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

# WhatsApp Flows

> Meta's native in-app forms — booking, surveys, lead capture — created, validated, previewed and published from Watx.

A **WhatsApp Flow** is Meta's own product: a small form that opens inside WhatsApp, with real inputs — text fields, dropdowns, date pickers — instead of a back-and-forth conversation. Appointment booking, a survey, a lead form.

<Warning>
  Do not confuse this with **[Flows](/flows/overview)**, the Watx chatbot builder, which also appears in the WhatsApp panel. That one is a graph of nodes that sends ordinary WhatsApp messages. This page is about Meta's native form screens, and they are managed under your WhatsApp Business Account.
</Warning>

**WhatsApp → WhatsApp Flows** lists the flows in your account. It needs WhatsApp [connected](/whatsapp/connect) with a WhatsApp Business Account id; without one the page says so and links to settings.

## Creating one

**New flow** asks for a name and a starting point:

| Template                | What it contains                                               |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Appointment booking** | Name, phone, preferred date and a service dropdown             |
| **Customer survey**     | Satisfaction, a recommendation question and free-text comments |
| **Feedback**            | A star rating plus a free-text message                         |
| **Lead generation**     | Name, email, company and interest                              |
| **Contact us**          | A topic picker with a message field                            |
| **Blank**               | A minimal single screen to build on                            |

Each one is a complete, self-contained Flow JSON that Meta will accept, so you get something working rather than an empty editor.

## Editing

Opening a flow gives you two halves.

**Details** — the name and the categories Meta lists the flow under: `SIGN_UP`, `SIGN_IN`, `APPOINTMENT_BOOKING`, `LEAD_GENERATION`, `CONTACT_US`, `CUSTOMER_SUPPORT`, `SURVEY`, `OTHER`. **Save details** writes them back to Meta.

**Flow JSON** — Meta's own format, edited as text. **Save JSON** sends it to Meta, which validates it and returns any problems; the errors are listed underneath with the line and column they point at. Saving with no errors says so.

**Preview** — Meta's own renderer, refreshable, so you can see the screens as a customer would.

## Status

| Status         | What it means                          |
| -------------- | -------------------------------------- |
| **DRAFT**      | Yours to edit, preview and delete      |
| **PUBLISHED**  | Live. The JSON becomes read-only       |
| **DEPRECATED** | Withdrawn — it can no longer be opened |

The card in the list also shows whether the flow currently has validation errors.

## Publishing, deprecating, deleting

* **Publish** is irreversible. Watx asks for confirmation first, because a published flow cannot be edited or deleted afterwards.
* **Deprecate** withdraws a published flow, after a confirmation. It can no longer be sent or opened.
* **Delete** is offered on drafts only.

Meta can refuse any of these. When it does, its own message is shown rather than a generic failure, because the fix is usually something to change in your Meta account.

## What Watx does not do yet

Watx creates, edits, validates, previews, publishes and deprecates WhatsApp Flows. **Sending one to a customer from Watx is not supported** — there is no flow message in the composer, in a template button, in an automation step or in a flow node.

If what you need is to collect structured answers from a customer today, two things in Watx already do that:

* [Forms and bookings](/forms/overview) — hosted pages you share as a link, with conditional logic, availability and slots.
* [Flows](/flows/overview) — an in-chat question-and-answer sequence that stores what the customer replies.