diff --git a/backend/app/Controllers/WhatsAppController.php b/backend/app/Controllers/WhatsAppController.php
index 2690229..ca78f51 100644
--- a/backend/app/Controllers/WhatsAppController.php
+++ b/backend/app/Controllers/WhatsAppController.php
@@ -174,10 +174,29 @@ class WhatsAppController extends BaseController
             ]);
             
             // 3. Placeholder for Phase 5 Gemini AI auto-reply
-            $this->triggerAutoReply($session, $msgData);
-            
-            $response->json(['status' => 'success', 'message' => 'Incoming message logged']);
-            return;
+            if (function_exists('fastcgi_finish_request')) {
+                $response->status(200);
+                $response->setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json; charset=utf-8');
+                $allowedOrigin = getenv('ALLOWED_ORIGIN') ?: '*';
+                $response->setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', $allowedOrigin);
+                $response->setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Methods', 'GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS');
+                $response->setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Headers', 'Content-Type, Authorization, X-Requested-With');
+                $response->sendHeaders();
+                http_response_code(200);
+                echo json_encode([
+                    'status' => 'success',
+                    'message' => 'Incoming message logged and auto-reply queued'
+                ], JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE);
+                fastcgi_finish_request();
+                
+                $this->triggerAutoReply($session, $msgData);
+                exit;
+            } else {
+                // Fallback for environment without PHP-FPM
+                $this->triggerAutoReply($session, $msgData);
+                $response->json(['status' => 'success', 'message' => 'Incoming message logged']);
+                return;
+            }
         }
 
         // Handle connection state sync