WhatsApp MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for WhatsApp, enabling Claude to read and send WhatsApp messages.

Originally created by Luke Harries. Maintained by Very Good Plugins.

Features

Message Management: Search and read personal WhatsApp messages (text, images, videos, documents, audio)
Contact Search: Search contacts by name or phone number with sender_display format ("Name (phone)")
Send Messages: Send text messages to individuals or groups
Media Support: Send and download images, videos, documents, and voice messages
Webhook Integration: Forward incoming messages to external services
Local Storage: All messages stored locally in SQLite - only sent to Claude when you allow it

Installation

Prerequisites

Go 1.24+
Python 3.11+
uv package manager
Claude Desktop or Cursor
FFmpeg (optional, for voice message conversion)

Quick Start

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/verygoodplugins/whatsapp-mcp.git
cd whatsapp-mcp

Start the WhatsApp bridge
```
cd whatsapp-bridge
go run main.go
```
Scan the QR code with WhatsApp on your phone to authenticate.

Configure Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "whatsapp": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/path/to/whatsapp-mcp/whatsapp-mcp-server",
        "run",
        "main.py"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Replace /path/to/whatsapp-mcp with your actual path.

Restart Claude Desktop

Cursor IDE Configuration

Add to your Cursor MCP settings (~/.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "whatsapp": {
        "command": "uv",
        "args": [
          "--directory",
          "/path/to/whatsapp-mcp/whatsapp-mcp-server",
          "run",
          "main.py"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Tools

Messages include sender_display showing "Name (phone)" format for easy identification by agents.

Contact Operations

`search_contacts`

Search contacts by name or phone number.

Parameters:

query (required): Name or phone number to search

Natural Language Examples:

"Find contacts named John"
"Search for phone number 555-1234"
"Who has the phone number starting with +1?"

`get_contact`

Resolve a WhatsApp contact name from a phone number, LID, or full JID.

Parameters:

identifier (required): Phone number, LID, or full JID (aliases: phone_number, phone)
- Examples: 12025551234, 184125298348272, 12025551234@s.whatsapp.net, 184125298348272@lid

Natural Language Examples:

"What's the name for phone number 5551234567?"
"Look up who owns this number"
"Who is 184125298348272@lid?"

Message Operations

`list_messages`

Get messages with filters, date ranges, and sorting.

Parameters:

chat_jid (optional): Filter by specific chat JID
limit (optional): Number of messages (default 50, max 500)
before_date (optional): Messages before this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
after_date (optional): Messages after this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
sort_by (optional): "newest" or "oldest" (default "newest")

Natural Language Examples:

"Show me the last 100 messages from today"
"Get messages from the family group chat"
"Find messages from last week"

`send_message`

Send a text message to a contact or group.

Parameters:

recipient (required): Phone number or group JID
message (required): Text content to send

Natural Language Examples:

"Send 'Hello!' to +1234567890"
"Message the team group saying 'Meeting at 3pm'"

`send_file`

Send a media file (image, video, document).

Parameters:

recipient (required): Phone number or group JID
file_path (required): Path to the file
caption (optional): Caption for the media

`send_audio_message`

Send a voice message (automatically converts to Opus .ogg format).

Parameters:

recipient (required): Phone number or group JID
file_path (required): Path to audio file

`download_media`

Download media from a received message.

Parameters:

message_id (required): ID of the message with media
chat_jid (required): JID of the chat containing the message

Chat Operations

`list_chats`

List all chats with metadata.

Parameters:

limit (optional): Number of chats (default 50, max 200)

`get_chat`

Get specific chat metadata by JID.

Parameters:

jid (required): Chat JID

`get_direct_chat_by_contact`

Find a direct message chat with a contact.

Parameters:

phone (required): Phone number of the contact

`get_contact_chats`

List all chats involving a specific contact.

Parameters:

phone (required): Phone number of the contact

`get_last_interaction`

Get the last message exchanged with a contact.

Parameters:

phone (required): Phone number of the contact

`get_message_context`

Get messages around a specific message for context.

Parameters:

message_id (required): ID of the target message
chat_jid (required): JID of the chat
before (optional): Number of messages before (default 5)
after (optional): Number of messages after (default 5)

Configuration

Copy .env.example to .env and configure as needed:

Variable	Default	Description
`WHATSAPP_BRIDGE_PORT`	`8080`	Port for Go bridge REST API
`WEBHOOK_URL`	`http://localhost:8769/whatsapp/webhook`	Webhook for incoming messages
`FORWARD_SELF`	`false`	Forward messages sent by self
`WHATSAPP_DB_PATH`	`../whatsapp-bridge/store/messages.db`	Path to SQLite database
`WHATSAPP_API_URL`	`http://localhost:8080/api`	Go bridge REST API URL

Architecture

flowchart TB
    subgraph Clients["AI Clients"]
        CD[Claude Desktop]
        CU[Cursor IDE]
        CC[Claude Code]
    end

    subgraph MCP["MCP Layer"]
        PY[Python MCP Server<br/>FastMCP]
    end

    subgraph Bridge["WhatsApp Bridge"]
        GO[Go Bridge<br/>whatsmeow]
        DB[(SQLite<br/>messages.db)]
        WH[Webhook Handler]
    end

    subgraph External["External Services"]
        WA[WhatsApp Web API]
        EXT[External Webhook<br/>Receiver]
    end

