> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.wsapi.chat/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Ad Referral

> Ad attribution fields on messages that start from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad

When a contact opens a chat by clicking a **Click-to-WhatsApp ad** on Facebook or Instagram, their first message carries the ad it came from. WSAPI exposes that as an `adReferral` object inside the `message` event.

## What arrives

```json theme={null}
{
  "eventType": "message",
  "eventData": {
    "id": "3EB0C767D82B2D3F1B1A",
    "chatId": "5491100000000@s.whatsapp.net",
    "sender": {
      "id": "5491100000000@s.whatsapp.net",
      "phone": "5491100000000",
      "lid": "102030405060708",
      "isMe": false
    },
    "type": "text",
    "text": "Hi, I saw your ad — is it still available?",
    "adReferral": {
      "ctwaClid": "ARAkLkA8rmlFeiCktEJQ7QTwRiyYHAFDLMNDBH0CD3qpjd0HR4i",
      "sourceType": "ad",
      "sourceId": "120210000000000000",
      "sourceUrl": "https://fb.me/1aBcDeFgH",
      "sourceApp": "facebook",
      "title": "Summer sale — 2x1",
      "body": "Message us for a quote",
      "mediaType": "image",
      "thumbnailUrl": "https://scontent.example/ad-thumb.jpg",
      "conversionSource": "ctwa_ad",
      "showAdAttribution": true
    }
  }
}
```

| Field               | Description                                                                      |
| ------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `ctwaClid`          | Click identifier of the ad click, used by Meta's Conversions API for attribution |
| `sourceType`        | What the contact clicked — typically `ad` or `post`                              |
| `sourceId`          | Identifier of the ad or post                                                     |
| `sourceUrl`         | URL of the ad or post                                                            |
| `sourceApp`         | Originating Meta app — `facebook` or `instagram`                                 |
| `title`             | Headline of the ad, as shown in the chat                                         |
| `body`              | Body text of the ad, as shown in the chat                                        |
| `mediaType`         | Media type of the ad creative — `image` or `video`                               |
| `thumbnailUrl`      | URL of the ad creative thumbnail                                                 |
| `conversionSource`  | Entry point reported by WhatsApp, e.g. `ctwa_ad`                                 |
| `showAdAttribution` | Whether WhatsApp shows the ad attribution banner on the message                  |

## How it behaves

* **Only the first message carries `ctwaClid`.** Later messages from the same contact do not. WSAPI does not store message payloads, so it cannot be recovered afterwards — persist it when it arrives.
* **Fields are passed through from WhatsApp unchanged, and any of them may be absent.** What arrives depends on the ad format and on the contact's WhatsApp client. Treat every field as optional.
* **Any message type can carry it.** If the contact's first message is an image or a document rather than text, `adReferral` is projected the same way.
* **It is only present when there is ad attribution.** Businesses send rich link-preview cards over the same underlying WhatsApp field, and those do not produce an `adReferral`.
* **It arrives inside the `message` event**, so `message` has to be allowed in your [event filters](/basics/event-filtering).

<Note>
  What you do with `ctwaClid` — reporting conversions to Meta's Conversions API, for example — happens on your side. See [Meta's Conversions API documentation](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/marketing-api/conversions-api).
</Note>