WhatsApp error 131047: Re-engagement message

Code 131047 is the most common WhatsApp Cloud API error in production, and it is not a malfunction: it is the platform's central rule being enforced. A business may send free-form (non-template) messages only inside a customer service window that opens when the customer messages you and closes 24 hours after their most recent message. Once it closes, the only permitted outbound message is a pre-approved template. Attempting anything else produces 131047.

The window resets on every inbound message, not just the first, so an active back-and-forth stays open indefinitely. It closes quietly when the customer goes silent. Meta now also opens the window when a user calls the business. Note that the error is often reported asynchronously in a statuses webhook as failed, because the send was accepted and then refused at delivery.

Nothing about the token, recipient, or content format is wrong. The timing is.

Where the error appears depends on when the check runs. Most 131047 responses come back synchronously with HTTP 400, but a share arrive later in a statuses webhook with status: "failed", so a dispatcher that only inspects the HTTP response will undercount window failures; if webhook events are not reaching you at all, work through the webhook debugging guide first. One adjacent gotcha: a conversation that starts from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page call-to-action button opens a 72-hour free entry point conversation, but that affects billing, not permissions - free-form eligibility is still measured from the customer's last message, so 131047 can fire in the middle of a free entry point conversation. If you send through a BSP, the code may be renamed: Twilio reports this situation as its error 63016 ("Outside messaging window"), while API-passthrough providers such as 360dialog return Meta's 131047 unchanged.

{
  "error": {
    "message": "(#131047) Re-engagement message",
    "type": "OAuthException",
    "code": 131047,
    "error_data": {
      "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
      "details": "Message failed to send because more than 24 hours have passed since the customer last replied to this number."
    },
    "fbtrace_id": "A2tNqXmKeLsPbRv"
  }
}

Store the last inbound timestamp per contact and check it before every free-form send, falling back to a template automatically when the window is closed. Design any workflow that reaches people at unpredictable times, such as reminders and shipping updates, on templates from day one; retrofitting is slow because templates need approval. Do not try to keep windows open with filler messages. The window rules, including the free entry point and the call-opened window, are tabulated in the WhatsApp limits reference, and the symptom-first walkthrough is in the WhatsApp error-code guide.