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

# WhatsApp

# WhatsApp (Web channel)

Status: production-ready via WhatsApp Web (Baileys). Gateway owns linked session(s).

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Pairing" icon="link" href="/channels/pairing">
    Default DM policy is pairing for unknown senders.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Channel troubleshooting" icon="wrench" href="/channels/troubleshooting">
    Cross-channel diagnostics and repair playbooks.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Gateway configuration" icon="settings" href="/gateway/configuration">
    Full channel config patterns and examples.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Quick setup

<Steps>
  <Step title="Configure WhatsApp access policy">
    ```json5 theme={null}
    {
      channels: {
        whatsapp: {
          dmPolicy: "pairing",
          allowFrom: ["+15551234567"],
          groupPolicy: "allowlist",
          groupAllowFrom: ["+15551234567"],
        },
      },
    }
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Link WhatsApp (QR)">
    ```bash theme={null}
    openclaw channels login --channel whatsapp
    ```

    For a specific account:

    ```bash theme={null}
    openclaw channels login --channel whatsapp --account work
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Start the gateway">
    ```bash theme={null}
    openclaw gateway
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Approve first pairing request (if using pairing mode)">
    ```bash theme={null}
    openclaw pairing list whatsapp
    openclaw pairing approve whatsapp <CODE>
    ```

    Pairing requests expire after 1 hour. Pending requests are capped at 3 per channel.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  OpenClaw recommends running WhatsApp on a separate number when possible. (The channel metadata and onboarding flow are optimized for that setup, but personal-number setups are also supported.)
</Note>

## Deployment patterns

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Dedicated number (recommended)">
    This is the cleanest operational mode:

    * separate WhatsApp identity for OpenClaw
    * clearer DM allowlists and routing boundaries
    * lower chance of self-chat confusion

    Minimal policy pattern:

    ```json5 theme={null}
    {
      channels: {
        whatsapp: {
          dmPolicy: "allowlist",
          allowFrom: ["+15551234567"],
        },
      },
    }
    ```
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Personal-number fallback">
    Onboarding supports personal-number mode and writes a self-chat-friendly baseline:

    * `dmPolicy: "allowlist"`
    * `allowFrom` includes your personal number
    * `selfChatMode: true`

    In runtime, self-chat protections key off the linked self number and `allowFrom`.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="WhatsApp Web-only channel scope">
    The messaging platform channel is WhatsApp Web-based (`Baileys`) in current OpenClaw channel architecture.

    There is no separate Twilio WhatsApp messaging channel in the built-in chat-channel registry.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Runtime model

* Gateway owns the WhatsApp socket and reconnect loop.
* Outbound sends require an active WhatsApp listener for the target account.
* Status and broadcast chats are ignored (`@status`, `@broadcast`).
* Direct chats use DM session rules (`session.dmScope`; default `main` collapses DMs to the agent main session).
* Group sessions are isolated (`agent:<agentId>:whatsapp:group:<jid>`).

## Access control and activation

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="DM policy">
    `channels.whatsapp.dmPolicy` controls direct chat access:

    * `pairing` (default)
    * `allowlist`
    * `open` (requires `allowFrom` to include `"*"`)
    * `disabled`

    `allowFrom` accepts E.164-style numbers (normalized internally).

    Multi-account override: `channels.whatsapp.accounts.<id>.dmPolicy` (and `allowFrom`) take precedence over channel-level defaults for that account.

    Runtime behavior details:

    * pairings are persisted in channel allow-store and merged with configured `allowFrom`
    * if no allowlist is configured, the linked self number is allowed by default
    * outbound `fromMe` DMs are never auto-paired
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Group policy + allowlists">
    Group access has two layers:

    1. **Group membership allowlist** (`channels.whatsapp.groups`)
       * if `groups` is omitted, all groups are eligible
       * if `groups` is present, it acts as a group allowlist (`"*"` allowed)

    2. **Group sender policy** (`channels.whatsapp.groupPolicy` + `groupAllowFrom`)
       * `open`: sender allowlist bypassed
       * `allowlist`: sender must match `groupAllowFrom` (or `*`)
       * `disabled`: block all group inbound

    Sender allowlist fallback:

    * if `groupAllowFrom` is unset, runtime falls back to `allowFrom` when available
    * sender allowlists are evaluated before mention/reply activation

    Note: if no `channels.whatsapp` block exists at all, runtime group-policy fallback is `allowlist` (with a warning log), even if `channels.defaults.groupPolicy` is set.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Mentions + /activation">
    Group replies require mention by default.

