What is WuzAPI?

WuzAPI is a self-hosted RESTful API service that wraps the Whatsmeow Go library to provide WhatsApp messaging capabilities. It supports multiple concurrent WhatsApp sessions, sending and receiving various message types including text, images, audio, video, documents, stickers, locations, contacts, and polls. Features include group management, webhooks with HMAC signing, a web-based dashboard for managing instances, and a Svelte web client for messaging. It can run via Docker Compose with optional PostgreSQL and RabbitMQ, via Homebrew on macOS/Linux, or as a compiled Go binary. The project is licensed under MIT and includes a warning about WhatsApp Terms of Service compliance.

Should you self-host WuzAPI?

WuzAPI scores 57/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #7 of 14 in Messaging. It has 1 046 GitHub stars.

It shipped 3 stable releases in the past year. The latest, v1.1.0, came out on 26 October 2026. New versions land roughly every 5 weeks.

Setup is moderate: expect some configuration beyond a single command. It is MIT-licensed and written mostly in Go.

Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is EMQX (78/100, 16 867 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See WuzAPI vs EMQX side by side.

Features

Admin API
Chat presence
Contact Management
Group Management
History Sync
Media handling
Message sending
Multi-device WhatsApp sessions
Proxy Support
RESTful API
S3 media storage
Session Management
Web Dashboard
Webhooks with HMAC signing
Web messaging client

How to configure WuzAPI

DB_HOSTdbPostgreSQL host
PostgreSQL host
DB_NAMEwuzapiPostgreSQL database name
PostgreSQL database name
DB_PASSWORDwuzapiPostgreSQL password
PostgreSQL password
DB_PORT5432PostgreSQL port
PostgreSQL port
DB_SSLMODEfalsePostgreSQL SSL mode
PostgreSQL SSL mode
DB_USERwuzapiPostgreSQL username
PostgreSQL username
LOG_LEVELMinimum log level (trace, debug, info, warn, error, fatal, panic)
Minimum log level (trace, debug, info, warn, error, fatal, panic)
values: trace, debug, info, warn, error, fatal, panic
RABBITMQ_QUEUEwhatsapp_eventsRabbitMQ queue name
RabbitMQ queue name
RABBITMQ_URLamqp://wuzapi:wuzapi@localhost:5672/%2FRabbitMQ connection URL
RabbitMQ connection URL
SESSION_DEVICE_NAMEWuzAPIDevice name shown in WhatsApp
Device name shown in WhatsApp
TZAmerica/Sao_PauloTimezone for server operations
Timezone for server operations
WEBHOOK_FORMATjsonWebhook format: json or form
Webhook format: json or form
values: json, form
WUZAPI_ADDRESS0.0.0.0IP address to bind the server to
IP address to bind the server to
WUZAPI_ADMIN_TOKENAuthentication token for admin endpoints
Authentication token for admin endpoints
WUZAPI_AUTO_PRESENCEavailableAuto presence after connecting: available or unavailable
Auto presence after connecting: available or unavailable
values: available, unavailable
WUZAPI_GLOBAL_ENCRYPTION_KEYEncryption key for sensitive data (32 bytes for AES-256)
Encryption key for sensitive data (32 bytes for AES-256)
WUZAPI_GLOBAL_HMAC_KEYGlobal HMAC key for webhook signing (minimum 32 characters)
Global HMAC key for webhook signing (minimum 32 characters)
WUZAPI_GLOBAL_WEBHOOKGlobal webhook URL for all instances
Global webhook URL for all instances
WUZAPI_MEDIA_CONCURRENCY2Attachment work concurrency (positive integer)
Attachment work concurrency (positive integer)
WUZAPI_MEDIA_TMPDIRTemporary directory for media files (disk-backed writable mount recommended)
Temporary directory for media files (disk-backed writable mount recommended)
WUZAPI_PORT8080Port for the WuzAPI server
Port for the WuzAPI server
WUZAPI_PROXY_POOL_FALLBACKblockBehavior when proxy pool is full: block or direct
Behavior when proxy pool is full: block or direct
values: block, direct
WUZAPI_SOCKET_RECOVERYtrueRecover closed sockets after send failures
Recover closed sockets after send failures
values: true, false
WUZAPI_WEBHOOK_USE_PROXYtrueRoute webhook deliveries through per-user proxy when configured
Route webhook deliveries through per-user proxy when configured
values: true, false