WhatsApp Bridge

A lightweight, self-hosted WhatsApp gateway for AI assistants. Built for OpenClaw and similar personal AI agent projects.

Production-tested: This code is extracted from and powers the WhatsApp integration at askjo.ai.

Add to OpenClaw

openclaw plugins install @askjo/wa_meow

Or directly from GitHub:

openclaw plugins install https://github.com/jo-inc/wa_meow

Then configure:

channels:
  wa_meow:
    serverUrl: http://localhost:8090
    accounts:
      main:
        userId: 1
        enabled: true

Release Channels

This repo ships two different artifacts:

• Fly / Docker deploy — runs the Go HTTP bridge from cmd/server/.
• npm / GitHub plugin install — ships the OpenClaw plugin from src/ compiled into dist/, plus the bundled bin/ binaries.

That means:

• Changes under cmd/server/ need a Fly deploy.
• Changes under src/, package.json, or openclaw.plugin.json need a new npm package release.
• If a change touches both surfaces, release both.

---

Connect your AI assistant to WhatsApp in minutes. Send messages, receive events via SSE, and manage multiple sessions with a simple REST API.

Why This Exists

If you're running OpenClaw or building your own AI assistant, you need a way to connect to WhatsApp. This bridge:

• Runs on your hardware - Your messages stay with you
• Simple REST API - No complex protocols to learn
• Real-time events - SSE streaming for instant message delivery
• Multi-user support - One instance handles multiple WhatsApp accounts
• Session persistence - Encrypted backup/restore across restarts
• More stable than Baileys - Built on whatsmeow (Go), which has better memory management and fewer session logout issues than the popular Baileys library

Quick Start

Option 1: Docker (Recommended)

# Build the image locally
git clone https://github.com/jo-inc/wa_meow.git
cd wa_meow
docker build -t wa_meow .

# Run it
docker run -d \
  --name wa_meow \
  -p 8090:8090 \
  -v wa_meow-data:/data/whatsapp \
  wa_meow

Option 2: From Source

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/jo-inc/wa_meow.git
cd wa_meow

# Run (requires Go 1.21+)
./run-server.sh

Connect to WhatsApp

# 1. Create a session
curl -X POST localhost:8090/sessions -d '{"user_id": 1}'

# 2. Get QR code (opens SSE stream)
curl localhost:8090/sessions/qr?user_id=1

# 3. Scan QR with your phone (WhatsApp > Linked Devices > Link a Device)

# 4. You're connected! Send a message:
curl -X POST localhost:8090/messages/send \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"user_id": 1, "chat_jid": "1234567890@s.whatsapp.net", "text": "Hello from my AI!"}'

API Reference

Sessions

Endpoint	Method	Description
/sessions	POST	Create session ({"user_id": 123})
/sessions/qr?user_id=X	GET	SSE stream of QR codes for login
/sessions/status?user_id=X	GET	Connection status
/sessions/save?user_id=X	POST	Persist session (requires encryption key)
/sessions/delete?user_id=X	DELETE	Disconnect and cleanup

Messages

Endpoint	Method	Description
/messages/send	POST	Send text message
/messages/audio	POST	Send audio/voice message
/messages/document	POST	Send document (PDF, etc.)
/messages/react	POST	React to a message with emoji
/messages/typing	POST	Send typing indicator
/chats?user_id=X	GET	List all chats (contacts + groups)
/events?user_id=X	GET	SSE stream of incoming messages
/media/download	POST	Download media from a message

Health

Endpoint	Method	Description
/health	GET	Health check

Message Format

Send a Message

curl -X POST http://localhost:8090/messages/send \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "user_id": 1,
    "chat_jid": "1234567890@s.whatsapp.net",
    "text": "Hello!"
  }'

React to a Message

curl -X POST http://localhost:8090/messages/react \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "user_id": 1,
    "chat_jid": "1234567890@s.whatsapp.net",
    "message_id": "ABC123",
    "emoji": "thumbsup"
  }'

Listen for Incoming Messages

curl -N http://localhost:8090/events?user_id=1

Events are delivered as SSE:

event: message
data: {"type":"message","payload":{"id":"ABC123","chat_jid":"1234567890@s.whatsapp.net","sender_jid":"9876543210@s.whatsapp.net","sender_name":"John","text":"Hey there!","timestamp":1706745600,"is_from_me":false}}

Configuration

Environment Variable	Default	Description
DATA_DIR	/data/whatsapp	SQLite database storage
PORT	8090	HTTP server port
WHATSAPP_SESSION_KEY	-	Base64 AES-256 key for encrypted session backup
JO_BOT_URL	-	Callback URL for session persistence
JO_WHATSAPP_INTERNAL_TOKEN	-	Auth token for session API calls
SENTRY_DSN	-	Sentry DSN for error tracking (optional)

Session Encryption (Optional)

To persist sessions across container restarts or sync between instances:

# Generate a key
openssl rand -base64 32

# Set it as an environment variable
export WHATSAPP_SESSION_KEY="your-generated-key"

Deployment

Fly.io

fly apps create my-wa_meow
fly secrets set WHATSAPP_SESSION_KEY="$(openssl rand -base64 32)"
fly deploy

npm plugin release

npm version patch
npm publish

The package prepare step builds src/ into dist/, so both npm publishes and direct GitHub installs include the compiled plugin files.

Docker Compose

version: '3.8'
services:
  wa_meow:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "8090:8090"
    volumes:
      - wa_meow-data:/data/whatsapp
    environment:
      - WHATSAPP_SESSION_KEY=your-secret-key
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  wa_meow-data:

Architecture

Your AI Assistant
       |
       | REST API (JSON)
       v
+------------------+
| WhatsApp Bridge  |  <-- This project
+------------------+
       |
       | WhatsApp Web Protocol (via whatsmeow)
       v
+------------------+
| WhatsApp Servers |
+------------------+

• One SQLite database per user - Sessions are isolated
• whatsmeow - Battle-tested WhatsApp Web client library
• Server-Sent Events - Real-time message streaming
• AES-256-GCM - Optional session encryption for backup

Development

# Install air for live-reload
go install github.com/air-verse/air@latest

# Run with auto-reload
./run-server.sh

Troubleshooting

QR code not appearing?

• Make sure you're using curl -N to disable buffering
• The QR stream times out after 2 minutes

Session keeps disconnecting?

• WhatsApp may disconnect linked devices after 14 days of phone inactivity
• Keep your phone connected to the internet

Getting rate limited?

• WhatsApp has sending limits. Space out your messages.
• Don't spam or you'll get banned.

Security Notes

• This connects to your personal WhatsApp account
• Your session data is stored locally (or encrypted if WHATSAPP_SESSION_KEY is set)
• Never expose this bridge to the public internet without authentication
• Consider running behind a reverse proxy with auth

Current Limitations

• No group chat support yet - You can list groups and send messages to group JIDs, but group-specific features (mentions, replies, admin actions) are not implemented
• No message history - Only receives messages while connected

Credits

This project is built on whatsmeow by @tulir - a robust, well-maintained Go library that handles all the WhatsApp Web protocol complexity. Without whatsmeow, this bridge wouldn't exist. If you find this project useful, consider starring whatsmeow on GitHub.

Inspired by the OpenClaw community and the growing ecosystem of self-hosted AI assistants.

License

MIT License - See LICENSE for details.