Baileys README

The project's README from github.com/WhiskeySockets/Baileys. As one markdown file: README.md.

Baileys logo

[!CAUTION] NOTICE OF BREAKING CHANGE.

As of 7.0.0, multiple breaking changes were introduced into the library.

Please check out https://whiskey.so/migrate-latest for more information.

Baileys is a WebSockets-based TypeScript library for interacting with the WhatsApp Web API.

Join the WhiskeySockets community via the link: https://whiskey.so/discord

Usage & Guide

[!IMPORTANT] The new guide is a work in progress. Expect missing pages/content. Report missing or incorrect content.

You can still access the old guide here: README.md, or the NPM homepage.

The new guide is posted at https://baileys.wiki .

Get Support

If you'd like business to enterprise-level support from Rajeh, the current maintainer of Baileys, you can book a video chat. Book a 1 hour time slot by contacting him on Discord or pre-ordering here. The earlier you pre-order the better, as his time slots usually fill up very quickly. He offers immense value per hour and will answer all your questions before the time runs out.

If you are a business, we encourage you to contribute back to the high development costs of the project and to feed the maintainers who dump tens of hours a week on this. You can do so by booking meetings or sponsoring below. All support, even in bona fide / contribution hours, is welcome by businesses of all sizes. This is not condoning or endorsing businesses to use the library. See the Disclaimer below.

Sponsor

If you'd like to financially support this project, you can do so by supporting the current maintainer here.

Disclaimer

[!CAUTION] This project is not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with WhatsApp or any of its subsidiaries or its affiliates. The official WhatsApp website can be found at whatsapp.com. "WhatsApp" as well as related names, marks, emblems and images are registered trademarks of their respective owners.

The maintainers of Baileys do not in any way condone the use of this application in practices that violate the Terms of Service of WhatsApp. The maintainers of this application call upon the personal responsibility of its users to use this application in a fair way, as it is intended to be used. Use at your own discretion. Do not spam people with this. We discourage any stalkerware, bulk or automated messaging usage.

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Rajeh Taher/WhiskeySockets

Licensed under the MIT License: Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Thus, the maintainers of the project can't be held liable for any potential misuse of this project.

Baileys (WhiskeySockets/Baileys)

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11.4K ·GitHub
Baileys
What is this?Baileys is an open-source TypeScript/JavaScript library that lets your code talk to WhatsApp directly: it connects over WebSockets to the WhatsApp Web API, so you can read and send messages programmatically without the official Business API.
Is it a library I code against, or an app I open?A library, not an app: you add it to your own JavaScript or TypeScript project and write code against its API. There is no interface to open — it runs wherever your code runs (Node.js 20+, Bun or Deno).
How do I get it running?Install the package from npm into a Node.js 20+ project and start coding — the repo ships a runnable sample you can launch with npm run example. Docs live in a new guide that is still being filled in, plus the older guide in the README.
What do I need installed to use it?A modern JavaScript runtime: Node.js 20 or newer is the stated requirement, and the project also lists Bun and Deno. Notable dependencies include libsignal, protobufjs, ws and pino.
Is this an official WhatsApp tool, and what are the risks?It is unofficial and used at your own risk: the disclaimer says Baileys is not affiliated with or endorsed by WhatsApp, and the maintainers discourage any use that violates WhatsApp's Terms of Service — spam, bulk or automated messaging, stalkerware.
What would I even build with it?Anything that needs to read or send WhatsApp messages from code — a chatbot, alerts from your own systems, or a bridge that connects WhatsApp to another app, used fairly on a normal account.
Is the documentation complete, or should I expect gaps?Expect gaps: the new guide is explicitly a work in progress with missing pages and content, and the maintainers ask readers to report what is missing or incorrect. The old guide is still available via the repo README and the NPM homepage.
What happens under the hood when it connects to WhatsApp?It acts as a WhatsApp Web client: a WebSocket session carrying messages serialized with Protocol Buffers (protobufjs), encryption handled by libsignal, logging via pino — and recent versions also pull in a whatsapp-rust-bridge dependency.
What are similar projects?whatsapp-web.js, OpenWA, wechaty, go-whatsapp-web-multidevice, wxpy, socket.io, openclaw, ItChat
Which topics is it in?whatsapp-api, end-to-end-encryption, websockets, deno, whatsapp, bot, protocol, messaging, bun, chat, reverse-engineering, real-time
Creator
WhiskeySockets
Size
233.1 MB
Stars
11.4K
Updated
CommitAug 04Releasev7.0.0-rc14Jul 29
Age
4y
Commits · 90 Days