Meta Business Agent

Meta Business Agent is Meta's own AI agent for WhatsApp. When it is on, it answers the number's customers directly.

It answers from the business information, FAQs, websites and files you give it, in the voice the skills describe. It can call your APIs through connectors.

Zernio wraps the whole configuration surface under /v1/accounts/{accountId}/business-agent, so an integrator can set it up for a merchant end to end. See the Meta Business Agent reference.

1. Accept the terms in WhatsApp Manager (Meta Business Agent tab). Until then every call answers business_agent_terms_not_accepted.
2. Attach a payment method to the Business Agent billable account in Billing Hub. Without it the agent can be on but Meta delivers none of its messages. Testing with an allowlist does not need it.

GET /v1/accounts/{accountId}/business-agent reports the first under manualSteps, since Zernio can tell it is still pending.

It reports the second under unverifiedSteps. Meta exposes no billing state, so it is listed once an agent exists and you decide when to hide it.

Which numbers qualify

The number must be:

• managed through the Cloud API
• in a supported vertical and country
• in good standing
• not already running another AI product

eligible on the status read is Meta's answer.

Coexistence numbers. A coexistence number that still has the WhatsApp Business app's own Business AI linked is not eligible. Meta allows one AI product per number.

That in-app agent also blocks the coexistence signup until the merchant disconnects it from the app.

Setup order

1. GET .../business-agent to read eligibility, terms and what exists.
2. POST .../business-agent/onboard once. It creates the agent, and Meta takes about a minute to prepare it; configuration calls made before that answer business_agent_not_found.
3. Give it knowledge: PUT .../business-information, POST .../faqs, POST .../websites, POST .../files.
4. Give it a voice with POST .../skills, and rich replies with POST .../ui-skills.
5. Talk to it with POST .../test-messages (Meta's sandbox pipeline, no token billing).
6. Turn it on: PATCH .../settings with rollout: { enabled: true }. Start with ai_audience: ALLOWLISTED_ONLY plus a few numbers on .../allowlist to test live before billing.

Handoff and your inbox

While the agent holds a conversation, Zernio receives it in standby:

• Inbound messages arrive on message.received with metadata.standby: true.
• The agent's replies arrive on message.sent with source: meta_business_agent.

Any message you send takes control back from the agent for that thread. Hand it back with the conversation's thread-control endpoint.

The agent also hands off on its own when it is unsure or the customer asks for a person. It sends the handoff message you set in the settings.

Costs

Meta bills agent messages per token (about 4 to 5 US cents per message) on the Business Agent billable account, separately from Zernio.

Cap spend with PUT .../business-agent/budget (token or turn budgets over rolling windows).

When a cap is reached, the agent finishes its turn and stops replying. It hands the thread to a human until the window rolls over.