💬 WhatsApp for Claude Code
Your WhatsApp number, powered by Claude Code.
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With Anthropic's recent policy changes, many users lost access to their AI agents through messaging platforms. While official channel plugins exist for Telegram and Instagram, WhatsApp — the world's most used messaging app — had no solution.
This plugin fills that gap. It connects your WhatsApp number directly to Claude Code, turning it into a fully functional AI agent that responds through WhatsApp.
- Native WhatsApp channel — scan a QR (or use a pairing code on headless servers), pair your contacts, start chatting with Claude.
- Access control — pairing codes, allowlist, group gating with
requireMention. Nobody talks to your agent without permission.
- Permission relay — when Claude wants to run a tool, get the prompt on WhatsApp; approve or deny with a 👍 reaction or
yes <id> reply.
- Local search, export, and discovery — every message indexed locally; full-text search, contact and chat discovery, message-context lookup, request older messages from WhatsApp, dump chats to markdown / jsonl / csv.
- Voice transcription — local Whisper, no API keys, 99+ languages.
- Media pipeline — inbound images, audio, video, and documents auto-downloaded for Claude to read.
- Reply shaping — paragraph-aware chunking, optional ack reaction, auto-document for long replies, message editing without push notifications.
- Inbound debouncing — rapid-fire texts from the same sender are batched into a single agent turn, so Claude stops answering mid-thought when the user is still typing.
- Autonomous mode + web browsing — combine with
--chrome for a fully agentic WhatsApp assistant.
- Always-on — launchd, systemd, or Task Scheduler recipes included.
- Multiple agents — run separate numbers from separate folders, each isolated.
1. Create a folder for your WhatsApp agent.
Each agent lives in its own folder. Create one and open Claude Code there:
mkdir ~/my-whatsapp-agent && cd ~/my-whatsapp-agent
claude
2. Install the plugin.
Inside Claude Code, add the marketplace:
/plugin marketplace add crisandrews/claude-whatsapp
Then install the plugin:
/plugin install whatsapp@claude-whatsapp
When prompted for scope, select "Install for you, in this repo only (local scope)" — this keeps the agent isolated to this folder.
3. Close and relaunch with the WhatsApp channel.
Exit Claude Code (/exit or Ctrl+C), then relaunch:
claude --dangerously-load-development-channels plugin:whatsapp@claude-whatsapp --dangerously-skip-permissions
--dangerously-skip-permissions lets the agent run without asking for confirmation on every action — recommended for a smooth experience. First launch installs dependencies in the background (~60-90s). Subsequent launches are instant.
4. Link your number.
/whatsapp:configure
Opens a QR code on your screen. Scan it with WhatsApp > Settings > Linked Devices > Link a Device.