OpenClaw WhatsApp Cloud API Channel

WhatsApp channel for OpenClaw using Meta's official Cloud API — production-safe, no Baileys, no ban risk.

Why this plugin?

OpenClaw's built-in WhatsApp channel uses Baileys, a reverse-engineered WhatsApp Web protocol. It works great for personal use, but Meta can ban accounts at any time — making it unsuitable for business bots.

This plugin uses the official WhatsApp Cloud API (graph.facebook.com) instead:

| | Built-in (Baileys) | This plugin (Cloud API) | |---|---|---| | Auth | QR code scan | OAuth access token | | Ban risk | High (unofficial) | None (official) | | 24-hour window | No restriction | Required (templates after 24h) | | Cost | Free | Pay-per-conversation | | Sending first | Anytime | Templates only | | Best for | Personal assistant | Customer-facing bots |

Prerequisites

OpenClaw >= 2026.2.x installed and configured (openclaw configure)
Node.js >= 22
A Meta Business App with WhatsApp product enabled
A domain with HTTPS for the webhook (ngrok for dev, reverse proxy for prod)

Quick start (development)

1. Install the plugin

git clone https://github.com/baiadigitale/openclaw-channel-whatsapp-cloud.git
cd openclaw-channel-whatsapp-cloud
npm install && npm run build
openclaw plugins install -l .

> Note: Due to a known OpenClaw bug with symlinks, if the plugin isn't discovered after install -l ., add this to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json: > ``json > { > "plugins": { > "load": { > "paths": ["/absolute/path/to/openclaw-channel-whatsapp-cloud"] > } > } > } > ``

2. Get Meta credentials

1. Go to developers.facebook.com and create an app (type: Business) 2. Add the WhatsApp product 3. In WhatsApp > API Setup, note your Phone Number ID 4. Create a permanent access token:

Business Settings > System Users > create one with Admin role
Generate a token with permissions: whatsapp_business_messaging, whatsapp_business_management

5. Note your App Secret from App Settings > Basic (for webhook signature verification)

3. Run the setup wizard

openclaw whatsapp-cloud setup

This will prompt for all credentials and save them to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.

Alternatively, set them manually:

openclaw config set channels.whatsapp-cloud.phoneNumberId "YOUR_PHONE_NUMBER_ID"
openclaw config set channels.whatsapp-cloud.accessToken "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN"
openclaw config set channels.whatsapp-cloud.appSecret "YOUR_APP_SECRET"
openclaw config set channels.whatsapp-cloud.verifyToken "a-random-string-you-choose"

4. Expose the webhook (dev)

ngrok http 3100

Copy the https://xxxx.ngrok-free.app URL.

5. Register the webhook on Meta

1. Go to WhatsApp > Configuration in your Meta app 2. Click Edit on the Webhook section 3. Callback URL: https://your-ngrok-url/webhook/whatsapp-cloud 4. Verify Token: the string you chose in step 3 5. Click Verify and Save 6. Subscribe to the messages webhook field

6. Start the gateway

openclaw gateway restart

Send a WhatsApp message to your business number — the bot will respond.

---

Production deployment

Architecture

User on WhatsApp
      |
      v
Meta Cloud API (graph.facebook.com)
      |
      v  HTTPS POST
+--------------------------------------------------+
|  Your server (VPS / Docker / Cloud)              |
|                                                  |
|  nginx/Caddy (TLS termination, port 443)         |
|      |                                           |
|      v  proxy_pass :3100                         |
|  OpenClaw Gateway (systemd service)              |
|    +-- whatsapp-cloud plugin                     |
|    |     webhook.ts  -> receives messages         |
|    |     crypto.ts   -> verifies HMAC signature   |
|    |     index.ts    -> dispatches to agent        |
|    |     api.ts      -> sends replies              |
|    +-- agent (Claude / GPT / ...)                |
+--------------------------------------------------+

Recommended repo structure

Create a deployment repository separate from this plugin:

my-openclaw-bot/
  openclaw.json          # OpenClaw config (env var refs for secrets)
  .env.example           # Documents all required env vars
  .env                   # Actual secrets (NEVER commit this)
  .gitignore
  workspace/
    AGENTS.md            # Agent instructions, persona, behavior rules
    SOUL.md              # Personality, tone, boundaries
    IDENTITY.md          # Agent name, emoji
    USER.md              # Info about the user/company
    TOOLS.md             # Tool-specific notes
  scripts/
    deploy.sh            # Deployment automation
    backup.sh            # State backup
  docker-compose.yml     # Optional: containerized deployment
  Caddyfile              # Or nginx.conf — reverse proxy config