    CD & CU & CC -->|MCP Protocol| PY
    PY -->|REST API| GO
    PY -->|Read| DB
    GO -->|Store| DB
    GO <-->|WebSocket| WA
    GO -->|Forward Messages| WH
    WH -->|POST| EXT

Component Details

flowchart LR
    subgraph GoAPI["Go Bridge REST API"]
        direction TB
        SEND["/api/send"]
        DOWN["/api/download"]
        TYPE["/api/typing"]
        HEALTH["/api/health"]
    end

    subgraph MCPTools["MCP Tools (14 total)"]
        direction TB
        CONT["Contact Tools<br/>search_contacts, get_contact"]
        MSG["Message Tools<br/>list_messages, send_message, etc."]
        CHAT["Chat Tools<br/>list_chats, get_chat, etc."]
        MEDIA["Media Tools<br/>send_file, download_media, etc."]
    end

    MCPTools -->|HTTP Requests| GoAPI

Data Flow

sequenceDiagram
    participant User as User
    participant Claude as Claude Desktop
    participant MCP as Python MCP Server
    participant Bridge as Go Bridge
    participant WA as WhatsApp

    User->>Claude: "Send 'Hello' to Mom"
    Claude->>MCP: send_message(recipient, message)
    MCP->>Bridge: POST /api/send
    Bridge->>WA: Send via WebSocket
    WA-->>Bridge: Delivery confirmation
    Bridge-->>MCP: Success response
    MCP-->>Claude: Message sent
    Claude-->>User: "Message sent to Mom"

Incoming Message Flow

sequenceDiagram
    participant WA as WhatsApp
    participant Bridge as Go Bridge
    participant DB as SQLite
    participant WH as Webhook
    participant EXT as External Service

    WA->>Bridge: New message
    Bridge->>DB: Store message
    Bridge->>Bridge: Auto-download media
    Bridge->>WH: Forward to webhook
    WH->>EXT: POST with message data
    Note over EXT: Process incoming message

Development

Running Tests

cd whatsapp-mcp-server
uv pip install -e ".[dev]"
uv run pytest -v

Linting

# Python
cd whatsapp-mcp-server
uv run ruff check .
uv run ruff format .

# Go
cd whatsapp-bridge
golangci-lint run

Building

# Go bridge
cd whatsapp-bridge
go build -o whatsapp-bridge

# Run the binary
./whatsapp-bridge

# During development (avoids stale binaries)
go run .

Releasing (Maintainers)

Releases use Release Please automation; maintainer steps and fallback procedures are documented in docs/RELEASING.md.

Troubleshooting

Authentication Issues

QR Code Not Displaying: Restart the bridge. Check terminal QR code support.
Device Limit Reached: Remove a linked device from WhatsApp Settings > Linked Devices.
No Messages Loading: Initial sync can take several minutes for large chat histories.
Out of Sync: Delete whatsapp-bridge/store/*.db files and re-authenticate.

Windows

Windows requires CGO for go-sqlite3. Install MSYS2 and enable CGO:

go env -w CGO_ENABLED=1
go run main.go

Security Notice

Caution: As with many MCP servers, this is subject to the lethal trifecta. Prompt injection could lead to private data exfiltration. Use with awareness.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Credits & History

This project is a maintained fork of lharries/whatsapp-mcp, originally created by Luke Harries.

Why we forked: The original repository hasn't been updated since April 2025. We needed continued maintenance, bug fixes, and new features for production use.

What we changed:

Added /api/typing endpoint for typing indicators
Added /api/health endpoint for connection status
Added webhook system for incoming messages (with reply context)
Added auto-download of media files
Added get_contact tool for phone → name resolution
Added sender_display field showing "Name (phone)" format
Improved message querying (sorting, larger batches up to 500)
Fixed compilation issues from whatsmeow API changes
Fixed media filename consistency (uses message timestamp)
Added CI/CD pipeline with GitHub Actions

We're grateful to Luke for creating the original project!

Links

Very Good Plugins
MCP Specification
whatsmeow - WhatsApp Web API library for Go
FastMCP - Fast Model Context Protocol implementation

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 54 Commits
.claude		.claude
.github		.github
docs		docs
whatsapp-bridge		whatsapp-bridge
whatsapp-mcp-server		whatsapp-mcp-server
.env.example		.env.example
.gitignore		.gitignore
.release-please-manifest.json		.release-please-manifest.json
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CLAUDE.md		CLAUDE.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
example-use.png		example-use.png
release-please-config.json		release-please-config.json
server.json		server.json

Folders and files

Latest commit

History

Repository files navigation

WhatsApp MCP Server

Features

Installation

Prerequisites

Quick Start

Cursor IDE Configuration

Tools

Contact Operations

search_contacts

get_contact

Message Operations

list_messages

send_message

send_file

send_audio_message

download_media

Chat Operations

list_chats

get_chat

get_direct_chat_by_contact

get_contact_chats

get_last_interaction

get_message_context

Configuration

Architecture

Component Details

Data Flow

Incoming Message Flow

Development

Running Tests

Linting

Building

Releasing (Maintainers)

Troubleshooting

Authentication Issues

Windows

Security Notice

License

Credits & History

Links

About

Resources

License

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Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases

Packages 0

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Contributors

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Languages

`search_contacts`

`get_contact`

`list_messages`

`send_message`

`send_file`

`send_audio_message`

`download_media`

`list_chats`

`get_chat`

`get_direct_chat_by_contact`

`get_contact_chats`

`get_last_interaction`

`get_message_context`

Packages