing to Meta - **n8n / Make automations** — chain with WhatsApp Cloud API to auto-resubmit fixed versions - **Audit existing libraries** — bulk-check current templates for newly recategorized ones ### Pricing Pay-per-event: - `validation` — $0.05 - `ai_fix_generation` — $0.15 (only if `autoFix=true` and template fails) - `bulk_validation` (≥50 templates) — $0.03 per template ### Example input ![Input — paste your templates as JSON, set targetCountries and autoFix](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fabiendeurrieu/whatsapp-template-validator-assets/main/01-input.jpg) ```json { "templates": [{ "name": "order_shipped_v2", "language": "fr", "category": "UTILITY", "components": [ { "type": "BODY", "text": "Bonjour {{1}}, votre commande {{2}} est expédiée ! Profitez de -10% avec le code FREE10 sur votre prochaine commande.", "example": { "body_text": [["Marie", "#48291"]] } } ] }], "autoFix": true } ```` ### Example output (excerpt) ![Detail view — issue with metaReasonCode and AI-rewritten fixedTemplate side by side](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fabiendeurrieu/whatsapp-template-validator-assets/main/03-detail-fix.jpg) ```json { "verdict": "FAIL", "qualityScore": 35, "issues": [ { "severity": "ERROR", "code": "PROMOTIONAL_IN_UTILITY", "message": "Body contains promotional language ('-10%', 'code FREE10') but category is UTILITY. Meta will reject or recategorize as MARKETING.", "fix": "Either change category to MARKETING, or remove the promotional sentence." } ], "metaCategoryPrediction": "MARKETING", "fixedTemplate": { /* utility-clean version */ } } ``` ### FAQ **Does this Actor talk to Meta?** No. It runs locally and reproduces Meta's published review rules. No tokens, no Meta API calls, no WABA needed. **How accurate is the prediction?** \~85% match with Meta's actual decisions on a 1,200-template benchmark. The remaining ~15% is human-reviewer subjectivity on borderline marketing/utility cases. **Can I run this on my whole template library?** Yes — pass an array of up to 500 templates per run. Use the bulk pricing tier. **Does it support all languages?** Validation rules are language-agnostic. AI fix generation supports 100+ languages. **What about Meta's pricing changes (April 2025 onward)?** The Actor flags any UTILITY template Meta would auto-recategorize to MARKETING, so you can fix or accept the price impact before submission. ### Local development ```bash npm install npm test ## 45 unit + e2e tests, no API key needed npm run build apify run ## local Actor run with storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json ``` To run with the LLM-powered borderline checks and `autoFix`, set `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` in your environment (locally) or as a secret on Apify Console (production). ### Deploy to Apify ```bash apify login apify push ``` Then in Apify Console: - **Permissions**: Limited (default) - **Categories**: AUTOMATION (primary), AI (secondary) - **Environment variables**: `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` (mark as Secret) - **Pay-per-event**: prices declared in `.actor/pay_per_event.json` are picked up automatically. # Actor input Schema ## `templates` (type: `array`): Array of WhatsApp template objects following Meta's structure ## `businessVertical` (type: `string`): Used for industry-specific checks (restricted industries, common phrasing pitfalls) ## `targetCountries` (type: `array`): Used to flag locale-specific issues (EU GDPR opt-out, India DLT-like rules, LGPD Brazil...) ## `businessDomains` (type: `array`): If provided, button URLs not matching these domains will be flagged ## `allowedThirdPartyBrands` (type: `array`): Brands that may legitimately appear in your templates (e.g. partners). Defaults to empty. ## `autoFix` (type: `boolean`): If a template fails validation, return a corrected rewrite (charged separately as ai\_fix\_generation event) ## `strictMode` (type: `boolean`): Treats warnings as errors. Recommended for production submission pipelines. ## Actor input object example ```json { "templates": [ { "name": "order_shipped_v2", "language": "en_US", "category": "UTILITY", "components": [ { "type": "BODY", "text": "Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} has been shipped and will arrive within 48 hours.", "example": { "body_text": [ [ "Sarah", "#48291" ] ] } } ] } ], "businessVertical": "other", "autoFix": true, "strictMode": false } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `datasetJson` (type: `string`): All validation results as JSON. ## `datasetCsv` (type: `string`): All validation results as CSV (one row per template). ## `consoleRun` (type: `string`): Open this run in the Apify Console. # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "templates": [ { "name": "order_shipped_v2", "language": "en_US", "category": "UTILITY", "components": [ { "type": "BODY", "text": "Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} has been shipped and will arrive within 48 hours.", "example": { "body_text": [ [ "Sarah", "#48291" ] ] } } ] } ], "autoFix": false }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("fabien1106/whatsapp-template-validator").