Twilio WhatsApp Enablement Guide

Purpose

This document describes the manual process to enable WhatsApp messaging capability on a Twilio phone number used by iXHC (ixHello Customer). This process is documented per AppSec team requirements.

Scope

Covers the end-to-end workflow from request initiation by a Product Owner through WhatsApp enablement and webhook configuration by the DevOps team.

Roles

Role	Responsibility
Product Owner	Initiates the request to enable WhatsApp on a phone number
DevOps Team (Sanjay Rimal)	Enables WhatsApp on the Twilio number, purchases new numbers if needed, configures webhooks

Prerequisites

• An active Twilio account with number-purchase permissions

• Access to the Twilio Console

• A Meta Business Account (WABA) linked to the Twilio account

• The target phone number must support SMS or Voice

• The phone number must not already be registered with WhatsApp elsewhere

Process Flow

Step 1 — Request Initiation

The Product Owner submits a request to the DevOps team to enable WhatsApp on a phone number. The request should include:

• The target phone number (if an existing number is to be used)

• The environment (Dev, QA, Staging, or Production)

• The bot/assistant the number will be associated with

• The webhook URL for the target environment

Step 2 — Phone Number Assessment

The DevOps team evaluates whether an existing Twilio number can be used or a new number must be purchased.

Use an existing number if:

• The number is already provisioned in the Twilio account

• The number supports SMS or Voice capability

• The number is not already registered with WhatsApp elsewhere

Purchase a new number if:

• No suitable existing number is available

• The number needs to be in a specific country or region

• Follow the existing phone number purchase process documented in the API - Purchase Phone Number runbook

Step 3 — Enable WhatsApp on the Twilio Phone Number

1. Log in to the Twilio Console

2. Navigate to Messaging → Senders → WhatsApp Senders

3. Click "Add Sender"

4. Select the target Twilio phone number

5. Link the number with the Meta Business Account (WABA)

6. Complete the verification process as prompted by Twilio/Meta

Step 4 — Configure Incoming Message Webhook

Once WhatsApp is enabled on the number, configure the webhook so incoming WhatsApp messages are routed to the ixHello backend.

HTTP Method: POST

Webhook URLs by environment:

Environment	Webhook URL
DEV	(enter dev webhook URL)
QA	(enter QA webhook URL)
US-STG	(enter US staging webhook URL)
EU-PROD	(enter EU production webhook URL)
US-PROD	(enter US production webhook URL)

Step 5 — Sandbox Testing (Optional)

If testing is needed before production deployment:

1. Go to the Twilio Console

2. Navigate to Messaging → Try it out → WhatsApp message

3. Click "Sandbox settings"

4. Configure the incoming message webhook URL (same as Step 4 for the target environment)

5. Click "Save"

6. Test by sending a WhatsApp message to the sandbox number

Step 6 — Validation

After configuration, verify the integration