Search public WhatsApp Channels

GEThttps://api.wapito.com/v1/newsletters/find

Send a channel token on every request: Authorization: Bearer wpt_YOUR_TOKEN

Last reviewed September 17, 2026

Searches the public Channel directory by text, or lists the most viewed Channels for a country when no query is given. Results carry enough detail to show a picker in your own interface. Searching does not follow anything; pass an id from the results to the subscribe endpoint when the user chooses one.

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Required	Description	Example
`q`	query	`string`	Optional	Free-text search over Channel names and descriptions.	`release notes`
`country`	query	`string`	Optional	ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code to rank popular Channels for.	`GB`
`count`	query	`integer`	Optional	Page size, 1-500. Defaults to 100.1–500 · default 100	`50`

Responses

200

Matching public Channels.

Fields of the 200 response
Field	Type	Required	Description
`count`	`integer`	Required	Number of items in this page.
`newsletters`	`array of object`	Required	Page of results.
`created_at`	`string \| null`	Required	ISO 8601 creation timestamp. The engines do not expose it yet, so it is `null` today.date-time
`description`	`string \| null`	Required	Channel description.
`id`	`string`	Required	Channel id ending in `@newsletter`.
`invite_code`	`string \| null`	Required	Public invite code, the tail of a `whatsapp.com/channel/…` link.
`invite_link`	`string \| null`	Required	The full `https://whatsapp.com/channel/<invite_code>` link, ready to share.uri
`name`	`string`	Required	Channel name.
`picture`	`string \| null`	Required	Channel picture URL.
`role`	`string`	Required	Relationship of this channel to the account. Directory search results carry no relationship and are reported as `guest`.one of owner, admin, subscriber, guest
`subscribers_count`	`integer \| null`	Required	Follower count when WhatsApp exposes it.
`verified`	`boolean`	Required	Whether WhatsApp verified the channel.
`offset`	`integer`	Required	Offset this page started at.
`total`	`integer \| null`	Required	Total matches when the engine can count them, otherwise `null`.

{
  "count": 1,
  "newsletters": [
    {
      "created_at": "2026-06-11T12:00:00.000Z",
      "description": "Every shipped change, once a week.",
      "id": "120363099887766554@newsletter",
      "invite_code": "0029VaAbCdEfGhIjKlMnOp",
      "invite_link": "https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAbCdEfGhIjKlMnOp",
      "name": "Acme Release Notes",
      "picture": "https://pps.whatsapp.net/v/t61.24694-24/newsletter_n.jpg",
      "role": "guest",
      "subscribers_count": 1842,
      "verified": false
    }
  ],
  "offset": 0,
  "total": 1
}

400

The request body or query string is malformed, or the recipient cannot be parsed into a WhatsApp id.

Show 2 example bodies

invalid_recipient — `to` is not a dialable number or valid WhatsApp id

{
  "error": {
    "code": "invalid_recipient",
    "details": {
      "to": "+1555"
    },
    "message": "The recipient is not a valid WhatsApp address.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

invalid_request — schema validation failed

{
  "error": {
    "code": "invalid_request",
    "details": {
      "issues": [
        {
          "message": "Array must contain at least 2 element(s)",
          "path": "body.options"
        }
      ]
    },
    "message": "The request payload failed validation.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

401

The channel token is missing, malformed, revoked or belongs to a deleted channel.

Show 2 example bodies

token_revoked — the token was rotated in the dashboard

{
  "error": {
    "code": "token_revoked",
    "message": "This channel token has been revoked.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

unauthorized — no or unusable Bearer token

{
  "error": {
    "code": "unauthorized",
    "message": "Missing or invalid channel token.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

403

The token is valid but the channel may not perform this action right now.

