Messages

send

GitHub Edit page

send

Read when: sending text, files, stickers, quoted replies, or reactions.

wacli send requires authentication, a live connection, and writable mode. Send attempts are bounded and retry once after reconnect for known stale-session/usync timeout failures. After a successful send, wacli keeps the connection alive briefly so whatsmeow can handle retry receipts from devices that could not decrypt the first copy. Repeated send commands within 5 seconds print a stderr warning so tight loops make WhatsApp rate-limit/account-risk visible.

When sync --follow is already running for the same store, send commands delegate the send to that running process instead of opening a second WhatsApp session. This keeps scripts usable while continuous sync owns the store lock.

#Commands

wacli send text --to RECIPIENT --message TEXT [--pick N] [--mention USER] [--no-preview] [--reply-to MSG_ID] [--reply-to-sender JID] [--post-send-wait 2s]
wacli send file --to RECIPIENT --file PATH [--pick N] [--caption TEXT] [--filename NAME] [--mime TYPE] [--ptt] [--reply-to MSG_ID] [--reply-to-sender JID] [--post-send-wait 2s]
wacli send sticker --to RECIPIENT --file PATH [--pick N] [--reply-to MSG_ID] [--reply-to-sender JID] [--post-send-wait 2s]
wacli send voice --to RECIPIENT --file PATH [--pick N] [--mime TYPE] [--reply-to MSG_ID] [--reply-to-sender JID] [--post-send-wait 2s]
wacli send react --to PHONE_OR_JID --id MSG_ID [--reaction TEXT] [--sender JID] [--post-send-wait 2s]

#Recipients

  • send text, send file, send sticker, and send voice accept a JID, phone number, or synced contact/group/chat name.
  • If a name matches multiple recipients, interactive terminals prompt.
  • In scripts, use --pick N to choose a displayed match.
  • Phone numbers may use common formatting such as +1 (234) 567-8900.

#Replies and reactions

  • send text fetches Open Graph metadata for the first http:// or https:// URL and sends it as a WhatsApp link preview.
  • Preview metadata fetches time out after 10 seconds and fall back to plain text.
  • Pass --no-preview to disable link-preview fetching.
  • Use repeatable --mention USER with a phone number or user JID to add WhatsApp mentions to send text.
  • --reply-to quotes a stored message ID.
  • For unsynced group replies, pass --reply-to-sender.
  • send react defaults to thumbs-up.
  • Pass --reaction "" to clear a reaction.
  • Sent reactions are stored locally immediately, including reaction target and display text.
  • For group reactions, pass --sender for the original message sender.
  • Use --post-send-wait 0 to disable the retry-receipt grace window for latency-sensitive scripts.

#Files

  • File uploads are capped at 100 MiB.
  • MIME type is detected automatically unless --mime is set.
  • --filename changes the displayed document name.
  • Captions apply to images, videos, and documents.
  • send sticker requires 512x512 WebP input. Static stickers are capped at 100 KiB; animated stickers are capped at 500 KiB and are sent with animation metadata.
  • send voice is a shortcut for send file --ptt.
  • Voice notes require OGG/Opus audio (audio/ogg; codecs=opus).
  • When available, ffprobe sets voice-note duration and ffmpeg generates the 64-sample waveform from decoded PCM audio.

#Examples

wacli send text --to mom --message "landed"
wacli send text --to "Family" --pick 2 --message "on my way"
wacli send text --to "Family" --message "hey @15551234567" --mention +15551234567
wacli send text --to 1234567890 --message "replying" --reply-to ABC123
wacli send file --to 1234567890 --file ./pic.jpg --caption "hi"
wacli send file --to 1234567890 --file /tmp/report --filename report.pdf
wacli send sticker --to 1234567890 --file ./sticker-512.webp
wacli send voice --to 1234567890 --file ./voice.ogg
wacli send react --to 1234567890 --id ABC123 --reaction "❤️"