Baileys

Reverse Engineered WhatsApp Web API in pure Node.js. Baileys does not require Selenium or any other browser to be interface with WhatsApp Web, it does so directly using a WebSocket.

Thank you to Sigalor for writing the guide to reverse engineering WhatsApp Web and thanks to Rhymen for the go reimplementation.

Baileys is super easy to use:

• Install from npm using npm install github:adiwajshing/Baileys

• Then import in your code using

      const WhatsAppWeb = require('Baileys') 

• Create an instance of Baileys & connect using

      let client = new WhatsAppWeb() 
      client.connect()

  If the connection is successful, you will see a QR code printed on your terminal screen, scan it with WhatsApp on your phone and you'll be logged in!

• Implement the following event handlers in your code:

      client.handlers.onConnected = () => { /* when you're successfully authenticated with the WhatsApp Web servers */ } 

      client.handlers.onUnreadMessage = (message) => { /* called when you have a pending unread message or recieve a new message */ } 

      client.handlers.onError = (error) => { /* called when there was an error */ } 

      client.handlers.presenceUpdated = (id, presence) => { /* called when you recieve an update on someone's presence */ } 

      client.handlers.onDisconnect = () => { /* called when internet gets disconnected */ } 

• Get the type of message using

      client.handlers.onUnreadMessage = (m) => { 
          const messageType = client.getMessageType(m.message) // get what type of message it is -- text, image, video
      }

• Decode a media message using

      client.handlers.onUnreadMessage = (m) => { 
          const messageType = client.getMessageType(m.message) // get what type of message it is -- text, image, video
          
          // if the message is not a text message
          if (messageType !== WhatsAppWeb.MessageType.text && messageType !== WhatsAppWeb.MessageType.extendedText) {
              client.decodeMediaMessage(m.message, "filename") // extension applied automatically
              .then (meta => console.log(m.key.remoteJid + " sent media, saved at: " + meta.fileName))
              .catch (err => console.log("error in decoding message: " + err))
          }
      }

• Send a text message using

      client.sendTextMessage(id, txtMessage) 

  Or if you want to quote another message:

      client.sendTextMessage(id, txtMessage, quotedMessage) 

  The id is the phone number of the person the message is being sent to, it must be in the format '[country code][phone number]@s.whatsapp.net', for example '[email protected]'

• Send a media (image, video, sticker, pdf) message using

      client.sendMediaMessage(id, mediaBuffer, mediaType, info)

  • The thumbnail can be generated automatically for images & stickers.
  • mediaBuffer is just a Buffer containing the contents of the media you want to send
  • mediaType represents the type of message you are sending. This can be one of the following:

        [
            WhatsAppWeb.MessageType.image, // an image message
            WhatsAppWeb.MessageType.video, // a video message
            WhatsAppWeb.MessageType.audio, // an audio message
            WhatsAppWeb.MessageType.sticker // a sticker message
        ]

  • info is a JSON object, providing some information about the media. It can have the following optional values:

        info = {
            caption: "hello there!", // the caption to send with the media (cannot be sent with stickers though)
            thumbnail: null, /* has to be a base 64 encoded JPEG if you want to send a custom thumb, 
                                or set to null if you don't want to send a thumbnail.
                                Do not enter this field if you want to automatically generate a thumb
                              */
            mimetype: "application/pdf", /* specify the type of media (optional for all media types except documents),
                                            for pdf files => set to "application/pdf",
                                            for txt files => set to "application/txt"
                                            etc.
                                        */
            gif: true // only applicable to video messages, if the video should be treated as a GIF
        }

  • Tested formats: png, jpeg, webp (sticker), mp4, ogg
  • To automatically generate thumbnails for videos, you need to have ffmpeg installed on your system

• Send a read reciept using

      client.sendReadReceipt(id, messageID) 

  The id is in the same format as mentioned earlier. The message ID is the unique identifier of the message that you are marking as read

• Update your status by using

      client.updatePresence(id, presence) 

  This lets the person with id know your status. where presence can be one of the following:

      static Presence = {
          available: "available", // "online"
          unavailable: "unavailable", // offline
          composing: "composing", // "typing..."
          recording: "recording", // "recording..."
          paused: "paused" // I have no clue
      }

• Once you want to close your session, you can get your authentication credentials using:

     const authJSON = client.base64EncodedAuthInfo() 

  and then save this JSON to a file

• If you want to restore your session (i.e. log back in without having to scan the QR code), simply retreive your previously saved credentials and use

      const authJSON = JSON.parse( fs.readFileSync("auth_info.json") )
      client.login(authJSON)

  This will use the credentials to connect & log back in. No need to call connect() after calling this function

• If you want to query whether a number is registered on WhatsApp, use:

      client.isOnWhatsApp ("[countrycode][some10digitnumber]@s.whatsapp.net")
      .then ((exists, id) => {
          if (exists) {
              console.log(id + " is on WhatsApp")
          } else {
              console.log(id + " is not on WhatsApp :(")
          }
      })

  Of course, replace [countrycode][some10digitnumber] with an actual country code & number.

Do check out & run example.js to see example usage of all these functions. To run the example script, download or clone the repo and then type the following in terminal:

1. cd path/to/Baileys/example
2. node example.js

Note

I am in no way affiliated with WhatsApp. This was written for educational purposes. Use at your own discretion.