WhatsApp‑MCP (Go Edition)

A lightweight, WhatsApp MCP server and bridge — rewritten entirely in Go for simplicity, portability, and real‑world automation workflows.

This project is a re‑imagining of the original whatsapp-mcp by lharries, who created the first WhatsApp MCP bridge using a Python MCP server and a Go WhatsApp client powered by WhatsMeow. Their work demonstrated how Claude Desktop could interact with WhatsApp through the MCP protocol, and this project would not exist without that foundation.

Start whatsapp-bridge -> then run whatsapp-mcp-server in your preferred mode (STDIO or HTTP).

Installation

Prerequisites

• Go
• Anthropic Claude Desktop app (or Cursor) or n8n workflow
• FFmpeg (optional) - Only needed for audio messages. If you want to send audio files as playable WhatsApp voice messages, they must be in .ogg Opus format. With FFmpeg installed, the MCP server will automatically convert non-Opus audio files. Without FFmpeg, you can still send raw audio files using the send_file tool.

Steps

1. Clone this repository

   git clone https://github.com/iamatulsingh/whatsapp-mcp-go.git
   cd whatsapp-mcp-go
   

2. Run the WhatsApp bridge Navigate to the whatsapp-bridge directory and run the Go application:

   cd whatsapp-bridge
   go run main.go
   

   The first time you run it, you will be prompted to scan a QR code. Scan the QR code with your WhatsApp mobile app to authenticate. After approximately 20 days, you will might need to re-authenticate.

   3. Connect to the MCP server

      cd whatsapp-mcp-server
      go build -o whatsapp-mcp
      

      Copy the below json with the appropriate {{PROJECT_BASE_PATH}} value:

      {
           "mcpServers": {
               "whatsapp-mcp": {
                  "command": "{{PROJECT_BASE_PATH}}/whatsapp-mcp-server/whatsapp-mcp",
                  "env": {
                       "WHATSAPP_API_KEY": "c3VwZXItbG9uZy1yYW5kb20tc3RyaW5nLW1pbmltdW0tb2YtNjQtY2hhcmFjdGVycy15b3UtbmVlZC10by1wYXN0ZS1oZXJl"
                  }
               }
           },
           "preferences": {
               "sidebarMode": "chat",
               "coworkScheduledTasksEnabled": false
           }
       }
      

      Read-only by default. The bridge refuses sends and the MCP server hides the send tools unless READ_ONLY=false. The bridge and MCP server are separate processes, so to enable sending you must set READ_ONLY=false in both: in the