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Overview

WhatsApp Team Inbox is designed to be easy to deploy with minimal technical requirements. If you can follow a tutorial and copy environment variables, you can get this running.
No coding required. All setup is configuration-based through environment variables and cloud service dashboards.

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Required Services

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1. WhatsApp Business API Account

Meta WhatsApp Business Platform

Cost: Free to set up, pay-as-you-go for messagesWhat you need:
  • Business phone number (not previously used on WhatsApp)
  • Facebook Business Manager account
  • Business verification (may take 1-3 days)
Pricing:
  • Free tier: 1,000 service conversations/month
  • After free tier: $0.04-0.12 per conversation
1

Create Business Account

Sign up at business.facebook.com
2

Add Phone Number

Add a phone number not used on regular WhatsApp
3

Verify Business

Complete business verification (name, address, documents)
4

Get API Credentials

Get Phone Number ID, Business Account ID, Access Token
Detailed WhatsApp setup guide: WhatsApp Business API Setup

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2. PostgreSQL Database

Database Server

Cost: $5-30/month depending on providerWhat you need:
  • PostgreSQL 14 or higher
  • Connection URL with username/password
Storage needs:
  • Small team (<1,000 conversations/month): 1GB sufficient
  • Medium team (1,000-5,000 conversations/month): 2-5GB
  • Large team (>5,000 conversations/month): 10GB+
Recommended Providers:
ProviderStarting PriceSetup DifficultyRecommendation
Railway$5/month⭐ EasiestBest for beginners
SupabaseFree tier, then $25/month⭐⭐ EasyGood for startups
DigitalOcean$15/month⭐⭐ MediumReliable and affordable
AWS RDS$15/month⭐⭐⭐ ComplexBest for scale
Self-hosted$0⭐⭐⭐⭐ AdvancedIf you have infrastructure
For first-time deployment, we recommend Railway for its simplicity and all-in-one platform.

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3. Hosting Platform

Application Server

Cost: $5-50/month depending on provider and trafficWhat you need:
  • Node.js runtime environment
  • Support for Docker (optional but recommended)
  • HTTPS/SSL certificate (usually included)
Resource needs:
  • Small team: 512MB RAM, 1 vCPU
  • Medium team: 1GB RAM, 1-2 vCPU
  • Large team: 2GB+ RAM, 2+ vCPU
Deployment Options:

Email Notifications

Cost: $0-20/month (most teams use free tier)What you need:
  • SMTP credentials or API key
  • Verified sender domain (optional)
Purpose:
  • New message email notifications
  • Team member invitations
  • Password reset emails
Email Provider Options:
ProviderFree TierPaid PlanSetup Difficulty
Resend100 emails/day$20/month⭐ Easiest
SendGrid100 emails/day$15/month⭐⭐ Easy
AWS SES62,000/month$0.10/1,000⭐⭐⭐ Medium
Mailgun5,000/month (3 months)$35/month⭐⭐ Easy
If you skip email service, you can still use push notifications. Email is optional but recommended for better team coordination.

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Optional Services

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Domain Name

Custom Domain

Cost: $10-15/yearWhat you need:
  • Domain registrar (Namecheap, Google Domains, etc.)
  • DNS configuration access
Purpose:
  • Professional URL (inbox.yourcompany.com)
  • Custom email sender (@yourcompany.com)
  • Better branding
Not required for deployment, but recommended for production use.

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Monitoring & Analytics (Optional)

Application Monitoring

Cost: Free tiers availableOptions:
  • Sentry (error tracking)
  • LogRocket (session replay)
  • Google Analytics (usage analytics)
Purpose:
  • Track errors and bugs
  • Monitor performance
  • Understand usage patterns

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Technical Skills Needed

Skill Level: Beginner to IntermediateYou do NOT need to be a developer. If you can follow step-by-step instructions, you can deploy this.

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What You Need to Know:

How to sign up for cloud services - Creating accounts on Railway, AWS, etc.
How to copy and paste - Most setup is copying environment variables
Basic command line comfort - Running a few terminal commands
How to read documentation - Following deployment guides

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What You DON’T Need to Know:

❌ Programming or coding ❌ Server administration ❌ Database management ❌ DevOps or infrastructure engineering ❌ Advanced networking concepts
If you can use Shopify or WordPress, you can deploy Team Inbox. It’s mostly clicking buttons and copying values.

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Time Investment

1

WhatsApp Business API Setup

Time: 1-2 hours Includes: Account creation, business verification, getting credentials
2

Infrastructure Setup

Time: 30-45 minutes Includes: Database creation, hosting setup, environment variables
3

Application Deployment

Time: 15-30 minutes Includes: Code deployment, initial configuration
4

Testing & Verification

Time: 15-30 minutes Includes: Sending test messages, verifying everything works
Total Time: 2-4 hours for first deploymentSubsequent deployments or updates take ~15 minutes.

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Budget Requirements

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Minimum Monthly Budget

PostgreSQL (Railway):      $5/month
Hosting (Railway):         $5/month
WhatsApp API:              $0-50/month (free tier + light usage)
Email (Resend free tier):  $0/month
───────────────────────────────────
Total:                     $10-60/month

PostgreSQL (Managed):      $15/month
Hosting (Better resources): $20/month
WhatsApp API:              $50-150/month
Email (Resend):            $0-20/month
Domain:                    $1/month (amortized)
───────────────────────────────────
Total:                     $86-206/month

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Enterprise Budget

PostgreSQL (AWS RDS):      $30/month
Hosting (AWS EC2 2x):      $60/month
WhatsApp API:              $200-500/month
Email (AWS SES):           $5/month
Domain + SSL:              $2/month
Monitoring (Sentry):       $26/month
───────────────────────────────────
Total:                     $323-623/month
Even the enterprise setup costs 70-80% less than traditional SaaS platforms

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Before You Start Checklist

A phone number that has never been used on WhatsApp (personal or business). Can be a landline or mobile number.
Or I’m willing to create one. Required for WhatsApp Business API access.
For cloud service payments. Most services have free tiers but require payment method on file.
To complete the initial setup in one sitting. Can pause and resume, but continuous time is easier.
Comfortable with step-by-step guides, copying values, running terminal commands.

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What Happens After Deployment?

Once deployed, your ongoing responsibilities are minimal:

Monthly Monitoring

Check error logs, message volume, system performance (~30 min/month)

User Management

Add/remove team members as needed (5 min per change)

Updates

Optional: Update to new versions for features/fixes (~1 hour/quarter)

Backups

Most providers handle automatically. Verify backups work (~15 min/month)
Ongoing time investment: ~1-2 hours per month for monitoring and maintenance

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Need Help?

Community Support

Free help from community members

Professional Deployment

We’ll deploy it for you ($200-500)

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Ready to Deploy?

30-Minute Deployment Guide

Follow our step-by-step guide to get Team Inbox running