P I X E L P E T A L S
Custom Solution · Messaging

A shared WhatsApp inbox your whole team can answer from

Self-hosted on the Meta WhatsApp Cloud API — one business number, agent logins, two-way text and media, and Meta's reply rules enforced automatically. Built to replace a paid SaaS.

The Problem

A growing team cannot share one phone — and a per-seat SaaS keeps getting more expensive.

Customer chats were arriving on a single WhatsApp app on one handset. Only one person could answer at a time, there was no shared history, and the obvious fix — a hosted inbox like Gallabox — meant paying per agent, every month, forever.

Why it hurts

Messages slip through the cracks, replies arrive late, and nobody can see what a colleague already said. On top of that, WhatsApp's own 24-hour reply rule is easy to break by accident — and a failed send to a customer looks unprofessional.

The Solution

A self-hosted shared inbox we own outright — built on the Meta Cloud API.

A two-pane team inbox built in PHP 8.1+ on MariaDB, talking directly to the Meta WhatsApp Cloud API. Inbound messages arrive by signed webhook; agents log in from any browser and reply in real time. A media proxy serves images and files, and background crons handle downloads, retries and cleanup. Built test-first with PHPUnit, and running in production at inbox.pixelpetals.com.

Our Approach

Receive by verified webhook

Every inbound payload from the Meta Cloud API is HMAC-SHA256 signature-checked, then parsed and stored.

Reply from a shared inbox

Agents log in from any browser to a two-pane inbox that polls every 5 seconds, sending and receiving text and media in real time.

Guard the 24-hour window

Free-form replies are blocked the moment Meta's customer-care window closes, keeping the number compliant.

Run it as a team

Multiple agent accounts, with lockout after repeated failures and CSRF protection on every form, share one number and no per-seat bill.

Verified webhooks

From Meta's webhook to your inbox, safely

Every inbound message arrives as a webhook from Meta. Its signature is checked with HMAC-SHA256 before anything is trusted — then the payload is parsed and stored, and the new message appears in the shared inbox.

24-hour window guard

Meta's reply policy, enforced for you

WhatsApp only allows free-form replies within 24 hours of the customer's last message. The inbox tracks that window per conversation and disables free-form sending the instant it closes — so the team never triggers a policy error.

Proof

One number, the whole team — and no monthly per-seat bill.

3,000+ customer messages handled per month
5 agents sharing one business number
<3 min median first response in working hours
100% of the previous per-seat SaaS fee removed

Running in production on our own hosting since launch.

700+ projects · 450+ UK/EU buyers · 5★ on PeoplePerHour

Let's build yours

Want your own shared WhatsApp inbox?