whatsapp-mcp-server

A production-ready Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that connects AI assistants like Claude to the WhatsApp Cloud API (Meta). Send messages, manage conversations, handle media, send template messages, and receive real-time webhooks — all through natural language.

Why this MCP server?

This is the only WhatsApp MCP server built on the official Meta WhatsApp Cloud API.

Most WhatsApp tools for developers rely on unofficial browser automation libraries (whatsapp-web.js) or reverse-engineered protocols (whatsmeow, Baileys). These approaches violate WhatsApp's Terms of Service and carry a real risk of account bans. This project is different.

| | whatsapp-mcp-server (this project) | Unofficial libraries (whatsapp-web.js, whatsmeow, Baileys) | |---|---|---| | API type | ✅ Official Meta WhatsApp Cloud API | ❌ Unofficial / reverse-engineered | | Account ban risk | ✅ None — Meta-approved | ⚠️ High — violates WhatsApp ToS | | Account type | ✅ WhatsApp Business account | Personal account only | | Uptime reliability | ✅ Meta SLA-backed infrastructure | ❌ Breaks when WhatsApp updates | | Scalability | ✅ Business-grade, multi-agent ready | ❌ Limited to one session | | Template messages | ✅ Full support | ❌ Not available | | Media handling | ✅ Native Cloud API media endpoints | ⚠️ Workarounds required | | Webhook support | ✅ Official Meta webhook events | ❌ Polling / fragile listeners | | Production use | ✅ Built for production | ❌ Recommended for personal/hobby use only | | Long-term viability | ✅ Stable, versioned API | ❌ Depends on reverse engineering staying current |

Bottom line: if you are building anything beyond a personal experiment — customer support, automated notifications, business workflows — use the official API. This server gives you that, packaged as a drop-in MCP server.

Features

Send all message types — text, images, videos, audio, documents, reactions
Template messages — send and list approved WhatsApp Business templates with full component support
Media management — upload, retrieve, and delete media files
Conversation history — in-memory store of recent conversations via webhook
Real-time webhooks — receive incoming messages and delivery status updates
Business profile — read and update your WhatsApp Business profile
Contact lookup — validate phone numbers against WhatsApp
Rate limit handling — automatic exponential backoff retry logic
Type-safe — fully typed TypeScript with Zod input validation
Docker ready — multi-stage Dockerfile and docker-compose included
Works without webhook — send-only mode with no webhook server required

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    AI Assistant (Claude)                      │
└──────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────┘
                           │ MCP Protocol (stdio)
                           │
┌──────────────────────────▼──────────────────────────────────┐
│                  whatsapp-mcp-server                         │
│                                                              │
│  ┌─────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐  ┌───────────────────┐  │
│  │  MCP Server │  │   Tools      │  │  WhatsApp Client  │  │
│  │  (stdio)    │◄─┤  messages    ├─►│  (Axios + retry)  │  │
│  │             │  │  contacts    │  └────────┬──────────┘  │
│  └─────────────┘  │  media       │           │              │
│                   │  templates   │           │ HTTPS        │
│  ┌─────────────┐  └──────────────┘           │              │
│  │  Webhook    │                             ▼              │
│  │  Server     │  ◄──── Incoming   ┌─────────────────────┐ │
│  │  (Express)  │       messages    │ WhatsApp Cloud API  │ │
│  └──────┬──────┘       & statuses  │  graph.facebook.com  │ │
└─────────│───────────────────────────┼─────────────────────┘ │
          │                           │                        │
          │ HTTP POST (Meta webhooks) │ HTTPS (send messages)  │
          │                           │                        │
     ┌────▼──────────────────────────▼──────────────┐
     │            WhatsApp Users                     │
     └────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Webhook flow for incoming messages:
WhatsApp User → Meta Servers → POST /webhook → WhatsAppWebhook
→ in-memory conversation store → EventEmitter → MCP tools