    Mention detection includes:

    * explicit WhatsApp mentions of the bot identity
    * configured mention regex patterns (`agents.list[].groupChat.mentionPatterns`, fallback `messages.groupChat.mentionPatterns`)
    * implicit reply-to-bot detection (reply sender matches bot identity)

    Security note:

    * quote/reply only satisfies mention gating; it does **not** grant sender authorization
    * with `groupPolicy: "allowlist"`, non-allowlisted senders are still blocked even if they reply to an allowlisted user's message

    Session-level activation command:

    * `/activation mention`
    * `/activation always`

    `activation` updates session state (not global config). It is owner-gated.
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Personal-number and self-chat behavior

When the linked self number is also present in `allowFrom`, WhatsApp self-chat safeguards activate:

* skip read receipts for self-chat turns
* ignore mention-JID auto-trigger behavior that would otherwise ping yourself
* if `messages.responsePrefix` is unset, self-chat replies default to `[{identity.name}]` or `[openclaw]`

## Message normalization and context

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Inbound envelope + reply context">
    Incoming WhatsApp messages are wrapped in the shared inbound envelope.

    If a quoted reply exists, context is appended in this form:

    ```text theme={null}
    [Replying to <sender> id:<stanzaId>]
    <quoted body or media placeholder>
    [/Replying]
    ```

    Reply metadata fields are also populated when available (`ReplyToId`, `ReplyToBody`, `ReplyToSender`, sender JID/E.164).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Media placeholders and location/contact extraction">
    Media-only inbound messages are normalized with placeholders such as:

    * `<media:image>`
    * `<media:video>`
    * `<media:audio>`
    * `<media:document>`
    * `<media:sticker>`

    Location and contact payloads are normalized into textual context before routing.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Pending group history injection">
    For groups, unprocessed messages can be buffered and injected as context when the bot is finally triggered.

    * default limit: `50`
    * config: `channels.whatsapp.historyLimit`
    * fallback: `messages.groupChat.historyLimit`
    * `0` disables

    Injection markers:

    * `[Chat messages since your last reply - for context]`
    * `[Current message - respond to this]`
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Read receipts">
    Read receipts are enabled by default for accepted inbound WhatsApp messages.

    Disable globally:

    ```json5 theme={null}
    {
      channels: {
        whatsapp: {
          sendReadReceipts: false,
        },
      },
    }
    ```

    Per-account override:

    ```json5 theme={null}
    {
      channels: {
        whatsapp: {
          accounts: {
            work: {
              sendReadReceipts: false,
            },
          },
        },
      },
    }
    ```

    Self-chat turns skip read receipts even when globally enabled.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Delivery, chunking, and media

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Text chunking">
    * default chunk limit: `channels.whatsapp.textChunkLimit = 4000`
    * `channels.whatsapp.chunkMode = "length" | "newline"`
    * `newline` mode prefers paragraph boundaries (blank lines), then falls back to length-safe chunking
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Outbound media behavior">
    * supports image, video, audio (PTT voice-note), and document payloads
    * `audio/ogg` is rewritten to `audio/ogg; codecs=opus` for voice-note compatibility
    * animated GIF playback is supported via `gifPlayback: true` on video sends
    * captions are applied to the first media item when sending multi-media reply payloads
    * media source can be HTTP(S), `file://`, or local paths
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Media size limits and fallback behavior">
    * inbound media save cap: `channels.whatsapp.mediaMaxMb` (default `50`)
    * outbound media cap for auto-replies: `agents.defaults.mediaMaxMb` (default `5MB`)
    * images are auto-optimized (resize/quality sweep) to fit limits
    * on media send failure, first-item fallback sends text warning instead of dropping the response silently
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Acknowledgment reactions

