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Contacts

/contacts

A contact is the person who receives messages. Contacts are linked to subjects through /links. In the Standard lens a contact is, for example, “Hawa Kollie”.

GET/contactsList · ?q ?phone_e164 ?external_refPOST/contactsCreateGET/contacts/{contact_id}ReadPATCH/contacts/{contact_id}Update · attributes replaced wholeshown →POST/contacts/{contact_id}/deactivateDeactivate · no delete

PATCHUpdate a contact

Requires contacts:write. Send only what changes — except attributes, which is replaced whole. A body that changes nothing is refused. An address or a number is taken away by sending “”; null, or leaving the key out, leaves it alone. Taking the last number away is only allowed where the instance takes contacts with no phone number, and leaves somebody who needs an address, a reference, no WhatsApp number and email as their channel.

Path parameters
contact_iduuid · required
The contact id.
Body parameters
namestring · optional
phone_e164string · optional · E.164
Changing the number moves future messages; messages already sent keep the number they went to. “” takes the number away, where the instance takes contacts with no phone number; null, or leaving it out, changes nothing.
wa_phone_e164string · optional · E.164
Only when WhatsApp is on a different number. Left out, WhatsApp goes to phone_e164. It goes beside a phone number and never in place of one, so a contact with no phone number cannot have one. “” takes it away.
emailstring · optional
Lower-cased, and two contacts may share one. Beside a phone number it is an extra address; with no phone number it is the one way to reach them, and required. “” takes it away. Used only when the instance has connected a Gmail account and switched email on.
external_refstring · optional · max 200
Changed here, never emptied: a reference nobody can look up would find nobody. Blank leaves the one on file alone.
channel_prefsms | whatsapp | email · optional
email needs an email address on the contact, and is refused with 400 without one. So is taking the address away from a contact who prefers email: change the preference first, or in the same call. A contact with no phone number can only be reached by email, and sms or whatsapp is refused with 400.
languagestring · optional
Picks the wording variant.
attributesobject · optionalVaries by pack
Checked against the instance's pack: its contact_schema. Choose a pack to see the keys. PATCH replaces the whole object; it does not merge.
The Standard lens has no pack behind it, so there are no keys to list.
Returns

200 with the updated contact. Status is not set here; use deactivate. The rules are the ones on create, judged against the record as it will be and refused in the same sentences. 409 if the number or the reference you are moving onto this record already belongs to someone else: find them with ?phone_e164 or ?external_ref= and update that record instead.

Response body

One contact: the same fields in every pack. Press Response on the sample to see one whole.

FieldTypeDescription
iduuid
tenant_iduuidThe instance.
external_refstring | nullYour own id, as you sent it. It is the only exact key a contact with no phone number has.
namestring
roleaudience | staffSet when the contact is made and never changed.
phone_e164string | nullNormalised to E.164, whatever shape it arrived in. null where the instance takes contacts with no phone number: then the email is the address and external_ref is the key.
wa_phone_e164string | nullnull means WhatsApp goes to phone_e164, where there is one. It goes beside a phone number and never in place of one, so a contact with no phone number has no WhatsApp number either.
emailstring | nullLower-cased. Not unique: two people may share one. It is the one way to reach a contact with no phone number.
channel_prefsms | whatsapp | emailUsed where a send follows preferences. email means the email goes in place of the phone message, unless the instance keeps the phone for that kind of notice. With no phone number there is nothing else, so a contact without one is always email.
wa_reachableboolean | nullLearned, not set: null is untried, false is a send that came back unreachable, true is one that landed.
sms_reachableboolean | nullThe same, for SMS.
last_inbound_atdatetime | nullWhen this contact last wrote in. Anchors WhatsApp's 24-hour reply window.
wa_opt_out_atdatetime | nullWhen this contact wrote STOP on WhatsApp. WhatsApp is skipped from then on; SMS is not. START clears it.
languagestring
attributesobjectShaped by the instance's pack's contact_schema.Varies by pack
statusactive | inactive | blocked | opt_outOnly active contacts are ever messaged.
created_atdatetime
updated_atdatetime

On failure the body is { error, code } instead.

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