I previously had this running through Twilio ↔ Zapier ↔ Slack, which worked but added unnecessary complexity and another service to maintain. Now that Zapier's a direct WhatsApp Business Service Provider, I stripped out the middleware and connected straight through.
What it does:
- Inbound: WhatsApp messages trigger the workflow → creates/finds user records in Tables → auto-creates dedicated Slack channels for new contacts → posts messages with full context (timestamp, delivery status)
- Outbound: Slack replies get formatted and sent back through WhatsApp → logs everything to Tables for audit trail
Built in some smart handling too: filters for unsubscribe requests, gracefully handles unsupported message types (stickers, voice notes, etc.), and keeps everything sync'd with proper message threading.
The Zapier Tables handle state management - tracking which WhatsApp number maps to which Slack channel, maintaining opt-out records, and giving me a clean audit log of message delivery status. Took about an afternoon to rebuild what used to be a much more fragile setup. Native integrations win.
The Canvas is publicly viewable here!