Prerequisites

Node.js 20+ — download
Meta Developer Account — create one
WhatsApp Business App configured in Meta App Dashboard
Phone Number ID and Access Token from your WhatsApp app settings
(Optional) A public HTTPS URL for receiving webhooks (use ngrok for local dev)

Quick Start

Step 1 — Clone and install:

git clone https://github.com/FredShred7/whatsapp-mcp-server.git
cd whatsapp-mcp-server
npm install

Step 2 — Configure credentials:

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your WhatsApp credentials

Step 3 — Build:

npm run build

Step 4 — Add to Claude Desktop or Claude Code (see sections below)

Step 5 — Test it: Ask Claude: "Send a WhatsApp message to +15551234567 saying Hello from Claude!"

Configuration

All configuration is via environment variables. Copy .env.example to .env and fill in the values.

| Variable | Required | Description | |---|---|---| | WHATSAPP_PHONE_NUMBER_ID | Yes | Your WhatsApp phone number ID (from Meta App Dashboard > WhatsApp > API Setup) | | WHATSAPP_ACCESS_TOKEN | Yes | Permanent access token for your app (generate in Meta App Dashboard) | | WHATSAPP_WEBHOOK_VERIFY_TOKEN | Webhook | Random secret string — must match what you enter in Meta App Dashboard | | WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_ACCOUNT_ID | Optional | WhatsApp Business Account ID — required for listing phone numbers and templates | | WHATSAPP_API_VERSION | Optional | WhatsApp Cloud API version (default: v21.0) | | WEBHOOK_PORT | Optional | Port for incoming webhook server (default: off). Set to 3000 to enable | | WEBHOOK_PATH | Optional | HTTP path for webhooks (default: /webhook) | | LOG_LEVEL | Optional | Logging verbosity: info or debug (default: info) |

Available Tools

| Tool | Description | Key Parameters | |---|---|---| | whatsapp_send_text | Send a text message | to, text, preview_url?, reply_to_message_id? | | whatsapp_send_image | Send an image with optional caption | to, image_url, caption? | | whatsapp_send_video | Send a video with optional caption | to, video_url, caption? | | whatsapp_send_audio | Send an audio message | to, audio_url | | whatsapp_send_document | Send a document/file | to, document_url, caption?, filename? | | whatsapp_send_reaction | React to a message with emoji | to, message_id, emoji | | whatsapp_mark_read | Mark a message as read | message_id | | whatsapp_list_conversations | List recent conversations (webhook required) | limit? | | whatsapp_get_conversation | Get messages with a contact (webhook required) | phone_number, limit? | | whatsapp_get_message_status | Get delivery/read status (webhook required) | message_id | | whatsapp_get_contact | Validate a phone number on WhatsApp | phone_number | | whatsapp_get_business_profile | Get your WhatsApp Business profile | — | | whatsapp_update_business_profile | Update business profile info | about?, address?, description?, email?, websites?, vertical? | | whatsapp_upload_media | Upload media from URL, get media ID | media_url, mime_type, filename? | | whatsapp_get_media_url | Get temporary download URL for media | media_id | | whatsapp_delete_media | Delete uploaded media | media_id | | whatsapp_send_template | Send an approved template message | to, template_name, language_code, components? | | whatsapp_list_templates | List available message templates | limit? |

Usage with Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "whatsapp": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/whatsapp-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "WHATSAPP_PHONE_NUMBER_ID": "your_phone_number_id",
        "WHATSAPP_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your_access_token",
        "WHATSAPP_WEBHOOK_VERIFY_TOKEN": "your_verify_token",
        "WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_ACCOUNT_ID": "your_business_account_id",
        "WEBHOOK_PORT": "3000"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after saving. You should see the WhatsApp tools available in the tools panel.

