WhatsApp CLI for syncing chats locally, searching message history, sending messages, and managing contacts or groups.
$brew install steipete/tap/wacli
Agent Compatibility
JSON Output
Agent Skill
MCP Support
AI Analysis
wacli is a third-party WhatsApp CLI built on the WhatsApp Web protocol via whatsmeow. It links a personal WhatsApp account, stores synced state locally, and exposes message, contact, media, and group operations from the shell.
What It Enables
- Authenticate once, keep a local SQLite copy of chats and messages, and search or inspect message history offline from the terminal.
- Send text or files, download message media, and request older history for a specific chat from your primary device when WhatsApp supports it.
- List chats, contacts, and groups, refresh synced metadata, and manage group names, participants, invite links, joins, or leaves without leaving the shell.
Agent Fit
- Global
--jsonoutput and mostly flag-driven subcommands make it workable in inspect-change-verify loops after the initial account link is in place. - It is useful for agents that need direct access to a linked personal WhatsApp account, especially when local sync plus offline search is more reliable than scraping a web UI.
- Unattended use is constrained by QR-based auth, single-store locking, and WhatsApp-side limits such as best-effort history sync and some flows depending on the primary device being online.
Caveats
- This is an unofficial third-party client using the WhatsApp Web protocol and is explicitly not affiliated with WhatsApp.
- History coverage is not a guaranteed export; the local database only contains what sync and backfill can obtain from WhatsApp Web and your phone.