# POST /v1/convai/whatsapp/outbound-message (ElevenLabs API)
Base URL: https://api.elevenlabs.io
Auth: xi-api-key: <ELEVENLABS_API_KEY>
Last verified: 2026-09-03

> Send An Outbound Message Via Whatsapp

## Critical Gotchas
* Authentication uses the non-standard `xi-api-key` header, not `Authorization: Bearer`. Sending a Bearer token returns HTTP 401.
* Text-to-speech responses are raw binary audio, not JSON. Write the body to a file (`--output speech.mp3`) rather than parsing it.

## cURL
curl -X POST 'https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/convai/whatsapp/outbound-message' \
  -H "xi-api-key: $ELEVENLABS_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"whatsapp_phone_number_id":"string","whatsapp_user_id":"string"}'

## Parameters
| Name | In | Type | Required | Description |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| whatsapp_phone_number_id | body | string | Yes | Request body field whatsapp_phone_number_id. |
| whatsapp_user_id | body | string | Yes | Request body field whatsapp_user_id. |
| template_name | body | string | Yes | Request body field template_name. |
| template_language_code | body | string | Yes | Request body field template_language_code. |

## Response (200 OK)
{"conversation_id":"string"}

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