wa-rs

A high-performance, async Rust client for the WhatsApp Web API.

Fork of whatsapp-rust by João Lucas de Oliveira Lopes, with stable Rust support (no nightly features required) and bug fixes.

Inspired by whatsmeow (Go) and Baileys (TypeScript).

Features

Authentication

• QR code pairing
• Pair code (phone number) linking
• Persistent sessions with automatic reconnection

Messaging

• End-to-end encrypted messages (Signal Protocol)
• One-on-one and group chats
• Message editing and reactions
• Quoting/replying to messages
• Delivery, read, and played receipts

Media

• Upload and download images, videos, documents, GIFs, and audio
• Automatic encryption and decryption

Contacts & Groups

• Check if phone numbers are on WhatsApp
• Fetch profile pictures and user info
• Query group metadata and participants
• List all groups you're participating in

Presence & Chat State

• Set online/offline presence
• Typing indicators (composing, recording, paused)
• Block and unblock contacts

Architecture

• Modular design - Pluggable storage, transport, and HTTP clients
• Runtime agnostic - Works with Tokio, async-std, or WASM
• SQLite included - Default storage backend, easily swappable

Quick Start

use std::sync::Arc;
use wa_rs::bot::Bot;
use wa_rs_sqlite_storage::SqliteStore;
use wa_rs_tokio_transport::TokioWebSocketTransportFactory;
use wa_rs_ureq_http::UreqHttpClient;
use wa_rs_core::types::events::Event;

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let backend = Arc::new(SqliteStore::new("whatsapp.db").await?);

    let mut bot = Bot::builder()
        .with_backend(backend)
        .with_transport_factory(TokioWebSocketTransportFactory::new())
        .with_http_client(UreqHttpClient::new())
        .on_event(|event, client| async move {
            match event {
                Event::PairingQrCode { code, .. } => println!("QR:\n{}", code),
                Event::Message(msg, info) => {
                    println!("Message from {}: {:?}", info.source.sender, msg);
                }
                _ => {}
            }
        })
        .build()
        .await?;

    bot.run().await?.await?;
    Ok(())
}

Run the included demo bot:

cargo run                          # QR code only
cargo run -- -p 15551234567        # Pair code + QR code
cargo run -- -p 15551234567 -c 12345678 # Custom pair code

Project Structure

wa-rs/
├── src/                    # Main client library (wa-rs)
├── wacore/                 # Platform-agnostic core (wa-rs-core, no_std compatible)
│   ├── binary/             # WhatsApp binary protocol (wa-rs-binary)
│   ├── derive/             # Derive macros (wa-rs-derive)
│   ├── libsignal/          # Signal Protocol implementation (wa-rs-libsignal)
│   ├── noise/              # Noise Protocol (wa-rs-noise)
│   └── appstate/           # App state management (wa-rs-appstate)
├── waproto/                # Protocol Buffers definitions (wa-rs-proto)
├── storages/sqlite-storage # SQLite backend (wa-rs-sqlite-storage)
├── transports/tokio-transport  # WebSocket transport (wa-rs-tokio-transport)
└── http_clients/ureq-client    # HTTP client (wa-rs-ureq-http)

Crate Mapping

Custom Backends

Implement your own storage, transport, or HTTP client by implementing the respective traits. See the default implementations for reference.

Changes from Upstream

This fork includes the following changes from the original whatsapp-rust:

1. Stable Rust support - Removed #![feature(portable_simd)] and replaced SIMD optimizations with scalar implementations, enabling compilation on stable Rust (no nightly toolchain required).

2. PairError event dispatch - When pairing fails (socket timeout or error), the library now dispatches Event::PairError instead of silently returning, allowing applications to handle pairing failures gracefully.

Disclaimer

This is an unofficial, open-source reimplementation. Using custom WhatsApp clients may violate Meta's Terms of Service and could result in account suspension. Use at your own risk.

License

MIT - See LICENSE for details.

Original copyright (c) 2025 João Lucas de Oliveira Lopes.

Acknowledgements

• whatsapp-rust by João Lucas de Oliveira Lopes (original project)
• whatsmeow (Go)
• Baileys (TypeScript)