WhatsApp (Web channel)

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

Pairing

Default DM policy is pairing for unknown senders.

Channel troubleshooting

Cross-channel diagnostics and repair playbooks.

Gateway configuration

Full channel config patterns and examples.

Quick setup

Configure WhatsApp access policy

{
  channels: {
    whatsapp: {
      dmPolicy: "pairing",
      allowFrom: ["+15551234567"],
      groupPolicy: "allowlist",
      groupAllowFrom: ["+15551234567"],
    },
  },
}

Link WhatsApp (QR)

openclaw channels login --channel whatsapp

For a specific account:

openclaw channels login --channel whatsapp --account work

Start the gateway

openclaw gateway

Approve first pairing request (if using pairing mode)

openclaw pairing list whatsapp
openclaw pairing approve whatsapp <CODE>

Pairing requests expire after 1 hour. Pending requests are capped at 3 per channel.

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.)

Deployment patterns

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:

{
  channels: {
    whatsapp: {
      dmPolicy: "allowlist",
      allowFrom: ["+15551234567"],
    },
  },
}

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.

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.

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

DM policy
Group policy + allowlists
Mentions + /activation

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

Group access has two layers:

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)
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.

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.

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

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:

[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).

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.

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]

Read receipts

Read receipts are enabled by default for accepted inbound WhatsApp messages.Disable globally:

{
  channels: {
    whatsapp: {
      sendReadReceipts: false,
    },
  },
}

Per-account override:

{
  channels: {
    whatsapp: {
      accounts: {
        work: {
          sendReadReceipts: false,
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Self-chat turns skip read receipts even when globally enabled.

Delivery, chunking, and media

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

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

Media size limits and fallback behavior

inbound media save cap: channels.whatsapp.mediaMaxMb (default 50)
outbound media send cap: channels.whatsapp.mediaMaxMb (default 50)
per-account overrides use channels.whatsapp.accounts.<accountId>.mediaMaxMb
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

Acknowledgment reactions

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

{
  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

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

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

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.

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

Not linked (QR required)

Symptom: channel status reports not linked.Fix:

openclaw channels login --channel whatsapp
openclaw channels status

Linked but disconnected / reconnect loop

Symptom: linked account with repeated disconnects or reconnect attempts.Fix:

openclaw doctor
openclaw logs --follow

If needed, re-link with channels login.

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.

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

Bun runtime warning

WhatsApp gateway runtime should use Node. Bun is flagged as incompatible for stable WhatsApp/Telegram gateway operation.

Configuration reference pointers

Primary reference:

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

Overview

Messaging platforms

Configuration

WhatsApp

WhatsApp (Web channel)

Pairing

Channel troubleshooting

Gateway configuration

Quick setup

Deployment patterns

Runtime model

Access control and activation

Personal-number and self-chat behavior

Message normalization and context

Delivery, chunking, and media

Acknowledgment reactions

Multi-account and credentials

Tools, actions, and config writes

Troubleshooting

Configuration reference pointers

​WhatsApp (Web channel)

Pairing

Channel troubleshooting

Gateway configuration

​Quick setup

​Deployment patterns

​Runtime model

​Access control and activation

​Personal-number and self-chat behavior

​Message normalization and context

​Delivery, chunking, and media

​Acknowledgment reactions

​Multi-account and credentials

​Tools, actions, and config writes

​Troubleshooting

​Configuration reference pointers

​Related

WhatsApp (Web channel)

Quick setup

Deployment patterns

Runtime model

Access control and activation

Personal-number and self-chat behavior

Message normalization and context

Delivery, chunking, and media

Acknowledgment reactions

Multi-account and credentials

Tools, actions, and config writes

Troubleshooting

Configuration reference pointers

Related