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OpenWA

Self-hosted gateway that lets your software send and receive WhatsApp messages through an API.

GitHub Download v0.27.1
Stars
16.5k
Forks
3.9k
Licence
MIT
Language
TypeScript
Last update
4 days ago
Type
App

What it is

OpenWA is a free, open-source server you run yourself that sits between your software and WhatsApp. It exposes an HTTP API and a web dashboard so you can manage WhatsApp sessions, webhooks and API keys, and send or receive messages from your own tools. Developers use it to avoid paid hosted messaging services and to keep control of their data.

  • Send WhatsApp messages from a script or backend through the REST API
  • Receive incoming messages via webhooks and forward them to another system
  • Connect a chatbot or AI agent to a limited set of WhatsApp groups or contacts
  • Manage multiple WhatsApp sessions and API keys from the built-in dashboard

Great for

  • Developers who want to automate WhatsApp messages from their own systems
  • Teams that need several WhatsApp sessions running on one instance
  • Anyone who wants to connect WhatsApp to tools like n8n or chatbots without a vendor lock-in
  • Operators who want API keys limited to specific sessions or chats, for example for an AI agent on a shared account

Not ideal for

  • Non-developers looking for a ready-made chat app; the README describes a server and API, not a consumer messenger
  • Projects that need guaranteed official WhatsApp Business API compliance, since the README does not describe its connection method in detail
  • Setups where you cannot back up storage separately, because the README says an S3 bucket needs its own backup
Step-by-step guide: how to use OpenWAInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

How to get it

  1. 1

    Run with Docker

    You'll need: Docker (the README lists Docker-ready setup) · Node.js 22 LTS (shown in the README badge, for building from source)

    Clone the repository

    git clone https://github.com/rmyndharis/OpenWA
  2. 2

    Run it

    • Clone the repository from GitHub
    • Follow the Quick Start section of the README to configure and start the service
    • Open the dashboard to create a WhatsApp session
    • Create an API key and send a test message through the REST API
  3. 3

    Get the most out of it

    • Use session-scoped and chat-scoped API keys to limit what each integration can reach
    • Connect Chatwoot or Typebot through the official OpenWA-plugins repository
    • Use webhooks to receive incoming messages in your own system
    • Use Redis for queues, rate limits and WebSocket fan-out if you run at scale
    • Use the community n8n nodes for workflow automation

Downloads

Source code (.zip)main branch · straight from GitHubRelease v0.27.1Release notes and sourceOfficial website & docswww.open-wa.org

Strengths

  • Free and MIT-licensed with full source code available
  • Pluggable storage and database options (SQLite or PostgreSQL, Local or S3) set through configuration
  • Fine-grained API keys scoped to sessions and chats

Trade-offs

  • Relies on unofficial WhatsApp connection behavior described only briefly in the README, so reliability and terms-of-service risk should be assessed by the user
  • Requires self-hosting and ongoing maintenance, including separate backups for S3 media
  • The README is truncated, so some setup details could not be verified

How it compares

ProjectStarsTypeLevelUpdatedBest for
OpenWA (this)16.5kAppintermediate4 days agoDevelopers who want to automate WhatsApp messages from their own systems
ccxt44.7kLibraryintermediate4 days agoDevelopers building trading bots or algorithmic trading software
hoppscotch80.7kAppbeginner6 days agoDevelopers who want to test REST, GraphQL, WebSocket, or other APIs without a heavy desktop client
scalar16.4kAppbeginner4 days agoDevelopers who already maintain an OpenAPI or Swagger document
FlareSolverr16.1kAppintermediate12 days agoDevelopers whose scripts are blocked by Cloudflare challenges on pages they are allowed to access
json-server75.7kDev toolbeginner8 months agoFront-end developers who need a backend stub while the real API is not ready

Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.