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "templates": [{ "name": "order_shipped_v2", "language": "en_US", "category": "UTILITY", "components": [{ "type": "BODY", "text": "Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} has been shipped and will arrive within 48 hours.", "example": { "body_text": [[ "Sarah", "#48291", ]] }, }], }], "autoFix": False, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("fabien1106/whatsapp-template-validator").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "templates": [ { "name": "order_shipped_v2", "language": "en_US", "category": "UTILITY", "components": [ { "type": "BODY", "text": "Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} has been shipped and will arrive within 48 hours.", "example": { "body_text": [ [ "Sarah", "#48291" ] ] } } ] } ], "autoFix": false }' | apify call fabien1106/whatsapp-template-validator --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fabien1106/whatsapp-template-validator", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "WhatsApp Template Validator - Pre-submit Checker", "description": "Validate WhatsApp Business templates before submitting to Meta. Catches all 30+ rejection reasons in seconds and returns an AI-fixed version.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "x0i5X1IVgeU4x9fpi" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/fabien1106~whatsapp-template-validator/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-fabien1106-whatsapp-template-validator", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/fabien1106~whatsapp-template-validator/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-fabien1106-whatsapp-template-validator", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/fabien1106~whatsapp-template-validator/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-fabien1106-whatsapp-template-validator", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "templates" ], "properties": { "templates": { "title": "Templates to validate", "type": "array", "description": "Array of WhatsApp template objects following Meta's structure", "items": { "type": "object", "required": [ "name", "language", "category", "components" ], "properties": { "name": { "title": "Template name", "type": "string", "description": "Lowercase, snake_case, max 512 chars", "pattern": "^[a-z0-9_]{1,512}$" }, "language": { "title": "Language", "type": "string", "description": "BCP-47 code (e.g. en_US, fr, pt_BR, ro)" }, "category": { "title": "Category", "type": "string", "description": "Submitted Meta category for the template", "enum": [ "MARKETING", "UTILITY", "AUTHENTICATION" ] }, "components": { "title": "Components", "type": "array", "description": "Header / Body / Footer / Buttons blocks", "items": { "type": "object", "properties": { "type": { "title": "Component type", "type": "string", "description": "Block type", "enum": [ "HEADER", "BODY", "FOOTER", "BUTTONS" ] }, "format": { "title": "Format", "type": "string", "description": "Text or media format (HEADER only)", "enum": [ "TEXT", "IMAGE", "VIDEO", "DOCUMENT", "LOCATION" ] }, "text": { "title": "Text", "type": "string", "description": "Static body / header / footer text with {{n}} placeholders" }, "example": { "title": "Example", "type": "object", "description": "Sample values for each variable, e.g. { body_text: [[\"Marie\", \"#48291\"]] }" }, "buttons": { "title": "Buttons", "type": "array", "description": "Quick reply or CTA buttons", "items": { "type": "object", "properties": { "type": { "title": "Button type", "type": "string", "description": "Button kind", "enum": [ "QUICK_REPLY", "URL", "PHONE_NUMBER", "COPY_CODE" ] }, "text": { "title": "Label", "type": "string", "description": "Visible button label (≤25 chars)" }, "url": { "title": "URL", "type": "string", "description": "Destination URL (URL buttons only)" }, "phone_number": { "title": "Phone number", "type": "string", "description": "E.164 phone number (PHONE_NUMBER buttons only)" } } } } } } } } } }, "businessVertical": { "title": "Business vertical", "enum": [ "ecommerce", "logistics", "finance", "healthcare", "education", "travel", "food_delivery", "real_estate", "saas", "other" ], "type": "string", "description": "Used for industry-specific checks (restricted industries, common phrasing pitfalls)", "default": "other" }, "targetCountries": { "title": "Destination markets (ISO-2 codes)", "type": "array", "description": "Used to flag locale-specific issues (EU GDPR opt-out, India DLT-like rules, LGPD Brazil...)", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "businessDomains": { "title": "Verified business domains (whitelist for URL buttons)", "type": "array", "description": "If provided, button URLs not matching these domains will be flagged", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "allowedThirdPartyBrands": { "title": "Allowed third-party brand mentions", "type": "array", "description": "Brands that may legitimately appear in your templates (e.g. partners). Defaults to empty.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "autoFix": { "title": "Generate AI-fixed version on failure", "type": "boolean", "description": "If a template fails validation, return a corrected rewrite (charged separately as ai_fix_generation event)", "default": true }, "strictMode": { "title": "Strict mode", "type": "boolean", "description": "Treats warnings as errors. Recommended for production submission pipelines.", "default": false } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```