> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.pilotstatus.com.br/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Send a WhatsApp Flow Without a Template

> Pick the Flow at send time instead of baking it into an approved template. Requires the 24-hour window — and Meta answers 200 and silently discards the message when it is closed, which is why we refuse instead.

A template's FLOW button is fixed: the Flow is chosen when the template is created, and changing it means editing the template and waiting for review again.

A **dynamic Flow** picks the Flow in the send call itself. Same customer experience, no template, no approval.

```json theme={null}
POST /v1/messages/send

{
  "destinationNumber": "+5511999999999",
  "text": "Please answer our survey:",
  "flow": {
    "flowId": "2038526810137974",
    "cta": "Open",
    "action": "navigate",
    "screen": "WELCOME",
    "data": { "name": "Ana" },
    "mode": "published"
  }
}
```

| Field    | Required | What it does                                                              |
| -------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `flowId` | Yes      | The Flow id **on Meta**, not the Pilot Status row id                      |
| `cta`    | Yes      | Label on the button that opens the Flow, up to 30 characters              |
| `action` | No       | `navigate` (default) opens a screen; `data_exchange` calls your endpoint  |
| `screen` | No       | Entry screen. Leave it out and we resolve the Flow's first screen for you |
| `data`   | No       | Initial data for the first screen                                         |
| `mode`   | No       | `published` (default) or `draft`                                          |

`text` is required — the Flow is a button, not the whole message. The `flow` block cannot be combined with `templateId`, `list`, `carousel`, `buttons`, `header`, or a direct media send.

## The 24-hour window is not optional

This is the part you cannot see, and the reason we refuse the send instead of trying it.

We measured this on 9 September 2026 against three versions of the Graph API — v22.0, v25.0 and v26.0 — with real numbers and real handsets. **Outside the 24-hour window, Meta answers `HTTP 200` with a `wamid` and silently discards the message.** No error. No failure status. Nothing in any log. Eight sends, four delivered, `200` on all eight.

So if we let it through, your message would vanish and neither you nor we would ever know. Instead you get:

```json theme={null}
{
  "code": "FLOW_WINDOW_CLOSED",
  "error": "The 24h window with this contact is closed…"
}
```

To reopen the conversation, send a **template**. Templates do not depend on the window — which is exactly why a FLOW button inside a template is still the way to start a conversation.

## Errors

| Code                        | HTTP | When                                                                                  |
| --------------------------- | ---- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `FLOW_REQUIRES_META_NUMBER` | 422  | The number is not a Meta (Cloud API) number. Unofficial providers have no Flows       |
| `FLOW_WINDOW_CLOSED`        | 422  | The 24-hour window is closed — see above                                              |
| `FLOW_NOT_SENDABLE`         | 422  | The Flow does not exist in your account, belongs to another WABA, or is not published |
| `FLOW_TOKEN_NOT_ACCEPTED`   | 422  | You sent `flow_token` in the body. We generate one per message                        |

`FLOW_NOT_SENDABLE` returns one message for all three causes on purpose. Telling you "it exists, but it belongs to another account" would confirm that an id you do not own is real.

## Getting the answers back

When someone submits the Flow, the answers arrive on the `flow.response_received` webhook event and in `GET /v1/flows/{id}/responses`, correlated with the send that produced them.

You do not have to do anything for that correlation to work. The token that links the two is generated per message and stored when the message goes out — which is also why `flow_token` in the request body is refused. A token chosen by the caller would let one account claim another account's answers.

<Note>
  Subscribing to `flow.response_received` is a separate step. See [Flow responses](/guides/flow-responses).
</Note>

## Two things worth knowing before you test

**A Cloud API number does not receive Flows.** Sending to another Meta number — even with the window open — does not deliver, and Meta still answers `200`. Test with an ordinary phone.

**`mode: "draft"` works.** You can try a Flow before publishing it. Remember the message reaches a real person.

## Template button or dynamic Flow?

|                          | Template with FLOW button    | Dynamic `flow`   |
| ------------------------ | ---------------------------- | ---------------- |
| Flow is chosen           | When the template is created | **At send time** |
| 24-hour window           | Not needed                   | **Required**     |
| Goes through review      | Yes                          | No               |
| Can start a conversation | **Yes**                      | No               |