.gitignore:

.env
*.bak
sessions/
credentials/

openclaw.json (with env var references):

{
  "gateway": {
    "mode": "local",
    "bind": "loopback",
    "auth": {
      "mode": "token",
      "token": "${OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN}"
    }
  },

  // LLM provider
  "auth": {
    "profiles": {
      "anthropic:default": {
        "provider": "anthropic",
        "mode": "token"
      }
    }
  },
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "workspace": "./workspace",
      "models": {
        "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5": {}
      }
    }
  },

  // WhatsApp Cloud channel
  "channels": {
    "whatsapp-cloud": {
      "phoneNumberId": "${WHATSAPP_PHONE_NUMBER_ID}",
      "accessToken": "${WHATSAPP_ACCESS_TOKEN}",
      "appSecret": "${WHATSAPP_APP_SECRET}",
      "verifyToken": "${WHATSAPP_VERIFY_TOKEN}",
      "webhookPort": 3100,
      "dmPolicy": "open",
      "sendReadReceipts": true
    }
  },

  // Plugin
  "plugins": {
    "entries": {
      "whatsapp-cloud": { "enabled": true }
    }
  }
}

.env.example:

# Anthropic API key (get from https://console.anthropic.com/settings/keys)
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

# OpenClaw gateway auth token (generate: openssl rand -hex 24)
OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN=

# WhatsApp Cloud API (from https://developers.facebook.com/)
WHATSAPP_PHONE_NUMBER_ID=
WHATSAPP_ACCESS_TOKEN=
WHATSAPP_APP_SECRET=
WHATSAPP_VERIFY_TOKEN=

Install on a production server

# 1. Install OpenClaw
npm install -g openclaw

# 2. Clone the plugin (private repo — no npm publish needed)
git clone git@github.com:baiadigitale/openclaw-channel-whatsapp-cloud.git ~/extensions/whatsapp-cloud
cd ~/extensions/whatsapp-cloud && npm install && npm run build

# 3. Clone your deployment repo
git clone https://github.com/yourorg/my-openclaw-bot.git ~/openclaw-bot
cd ~/openclaw-bot

# 4. Copy env file and fill in secrets
cp .env.example .env
nano .env

# 5. Point OpenClaw to your config
export OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH=~/openclaw-bot/openclaw.json
export OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR=~/openclaw-bot/.state

# 6. Install and start the gateway
openclaw gateway install
systemctl --user start openclaw-gateway.service
systemctl --user enable openclaw-gateway.service

Make sure your openclaw.json loads the plugin from the cloned path:

{
  "plugins": {
    "load": {
      "paths": ["~/extensions/whatsapp-cloud"]
    },
    "entries": {
      "whatsapp-cloud": { "enabled": true }
    }
  }
}

Update the plugin

After pushing changes to the repo, run this on the server:

cd ~/extensions/whatsapp-cloud && git pull && npm install && npm run build && systemctl --user restart openclaw-gateway.service

Reverse proxy (Caddy)

Caddyfile:

yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy /webhook/whatsapp-cloud localhost:3100
}

sudo caddy start --config Caddyfile

Caddy handles TLS automatically via Let's Encrypt.

nginx alternative:

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name yourdomain.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;

    location /webhook/whatsapp-cloud {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3100;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

Docker deployment (optional)

docker-compose.yml:

services:
  openclaw:
    image: node:22-slim
    working_dir: /app
    command: ["npx", "openclaw", "gateway", "--bind", "lan", "--port", "3100"]
    env_file: .env
    environment:
      OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH: /app/openclaw.json
      OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR: /data
      NODE_ENV: production
    volumes:
      - ./openclaw.json:/app/openclaw.json:ro
      - ./workspace:/app/workspace:ro
      - openclaw-data:/data
    ports:
      - "3100:3100"
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  openclaw-data:

Monitoring

# Live logs
journalctl --user -u openclaw-gateway.service -f

# Channel status
openclaw whatsapp-cloud status

# Gateway health
openclaw gateway status

# Send a test message
openclaw whatsapp-cloud test +39XXXXXXXXXX

Security checklist

[ ] appSecret is set (enables webhook HMAC signature verification)
[ ] Access token is a System User token (permanent, not a temporary test token)
[ ] dmPolicy is set to "allowlist" if the bot should only serve specific numbers
[ ] Webhook endpoint is HTTPS-only
[ ] .env file has chmod 600 and is not committed to git
[ ] Gateway auth token is set (gateway.auth.mode: "token")
[ ] Gateway binds to loopback only (reverse proxy handles external traffic)

---

Configuration reference

| Key | Type | Default | Description | |-----|------|---------|-------------| | enabled | boolean | true | Enable/disable the channel | | phoneNumberId | string | required | WhatsApp Phone Number ID | | businessAccountId | string | — | WhatsApp Business Account ID | | accessToken | string | required | Meta API access token (system user token) | | appSecret | string | — | Meta App Secret for webhook signature verification | | verifyToken | string | "openclaw-wa-cloud-verify" | Custom token for webhook endpoint verification | | webhookPort | number | 3100 | HTTP server port for webhooks | | webhookPath | string | "/webhook/whatsapp-cloud" | URL path for the webhook endpoint | | apiVersion | string | "v21.0" | Meta Graph API version | | dmPolicy | string | "open" | "open" (anyone) or "allowlist" (restricted) | | allowFrom | string[] | [] | E.164 numbers allowed when dmPolicy=allowlist | | sendReadReceipts | boolean | true | Auto-mark incoming messages as read |

Features

Inbound message types

Text messages
Images (with/without captions)
Audio, video, documents, stickers
Location sharing
Contact cards
Interactive replies (button and list selections)
Quoted messages (reply context)

Outbound capabilities

Text messages (auto-split at 4096 chars)
Interactive buttons (up to 3 quick reply buttons)
Interactive lists (section-based menus)
Media messages (image, audio, video, document)
Template messages (for messages outside the 24h window)
Read receipts

Security

HMAC-SHA256 webhook signature verification (via App Secret)
Timing-safe comparison to prevent timing attacks
DM policy (open / allowlist)
Phone number normalization for allowlist matching

The 24-hour messaging window

WhatsApp Cloud API enforces a 24-hour customer service window:

When a customer messages you, you have 24 hours to respond with free-form text
After the window closes, you can only send pre-approved template messages
Each template must be submitted to Meta for review

This plugin handles free-form responses automatically. For proactive notifications, use the sendTemplate API:

import { sendTemplate } from "@baia-digitale/whatsapp-cloud";

Development

git clone https://github.com/baiadigitale/openclaw-channel-whatsapp-cloud.git
cd openclaw-channel-whatsapp-cloud
npm install

npm run type-check    # TypeScript strict mode
npm test              # 32 tests
npm run dev           # Watch mode (auto-rebuild)

# Link to OpenClaw for development
openclaw plugins install -l .

Project structure

src/
  index.ts        — Plugin entry point + channel definition
  types.ts        — TypeScript interfaces
  api.ts          — Meta Cloud API client (outbound)
  webhook.ts      — HTTP server (inbound webhooks)
  crypto.ts       — HMAC-SHA256 signature verification
  setup.ts        — Interactive setup wizard
  runtime.ts      — OpenClaw runtime accessor
  __tests__/      — Vitest test suites

Rate limits

New WhatsApp Business accounts start at 250 unique recipients per 24 hours. As quality improves:

250 > 1,000 > 10,000 > 100,000 > unlimited

Troubleshooting

Webhook verification fails:

Ensure verifyToken in OpenClaw config matches what you entered in Meta dashboard
The webhook URL must be reachable over HTTPS

Messages not arriving:

Check that you subscribed to the messages webhook field in Meta dashboard
Check logs: journalctl --user -u openclaw-gateway.service -f
Verify appSecret is correct (wrong secret = messages silently dropped)

"phoneNumberId?.trim is not a function":

The phoneNumberId was saved as a number instead of a string. Fix it in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json by wrapping the value in quotes: "phoneNumberId": "878388375365101"

Plugin not found after install -l .:

OpenClaw has a symlink discovery bug. Add plugins.load.paths to your config pointing to the plugin directory (see install instructions above)

Gateway won't start:

Set gateway.mode: openclaw config set gateway.mode local
Check logs: journalctl --user -u openclaw-gateway.service -n 50

License

MIT — Baia Digitale SRL

openclaw-whatsapp-cloud-api

Summary

Install to Claude Code