whatsmeow-node

TypeScript bindings for the Go library go.mau.fi/whatsmeow, via a minimal c-shared bridge loaded with koffi.

You get a type-safe Node/TypeScript API without fragile native addons. The Go bridge is compiled once into a shared library (DLL/.dylib/.so) and loaded at runtime.

Features

• Typed API: Container, Device, Client, event stream, message send helpers
• QR login flow and phone pairing-code flow
• Media upload and download-by-path
• Presence, group invite link, and many client calls via a generic dispatcher
• Device management: first/new device, list all devices, get by JID
• Optional logging levels configured at runtime (database/client, with or without color)

Requirements

• Go 1.25+
• Node.js 18+ (tested on Node 22 with koffi)
• CGO toolchain for your OS (needed by github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3)
  • Windows: MSYS2/MinGW GCC
  • macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools
  • Linux: GCC + libc dev headers

Install & Build

npm install
npm run build

This will produce:

• build/whatsmeow.dll (or .dylib/.so) from the Go bridge
• dist/ with compiled JavaScript and type declarations

Note: The repo vendors protobuf-generated JS/TS under proto/. The module src/protos.ts re-exports them for convenience and src/index.ts re-exports proto as well.

Prebuilt binaries (recommended for npm consumers)

This package can ship without native build tools by downloading a prebuilt native library during npm install.

• On install, the postinstall script will:
  1. Try to download a release asset from GitHub based on your platform triplet.
  2. If not found, try copying from the local prebuilt/<triplet>/ folder (if included in the package tarball).
  3. If still not found and WHATS_BUILD_FROM_SOURCE=true, it will attempt a local build with Go (npm run build:go).

Asset naming (GitHub Releases):

• The asset file name must be whatsmeow-<triplet>.<ext>, e.g.:
  • whatsmeow-win32-x64.dll
  • whatsmeow-darwin-arm64.dylib
  • whatsmeow-linux-x64-gnu.so
  • whatsmeow-linux-x64-musl.so

Environment variables:

• WHATS_PREBUILT_BASEURL – override base URL to download from (default derives from package.json repository and version tag v<version>)
• WHATS_PREBUILT_REPO – override GitHub repo slug user/repo
• WHATS_PREBUILT_VERSION – override tag name (default: v<package.json version>)
• WHATS_BUILD_FROM_SOURCE=true – enable local build fallback if no prebuilt is found
• WHATS_SKIP_POSTINSTALL=true – skip the postinstall step entirely

CI workflow:

• A GitHub Actions workflow at .github/workflows/prebuild.yml builds and uploads the correct assets to the release for common triplets (Win x64, macOS x64/arm64, Linux x64 glibc/musl). Extend as needed for other triplets.

Quick Start (QR login + send text)

// Local repo import path:
import { openContainer, Client, JID, proto } from './dist/index.js'

// If installed as a dependency:
// import { openContainer, Client, JID, proto } from 'whatsmeow-node'

async function main() {
    const container = await openContainer({
        dialect: 'sqlite3',
        address: 'file:session.db?_foreign_keys=on'
    })
    const device = await container.getFirstDevice()
    const client = await Client.create(device)

    // Obtain QR channel BEFORE connect
    const qr = await client.getQRChannel()
    ;(async () => {
        for (;;) {
            const ev = await qr.next(60000)
            if (ev.event === 'code') console.log('[qr]', ev.code)
            else {
                console.log('[qr]', ev.event)
                break
            }
        }
    })().catch(console.error)

    await client.connect()

    // Send a text message
    const to: JID = '[email protected]'
    const msg: proto.WAWebProtobufsE2E.IMessage = { conversation: 'Hello from Node!' }
    const resp = await client.send(to, msg)
    console.log('Sent:', resp)
}

main().catch(console.error)

Pair Phone (link by code)

// After client.connect()
const code = await client.pairPhone(
    '5511999999999', // digits only, international format
    true, // show push notification on primary
    1, // clientType: 1=Chrome (2=Edge, 3=Firefox, 6=Safari, ...)
    'Chrome (Windows)'
)
console.log('Pairing code:', code)

On the phone, open WhatsApp > Link a device > Link with phone number/code and type the code printed in your console.

Device Management

const all = await container.getAllDevices() // Device[]
const byJID = await container.getDevice('[email protected]') // Device | null
const first = await container.getFirstDevice() // Device (existing first or new)

Tip: If you want multiple concurrent sessions, persist device JIDs and use getDevice(jid) instead of getFirstDevice().

