whatsapp-mcp-server

WhatsApp MCP Server

A server that provides a Model Context Protocol (MCP) interface to interact with WhatsApp Business API using FastMCP.

Introduction

WhatsApp MCP Server is a Python implementation that enables language models like Claude to interact with WhatsApp functionality through GreenAPI. It leverages FastMCP for improved performance, better developer experience, and a cleaner implementation.

Features

• Messaging: Send text messages to WhatsApp contacts
• Group Management: Create groups, list members, add/remove participants
• Session Handling: Manage WhatsApp API sessions
• Chat History: Retrieve chat lists and message history

WhatsApp API Client

This project uses the whatsapp-api-client-python library to interact with WhatsApp. The client provides access to the WhatsApp Cloud API, which requires a GreenAPI account to use.

Environment Variables

This project uses environment variables for configuration:

• GREENAPI_ID_INSTANCE: Your GreenAPI ID instance
• GREENAPI_API_TOKEN: Your GreenAPI API token

You can either set these in your environment or use the provided .env file (see Installation instructions).

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/whatsapp-mcp-server.git
cd whatsapp-mcp-server

# Install dependencies
pip install -e .

# Set up environment variables
cp .env-template .env
# Edit the .env file with your GreenAPI credentials

Usage

Run the MCP server:

# Run the MCP server on default host (127.0.0.1) and port (8000)
whatsapp-mcp

# Specify host and port
whatsapp-mcp --host 0.0.0.0 --port 9000

For debugging:

whatsapp-mcp --debug

The server communicates using the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and can be accessed via HTTP or WebSockets when running with FastMCP.

Available Tools

• open_session: Open a new WhatsApp session
• send_message: Send a message to a chat
• get_chats: Get a list of chats
• create_group: Create a new WhatsApp group
• get_group_participants: Get the participants of a group

FastMCP API Reference

The WhatsApp MCP Server uses FastMCP to provide both WebSocket and HTTP endpoints:

• WebSocket: ws://localhost:8000/mcp
• HTTP: http://localhost:8000/mcp

You can test the API directly using tools like curl:

# List available tools
curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/mcp/listTools

# Call a tool
curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/mcp/callTool \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "open_session", "arguments": {}}'

How to add it to Claude Code

To add a WhatsApp server to Claude, use the claude mcp add command:

# Add the WhatsApp MCP server
$ claude mcp add whatsapp -- whatsapp-mcp

# List existing MCP servers - Validate that the server is running
claude mcp list

# Start claude code
claude

Using with Claude

Once the WhatsApp MCP server is running, you can interact with it using Claude in your conversations:

Authenticating with WhatsApp

Login to WhatsApp

Sending a message

Send the "Hello" message to John Doe

Using with Claude Desktop

To use the WhatsApp MCP server with Claude Desktop, you need to add it to your claude_desktop_config.json file:

Using pip installation (recommended)

"mcpServers": {
  "whatsapp": {
    "command": "python",
    "args": ["-m", "whatsapp_mcp"]
  }
}

Using the executable

"mcpServers": {
  "whatsapp": {
    "command": "whatsapp-mcp"
  }
}

Using Docker

"mcpServers": {
  "whatsapp": {
    "command": "docker",
    "args": ["run", "--rm", "-i", "-e", "GREENAPI_ID_INSTANCE=your_instance_id", "-e", "GREENAPI_API_TOKEN=your_api_token", "whatsapp-mcp-server"]
  }
}

Remember to set your GreenAPI credentials either as environment variables or in your .env file before starting Claude Desktop.

Command-line options

The WhatsApp MCP server accepts these command-line arguments:

• --debug: Increase verbosity level for debugging
• --host: Host to bind the server to (default: 127.0.0.1)
• --port: Port to bind the server to (default: 8000)

Debugging

For debugging the MCP server:

• Use MCP inspector: npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector whatsapp-mcp
• View logs in your Claude Desktop logs directory (typically ~/Library/Logs/Claude/ on macOS)
• Access the FastMCP web interface at http://localhost:8000 for interactive API documentation

Development

# Install development dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest

# Run linting
flake8 src/

# Run type checking
mypy src/

The project uses a modern pyproject.toml configuration which includes:

• Core dependencies needed for running the application
• Development dependencies available with pip install -e ".[dev]"

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.