WhatsApp supports immediate ack reactions on inbound receipt via `channels.whatsapp.ackReaction`.

```json5 theme={null}
{
  channels: {
    whatsapp: {
      ackReaction: {
        emoji: "👀",
        direct: true,
        group: "mentions", // always | mentions | never
      },
    },
  },
}
```

Behavior notes:

* sent immediately after inbound is accepted (pre-reply)
* failures are logged but do not block normal reply delivery
* group mode `mentions` reacts on mention-triggered turns; group activation `always` acts as bypass for this check
* WhatsApp uses `channels.whatsapp.ackReaction` (legacy `messages.ackReaction` is not used here)

## Multi-account and credentials

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Account selection and defaults">
    * account ids come from `channels.whatsapp.accounts`
    * default account selection: `default` if present, otherwise first configured account id (sorted)
    * account ids are normalized internally for lookup
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Credential paths and legacy compatibility">
    * current auth path: `~/.openclaw/credentials/whatsapp/<accountId>/creds.json`
    * backup file: `creds.json.bak`
    * legacy default auth in `~/.openclaw/credentials/` is still recognized/migrated for default-account flows
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Logout behavior">
    `openclaw channels logout --channel whatsapp [--account <id>]` clears WhatsApp auth state for that account.

    In legacy auth directories, `oauth.json` is preserved while Baileys auth files are removed.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Tools, actions, and config writes

* Agent tool support includes WhatsApp reaction action (`react`).
* Action gates:
  * `channels.whatsapp.actions.reactions`
  * `channels.whatsapp.actions.polls`
* Channel-initiated config writes are enabled by default (disable via `channels.whatsapp.configWrites=false`).

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Not linked (QR required)">
    Symptom: channel status reports not linked.

    Fix:

    ```bash theme={null}
    openclaw channels login --channel whatsapp
    openclaw channels status
    ```
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Linked but disconnected / reconnect loop">
    Symptom: linked account with repeated disconnects or reconnect attempts.

    Fix:

    ```bash theme={null}
    openclaw doctor
    openclaw logs --follow
    ```

    If needed, re-link with `channels login`.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="No active listener when sending">
    Outbound sends fail fast when no active gateway listener exists for the target account.

    Make sure gateway is running and the account is linked.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Group messages unexpectedly ignored">
    Check in this order:

    * `groupPolicy`
    * `groupAllowFrom` / `allowFrom`
    * `groups` allowlist entries
    * mention gating (`requireMention` + mention patterns)
    * duplicate keys in `openclaw.json` (JSON5): later entries override earlier ones, so keep a single `groupPolicy` per scope
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Bun runtime warning">
    WhatsApp gateway runtime should use Node. Bun is flagged as incompatible for stable WhatsApp/Telegram gateway operation.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Configuration reference pointers

Primary reference:

* [Configuration reference - WhatsApp](/gateway/configuration-reference#whatsapp)

High-signal WhatsApp fields:

* access: `dmPolicy`, `allowFrom`, `groupPolicy`, `groupAllowFrom`, `groups`
* delivery: `textChunkLimit`, `chunkMode`, `mediaMaxMb`, `sendReadReceipts`, `ackReaction`
* multi-account: `accounts.<id>.enabled`, `accounts.<id>.authDir`, account-level overrides
* operations: `configWrites`, `debounceMs`, `web.enabled`, `web.heartbeatSeconds`, `web.reconnect.*`
* session behavior: `session.dmScope`, `historyLimit`, `dmHistoryLimit`, `dms.<id>.historyLimit`

## Related

* [Pairing](/channels/pairing)
* [Channel routing](/channels/channel-routing)
* [Multi-agent routing](/concepts/multi-agent)
* [Troubleshooting](/channels/troubleshooting)