Sends a free-form text message to a customer whose 24-hour service window has closed, without a pre-approved template.

Before you call

• Direct Send must be provisioned and switched on for the sending WhatsApp number.
• to is required: the customer's phone number with country code. Direct Send is 1:1 only, so groupId is rejected.
• from is optional. If omitted, your organisation's default connected WhatsApp number is used.
• content.text is required and cannot be blank.

How it works

• If the customer's 24-hour window is still open, the message is sent as an ordinary session message instead.
• Returns 422 DIRECT_SEND_NOT_ELIGIBLE when Direct Send is not provisioned, switched off, or paused by Meta for the number.
• Fails if from is not one of your WhatsApp numbers or is disconnected.
• The response contains recipient, status and messageId. Use the messageId with Get Message Status.

Rate limit

• 500 requests per hour.