Show 2 example bodies

channel_locked — billing lapsed or the channel was locked by an operator

{
  "error": {
    "code": "channel_locked",
    "details": {
      "reason": "plan_required"
    },
    "message": "This channel is locked.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

forbidden — the channel does not own the target object

{
  "error": {
    "code": "forbidden",
    "message": "You are not allowed to perform this action.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

409

The channel is in the wrong state for this action, or the account type does not support it.

Show 3 example bodies

business_account_required — labels need WhatsApp Business

{
  "error": {
    "code": "business_account_required",
    "message": "This action requires a WhatsApp Business account.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

channel_not_connected — link the number first

{
  "error": {
    "code": "channel_not_connected",
    "details": {
      "status": "qr"
    },
    "message": "The channel is not connected.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

channel_not_in_qr_state — no QR available while the session boots

{
  "error": {
    "code": "channel_not_in_qr_state",
    "details": {
      "status": "created"
    },
    "message": "The channel is not waiting for a QR scan.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

429

A rate limit, a plan quota or one of the anti-ban guards stopped the request. Every one of these is safe to retry later; read `Retry-After` when present.

Show 5 example bodies

cold_send_limit — too many first messages to new recipients this hour

{
  "error": {
    "code": "cold_send_limit",
    "details": {
      "resets_at": "2026-09-15T09:00:00.000Z",
      "window_cap": 20
    },
    "message": "The hourly limit for messages to new recipients is reached.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

quota_exceeded — plan quota for the day or month

{
  "error": {
    "code": "quota_exceeded",
    "details": {
      "quota": "sent",
      "resets_at": "2026-09-16T00:00:00.000Z",
      "used": 150
    },
    "message": "The plan quota for this resource is exhausted.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

rate_limited — per-minute API rate limit

{
  "error": {
    "code": "rate_limited",
    "details": {
      "retry_after": 12
    },
    "message": "Too many requests.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

send_rate_limited — the send queue did not drain within 20 s

{
  "error": {
    "code": "send_rate_limited",
    "details": {
      "retry_after": 5
    },
    "message": "The send queue for this channel is saturated.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

warmup_limit — the warm-up ladder cap for today

{
  "error": {
    "code": "warmup_limit",
    "details": {
      "cap": 200,
      "day": 2
    },
    "message": "The warm-up limit for this channel is reached.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

500

Something went wrong inside Wapito. Quote `request_id` when reporting it.

Show the example body

internal_error — unexpected failure

{
  "error": {
    "code": "internal_error",
    "message": "Something went wrong on our side.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

502

The engine answered with an error Wapito could not translate into a more specific code.

Show the example body

engine_error — unexpected engine failure

{
  "error": {
    "code": "engine_error",
    "details": {
      "engine": "gows",
      "status": 500
    },
    "message": "The WhatsApp engine returned an error.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

503

The engine session is not reachable. Retry with backoff.

Show the example body

engine_unavailable — engine down or restarting

{
  "error": {
    "code": "engine_unavailable",
    "details": {
      "engine": "gows"
    },
    "message": "The WhatsApp engine is unavailable.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

504

The engine did not answer before the upstream timeout.

Show the example body

engine_timeout — no answer within the deadline

{
  "error": {
    "code": "engine_timeout",
    "details": {
      "timeout_ms": 20000
    },
    "message": "The WhatsApp engine did not respond in time.",
    "request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
  }
}

Errors

Code examples

import requests

url = "https://api.wapito.com/v1/newsletters/find"

querystring = {"q":"release notes","country":"GB","count":"50"}

headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer wpt_YOUR_TOKEN"}

response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

Used in

Follow Channels

Other endpoints in this group

Glossary

Newsletter

Reference

Try it on your own number

Create a channel, link a WhatsApp number by QR or pairing code, and call the API in a couple of minutes. The Sandbox plan is free and needs no card.

Create a free channel Read the docs

Parameters

Responses

200

400

401

403

409

429

500

502

503

504

Errors

Code examples

Used in

Related

Other endpoints in this group

Glossary

Reference

Try it on your own number