WhatsApp

Attribution: Sourced from steipete/agent-scripts by Peter Steinberger.

Use this as the first stop for WhatsApp work. Keep the source boundary sharp:

• Archive/local history: use wacrawl — read-only, best local history, no network, no sending.
• Live/sending: use wacli — linked-device accounts, live sync, auth, sending, chat/group mutations.

Routing

• Primary WhatsApp reads/search/history → wacrawl
• Alt accounts or live sends → wacli --account NAME
• Sending, reactions, archive/pin/mark-read, group mutations → wacli only after explicit user intent

Safety

• Never send or mutate WhatsApp state unless explicitly requested.
• Prefer read-only wacli commands for inspection: pass --read-only or set WACLI_READONLY=1.
• Do not write into WhatsApp Desktop's app container.
• Report source freshness, account name, and known gaps when answering from local stores.

Common Commands (Archive/wacrawl)

# Status and sync
wacrawl status
wacrawl doctor
wacrawl sync

# Unread triage
wacrawl chats --limit 20
wacrawl unread --limit 20
wacrawl --json unread --limit 100

# Search and slice messages
wacrawl messages --after 2025-01-01 --limit 50
wacrawl messages --chat JID --asc --limit 100
wacrawl --json search "query"
wacrawl search "query" --after 2025-01-01 --from-them

Common Commands (Live/wacli)

# Account discovery
wacli accounts list --json
wacli --account me auth status --read-only --json

# Read-only inspection
wacli --account me chats list --read-only --json
wacli --account me messages list --read-only --json --limit 50
wacli --account me messages search --read-only --json "query"

# Send (only when explicitly requested)
wacli --account me send text --to JID_OR_NAME --message "message"

Notes

• wacrawl = WhatsApp Desktop archive (most complete history).
• wacli = linked-device protocol client (live, alt accounts).
• JID format: [country][phone]@s.whatsapp.net for individuals, [id]@g.us for groups.