Media Upload and Send (image)

import fs from 'node:fs/promises'

const data = await fs.readFile('./img.png')
const up = await client.uploadBytes(data, 'image')
const img: any = {
    URL: up.url,
    directPath: up.direct_path,
    mediaKey: up.media_key, // base64
    fileEncSHA256: up.file_enc_sha256,
    fileSHA256: up.file_sha256,
    fileLength: up.file_length,
    mimetype: 'image/png',
    caption: 'Hello with image'
}
const message: proto.WAWebProtobufsE2E.IMessage = { imageMessage: img }
await client.send('[email protected]', message)

Download by Direct Path

const buf = await client.downloadByPath({
    direct_path: '...',
    enc_sha256: '...', // base64
    sha256: '...', // base64
    media_key: '...', // base64
    file_length: 12345,
    type: 'image', // one of: image | video | audio | document | history | appstate | sticker-pack | thumbnail-link
    mms_type: '' // optional
})
await fs.writeFile('./downloaded.bin', buf)

Presence and Group Invite

await client.sendPresence('available')
const invite = await client.getGroupInviteLink('[email protected]')
console.log('Invite link:', invite)

Events (minimal loop)

;(async () => {
    for await (const ev of client.events(60000)) {
        if (ev.type !== 'timeout') console.log('[event]', ev.type)
    }
})().catch(console.error)

Workers (non-blocking)

If you want to run multiple clients concurrently without blocking the main thread, use the built-in workers. Each client can have its own event worker, and you can also offload the QR polling to a worker.

Event worker:

import { spawnEventWorker } from './dist/index.js'

const events = spawnEventWorker(client, 500) // timeoutMs = 500ms

const unEv = events.onEvent((ev) => {
    if (ev.type !== 'timeout') console.log('[worker event]', ev.type)
})
const unErr = events.onError((err) => console.error('[worker error]', err))

// ... later
await events.stop()
unEv()
unErr()

QR worker:

import { spawnQRWorker } from './dist/index.js'

const qr = spawnQRWorker(client, 2000) // timeoutMs = 2s
const unQREv = qr.onEvent((ev) => console.log('[qr]', ev.event === 'code' ? ev.code : ev.event))
const unQRErr = qr.onError((err) => console.error('[qr worker error]', err))

// ... later
await qr.stop()
unQREv()
unQRErr()

Logging Configuration (optional)

The bridge supports runtime log configuration for Database and Client modules. Settings apply to newly created containers/clients after the call.

// Local repo import path:
import { native } from './dist/native.js'

// Or, if installed as a dependency (not re-exported by index):
// import { native } from 'whatsmeow-node/dist/native.js'

await native.setLogOptions({
    database: 'none', // DEBUG | INFO | WARN | ERROR | none
    client: 'INFO',
    color: false
})

Running the Comprehensive Example

src/example.ts is a feature-rich, flag-driven example. Build and run:

npm run build
node dist/example.js --MODE=qr --ECHO_BOT=true \
  --LOG_CLIENT=INFO --LOG_DB=none --LOG_COLOR=false \
  [email protected] --SEND_TEXT="hello"

Supported flags (also via env vars of the same name):

• MODE=qr|pairphone
• DIALECT=sqlite3|postgres
• ADDRESS=... (SQL DSN)
• DEVICE_JID=...
• LOG_CLIENT=DEBUG|INFO|WARN|ERROR|none
• LOG_DB=DEBUG|INFO|WARN|ERROR|none
• LOG_COLOR=true|false
• ECHO_BOT=true|false
• USE_QR_WORKER=true|false
• EVENT_TIMEOUT=ms
• QR_TIMEOUT=ms
• PHONE=digits (for pairphone)
• PUSH=true|false, CLIENT_TYPE=1, DISPLAY_NAME="Browser (OS)"
• PRESENCE=available|unavailable
• WAIT_LOGIN=true|false
• WAIT_LOGIN_MS=ms
• SEND_TO=jid, SEND_TEXT=...
• SEND_IMAGE=path, IMAGE_CAPTION=...
• INVITE_JID=...

API Surface (summary)

• Container
  • getFirstDevice()
  • getAllDevices()
  • getDevice(jid)
• Client
  • connect(), isLoggedIn(), waitForConnection()
  • getQRChannel(), events(timeoutMs)
  • send(to, message, extra?) (typed via proto.WAWebProtobufsE2E.IMessage)
  • pairPhone(phone, showPush, clientType, displayName)
  • sendPresence(state), subscribePresence(jid), sendChatPresence(...)
  • uploadBytes(data, type), downloadByPath(params)
  • getGroupInviteLink(jid, reset?), disconnect()
• native (not re-exported by index)
  • setLogOptions(opts) and low-level wrappers

License

MPL-2.0