Usage with Claude Code

Add to your Claude Code MCP settings (~/.claude/settings.json or project-level .claude/settings.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "whatsapp": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/whatsapp-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "WHATSAPP_PHONE_NUMBER_ID": "your_phone_number_id",
        "WHATSAPP_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your_access_token",
        "WHATSAPP_WEBHOOK_VERIFY_TOKEN": "your_verify_token",
        "WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_ACCOUNT_ID": "your_business_account_id",
        "WEBHOOK_PORT": "3000"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or use the CLI to add it:

claude mcp add whatsapp node /absolute/path/to/whatsapp-mcp-server/dist/index.js

Webhook Setup

Webhooks allow you to receive incoming messages and delivery status updates. They are optional — the MCP server works without them for sending messages only.

Local development with ngrok

# 1. Install ngrok: https://ngrok.com/download
# 2. Start your webhook server
WEBHOOK_PORT=3000 npm run dev

# 3. In another terminal, expose it publicly
ngrok http 3000

# 4. Copy the HTTPS URL (e.g. https://abc123.ngrok.io)

Configure in Meta App Dashboard

Go to Meta App Dashboard > Your App > WhatsApp > Configuration
Set Callback URL to: https://your-ngrok-url.ngrok.io/webhook
Set Verify Token to match your WHATSAPP_WEBHOOK_VERIFY_TOKEN
Click Verify and Save
Subscribe to the messages webhook field

Production

For production, deploy this server behind a reverse proxy (nginx, Caddy, etc.) with a valid TLS certificate. Set WEBHOOK_PORT to your internal port and expose it via HTTPS on port 443.

Docker Deployment

Build and run with docker-compose

# Copy and fill in your credentials
cp .env.example .env

# Build and start
docker-compose up -d

# View logs
docker-compose logs -f

# Stop
docker-compose down

Build manually

# Build image
docker build -t whatsapp-mcp-server .

# Run (send-only, no webhook)
docker run --rm -i \
  -e WHATSAPP_PHONE_NUMBER_ID=xxx \
  -e WHATSAPP_ACCESS_TOKEN=xxx \
  whatsapp-mcp-server

# Run with webhook server
docker run --rm -i \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  --env-file .env \
  whatsapp-mcp-server

Note: When using Docker with Claude Desktop/Code, the MCP transport uses stdio. Make sure to pass -i (interactive) so stdin/stdout remain connected. The webhook port is separate from the MCP transport.

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run with auto-reload
npm run dev

# Type-check only (no build)
npm run typecheck

# Build
npm run build

# Lint
npm run lint

Project structure

src/
├── index.ts              # Entry point — loads env, wires up components
├── server.ts             # MCP server — registers tools, handles requests
├── whatsapp/
│   ├── client.ts         # WhatsApp Cloud API client with retry logic
│   ├── types.ts          # TypeScript types and interfaces
│   └── webhook.ts        # Express webhook server + in-memory store
└── tools/
    ├── messages.ts       # Send/receive message tools
    ├── contacts.ts       # Contact and business profile tools
    ├── media.ts          # Media upload/download/delete tools
    └── templates.ts      # Template message tools

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on reporting bugs, suggesting features, and submitting pull requests.

MCP Servers

whatsapp-mcp-server

Why this MCP server?

Features

Architecture

Prerequisites

Quick Start

Configuration

Available Tools

Usage with Claude Desktop

Usage with Claude Code

Webhook Setup

Local development with ngrok

Configure in Meta App Dashboard

Production

Docker Deployment

Build and run with docker-compose

Build manually

Development

Project structure

Contributing

License

安装包（如果需要）

Cursor 配置 (mcp.json)

whatsapp-mcp-server

Why this MCP server?

Features

Architecture

Prerequisites

Quick Start

Configuration

Available Tools

Usage with Claude Desktop

Usage with Claude Code

Webhook Setup

Local development with ngrok

Configure in Meta App Dashboard

Production

Docker Deployment

Build and run with docker-compose

Build manually

Development

Project structure

Contributing

License

安装包 （如果需要）

Cursor 配置 (mcp.json)

安装包（如果需要）