wacli is a scriptable WhatsApp client built on whatsmeow. It pairs as a linked WhatsApp Web device, mirrors messages into a local SQLite store, and supports offline search, sending, and chat/contact management from the command line.

Third-party tool. Uses the WhatsApp Web protocol via whatsmeow. Not affiliated with WhatsApp.

Why this skill exists

This skill gives an agent a clean, local path for WhatsApp work without poking at browser DOM junk.

Good fits:

QR pairing and auth status checks
one-shot or follow-mode sync
offline message search and context lookups
sending text, files, reactions, stickers, and voice notes
chat and contact inspection from the local store

SKILL.md — skill instructions, safe defaults, and command patterns
scripts/wacli-local.sh — tiny wrapper that execs the local wacli binary

Highlights from `wacli`

Auth + sync — QR pairing, one-shot sync, or long-running follow mode
Offline message store — local SQLite history with FTS search
Sending — text, replies, mentions, files, stickers, voice notes, reactions
History backfill — best-effort older-message requests from the primary device
Scriptable output — --json for machine-readable reads and automation-friendly flows
Diagnostics + safety — doctor, read-only mode, lock handling, bounded local behavior

Quick start

# Pair (shows QR), then bootstrap sync
wacli auth

# Keep syncing after auth
wacli sync --follow

# Inspect chats and recent messages
wacli --json --read-only chats list --limit 50
wacli --json --read-only messages list --chat <chat-jid> --limit 20

# Search locally stored messages
wacli --json --read-only messages search "meeting"

# Send
wacli send text --to 1234567890 --message "hello"

Recipients can be a JID, phone number, or synced contact/group/chat name. If a name is ambiguous, use a JID or the CLI selection flags supported by wacli.

Local assumptions

This published skill came from a setup where:

wacli is installed and available on PATH
the default store is /root/.local/state/wacli
agents should prefer --json --read-only for inspection work

You may want to tweak these paths and defaults for your own environment.

Extra examples in this repo

EXAMPLES.md — broad command examples covering the current CLI surface

Upstream docs

Main project: https://github.com/openclaw/wacli
Full documentation: https://wacli.sh

Source

Published from Luna's local OpenClaw workspace.

README.md

wacli-skill