Sign inGet Started
Get started
Guides
API Reference
SDKs
CLI
Knowledge Base
Changelog

Get a message template

GET
/v1/whatsapp/templates/{template_ref}
const tpl = await bird.whatsapp.templates.get("bird_otp");
console.log(tpl.default_language, tpl.live_version_id);
Response200
{
  "id": "wat_01krdgeqcxet5s7t44vh8rt9mg",
  "slug": "bird_otp",
  "name": "Order update",
  "description": "Sent when an order ships.",
  "scope": "system",
  "waba": "102290129340398",
  "category": "authentication",
  "status": "active",
  "default_language": "pt-BR",
  "on_missing_language": "fallback",
  "language_source_required": false,
  "available_languages": [
    "pt-BR"
  ],
  "languages": {
    "en": {
      "status": "approved"
    }
  },
  "draft_version_id": "wav_01krdgeqcxet5s7t44vh8rt9mg",
  "live_version_id": "wav_01krdgeqcxet5s7t44vh8rt9mg",
  "pending_version_id": "wav_01krdgeqcxet5s7t44vh8rt9mg",
  "last_submitted_at": "2026-07-26T16:40:00Z",
  "next": [
    {
      "kind": "operation"
    }
  ]
}

Returns one template by its ID or slug: its lifecycle, the languages a send can currently resolve, a summary of where every language stands at Meta, and a pointer to the version that is live. Content is not here: read a version for that.

Parameters

template_refstring

Template ID (wat_ prefix) or slug. A value that parses as a valid ID resolves by ID; any other value resolves as a slug.

Response Payload

id
string
required

Stable Bird identifier for the template.

slug
string
required

The template's handle, editable before the first submission. Address it by this handle, and reference it when sending. Handles beginning with bird_ are reserved for our built-in templates.

slug_editable
boolean
required

Whether the slug can still be changed. False after the first submission and for built-in templates.

name
string
required

A display name for the template. Nothing resolves through it, so it is safe to show wherever a human reads the template.

description
nullable string
required

What the template is for. Null when unset.

scope
string
required

Whether the template is one of our built-in templates (system) or one your workspace created (workspace).

Possible values: system, workspace

waba
string

The WhatsApp Business Account that holds this template's languages at Meta. Absent on a built-in template: those live on a WABA that Bird manages centrally rather than on your account, so it is not yours to reconcile against and is not disclosed.

category
string
required

The category you declared for the template. It is fixed once the template exists. Meta applies its own category per language and may move one, which is what messages are priced at. Read the language for that.

Possible values (may grow over time): authentication, utility, marketing

status
string
required

The template's lifecycle, aggregated over its languages.

Possible values: draft, pending, active, rejected, inactive

default_language
string
required

The language a send is served in when it names none, whichever on_missing_language is set. A template that sets language_source_required refuses such a send instead. Under fallback it is also the last hop for a language that is not in available_languages, whether the template holds no copy in it or holds one WhatsApp has not approved. The template is required to hold this default, and it must itself be in available_languages for a send to resolve here.

on_missing_language
string
required

What a send does when the language it asks for has no approved copy. Defaults to fail on WhatsApp, because every language is separately approved and separately priced: falling back silently would send content the recipient did not expect at a rate the sender did not choose.

language_source_required
boolean
required

When true, a send must name a language explicitly rather than letting the template resolve one.

available_languages
array of string
required

The languages a send can resolve right now: approved and not held back by Meta. It shrinks for reasons you did not cause: Meta pauses, disables, archives or limits a language and it leaves the set with nobody having edited anything. Read languages to see which languages exist and why one is missing.

languages
object
required

Where each of the template's languages stands, keyed by BCP-47 language tag. This is the summary of the version currently in service, so a template reading active can still hold a rejected or paused language: the aggregate says something is sendable, and this says which. Content is not here; it lives under a version.

draft_version_id
nullable string
required

The open draft, or null when nobody is editing. Non-null is the answer to whether this template has unsubmitted work: a draft exists only because someone opened one.

live_version_id
nullable string
required

The version Meta is serving. A version goes live as a unit the moment any of its languages is approved, superseding the one before it. Null until a first approval.

pending_version_id
nullable string
required

A submitted version still awaiting verdicts: what to poll. It stays set while any language is unresolved, including after a sibling's approval took the version live. Null when nothing is outstanding.

last_submitted_at
nullable string
required

When this template was last submitted. Null for a pre-approved built-in template.

created_at
nullable string
required

When the template was created. Null for a built-in template, which Bird ships rather than stores.

updated_at
nullable string
required

When the template was last modified. Null for a built-in template, which Bird ships rather than stores.

next
array of object

What to do next with this template, given the state it is in. Each entry names one action and says why it is worth taking, so you can act on this response without working out the order yourself. Present on reads that compute it: an empty list means there is nothing to do, and the field is absent entirely on responses that do not report next actions.

A draft template routes to opening its draft, a pending one to the version under review, and a rejected or inactive one to a fresh draft. The template's status is the aggregate over its languages, so an entry may send you to the version to see where each language actually stands.

Show child attributes
next.kind
string
required

What you do about this step.

  • operation: call the operation named in operation, then read again.
  • external: act somewhere this API does not reach, then read again.
  • wait: nothing is asked of you, so read again later.
  • terminal: nothing you do resolves this, so stop retrying.

Tolerate a value you do not recognize: show the description and offer no action.

Possible values (may grow over time): operation, external, wait, terminal

next.description
string
required

A short, human-readable label for the step, suitable for display.

next.operation
string

The operationId to call. Present only when kind is operation. The operation's own schema says how to call it; this says only which one, and what to address it with.

next.params
object

The parameters that address the operation, by name: {"sender_id": "…"} for an operation on /v1/sms/senders/{sender_id}/requirements. A parameter the operation takes in its query string is given the same way, so an operation addressed as ?subject_id= carries {"subject_id": "…"}. Every parameter the call needs is here, whether its value came from the thing you were acting on or is fixed for this step, so you can make the call from this object alone. Present only when kind is operation and the operation names a subject. A request body, when the operation takes one, is described by the operation's own schema and never appears here.

next.url
string

A URL to open. Present only when kind is external, and only when the step has one. An external step whose description says to go and do something with no URL to open is normal.

Related resources

Continue with the documentation, guides and examples for this topic.

Get an implementation brief