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Overview

WhatsApp Catalog lets your AI agent send product cards directly inside WhatsApp conversations. When a customer asks to see products, instead of plain text links they receive native WhatsApp product cards they can browse, add to a cart, and order from — all without leaving the chat. This feature connects your Shopify product catalog to WhatsApp through Meta’s commerce infrastructure. Products sync from Shopify to a Meta catalog, which WhatsApp then uses to render native product cards.
Prerequisites:

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Setup

The setup involves six parts: installing Meta’s Facebook & Instagram app on Shopify, creating a Meta catalog, publishing your products, assigning Chatbase as a partner, connecting the catalog in WhatsApp Manager, and confirming the connection in Chatbase.

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Part 1: Install the Facebook & Instagram app on Shopify

1

Open the Shopify App Store

Go to the Facebook & Instagram app on the Shopify App Store and click Install.
Facebook & Instagram app on the Shopify App Store
2

Approve permissions

Review the permissions the app needs (customer data, staff data, store data) and click Install.
Install app permissions dialog
3

Get started

Once installed, the app opens in your Shopify admin. Click Get started.
Facebook & Instagram Get started page

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Part 2: Connect your Meta account and create a catalog

1

Connect your account

Connect your Facebook profile and choose the business portfolio that owns your products. If you don’t have one, click Create new.
Connect business portfolio
2

Create a catalog

Expand the Catalog section and click Create catalog. This creates a Meta product catalog that your Shopify products will sync to.
Create catalog in Meta
3

Choose data sharing preference

Expand Data sharing and choose your preferred level (Conservative, Enhanced, or Maximum). This controls how customer activity data is shared with Meta. Click Save.
Data sharing preference dialog
4

Submit for review

Once all sections show a green checkmark (Facebook profile, Business portfolio, Catalog, Data sharing, Terms and conditions), click Submit for review.
All sections complete, submit for review
5

Wait for setup to finalize

The channel setup takes several minutes. Do not refresh the page. Once it finishes, the Overview tab appears.
Finalizing channel setup progress bar

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Part 3: Publish your products to the Meta catalog

1

Click Publish products

On the Facebook & Instagram Overview page, find the Product Status card and click Publish products. This opens the Shopify Products page.
Product Status card with Publish products button
2

Select all products

On the Products page, click the checkbox in the header row, then click Select all results to select every product in your store.
Select all results in Shopify Products
3

Include in sales channels

Click the … menu, then Include in sales channels. In the dialog that appears, check Facebook & Instagram and click Include products.
Include in sales channels menu option
Select Facebook & Instagram channel
4

Verify products are syncing

Go back to the Facebook & Instagram app in Shopify. Expand Connected Product Catalog to see your catalog details and confirm products are syncing.
Connected Product Catalog section
You can also verify in Meta Commerce Manager by navigating to your catalog’s Data sources section. The product count should match your Shopify store.
Commerce Manager showing synced products
Products showing 0 in Commerce Manager? The initial sync can take a few minutes. If products still don’t appear after waiting, go back to Shopify Products, select all products, click … > Add tags, add any tag (e.g. sync-fix), and save. Adding or removing a tag triggers Shopify to re-push the products to Meta. You can remove the tag afterwards.
Commerce Manager showing 0 products
Add tag dialog to trigger sync

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Part 4: Assign Chatbase as a partner

Chatbase needs partner access to your Meta catalog to serve products through WhatsApp.
1

Open Meta Business Settings

Go to Meta Business Settings and navigate to Data sources > Catalogues in the left sidebar. Select your Shopify Product Catalog.
Meta Business Settings Catalogues page
2

Assign Chatbase as a partner

Click Assign partner, choose Business ID, and enter Chatbase’s Business ID:
Give Partial access and confirm.
Assign partner dialog with Business ID option

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Part 5: Confirm the connection in Chatbase

1

Open the Show Products action

In your Chatbase dashboard, go to Build > Actions and open the Shopify get products action. Scroll down to the WhatsApp Catalog section. You’ll see the setup steps listed for each WhatsApp Business Account (WABA). Click Check now or wait for it to refresh automatically.
Chatbase WhatsApp Catalog section with setup steps

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Part 6: Connect the catalog in WhatsApp Manager

1

Open WhatsApp Manager

Once the partner assignment is detected, Chatbase shows a Connect in WhatsApp Manager button next to your WhatsApp number. Click it to open WhatsApp Manager.
Chatbase showing Connect in WhatsApp Manager button
2

Go to Catalogue

In WhatsApp Manager, navigate to Account tools > Catalogue in the left sidebar. Make sure you are viewing the correct WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) in the top-right dropdown. Click Choose a Catalogue.
WhatsApp Manager Catalogue page
3

Select and connect your catalog

In the Connect a catalogue dialog, search for your Shopify Product Catalog, select it, and click Connect Catalogue.
Connect a catalogue dialog with catalog selected
4

Catalogue connected

You’ll see a confirmation toast: Catalogue successfully connected. The page now shows your catalog details and options for showing the catalogue icon in the chat header and the “Add to basket” button.
Catalogue successfully connected in WhatsApp Manager

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Part 7: Wait for Meta review

Return to the Shopify get products action in Chatbase. The WhatsApp Catalog section now shows In review for your WhatsApp number. Meta reviews the products that were pushed from Shopify — this is part of Meta’s standard review process and may take some time.
Chatbase showing catalog In review status
Once Meta approves the catalog, the status changes to Connected. Your AI agent will now send native WhatsApp product cards with cart support when the Show Products action is triggered.
Chatbase showing catalog Connected status
Test the integration by opening a WhatsApp conversation with your agent and asking to see products. The agent should respond with native product cards that customers can browse and add to a cart.

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How it works

Once connected, the Retrieve and display products action automatically detects the WhatsApp channel and sends products as native WhatsApp catalog cards instead of plain text. Customers can:
  • Browse product cards with images, titles, and prices
  • Add items to a WhatsApp cart
  • Place an order directly from the cart
Product data stays in sync with your Shopify store through the Meta catalog. Changes in Shopify (price updates, new products, stock changes) sync to Meta automatically, though it may take a few minutes.

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Troubleshooting

The initial sync from Shopify to Meta can take several minutes. If products still show 0 after waiting, go to Shopify Admin > Products, select all products, and use … > Add tags to add a temporary tag (e.g. sync-fix). This triggers Shopify to re-push the product data. You can remove the tag afterwards.
Make sure you assigned Chatbase as a partner (Business ID 918723022608702) with Partial access in Meta Business Settings > Catalogues. Also verify you are viewing the correct WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) in the WhatsApp Manager dropdown.
Meta reviews catalog products before they can be served on WhatsApp. This is a standard Meta review process and is outside of Chatbase’s control. Review times vary. Ensure your products comply with Meta’s commerce policies.
After assigning the partner in Meta Business Settings, return to the Shopify get products action in Chatbase and click Check now to refresh the status. It may take a moment for Meta to propagate the partner assignment.

Retrieve and display products

Configure the Show Products action that powers WhatsApp Catalog.

WhatsApp integration

Set up your WhatsApp channel connection.

Shopify integration

Connect your Shopify store to Chatbase.

Meta Catalogs documentation

Official Meta documentation on WhatsApp catalogs.