pywacli 0.1.1

WhatsApp CLI Tool built with Python and Baileys

PyWacli — Python WhatsApp CLI

Real-time WhatsApp ingestion and monitoring system built with Python, Baileys, WebSockets, SQLite, Rich, and S3-compatible storage. Captures messages, edits, reactions, statuses, images, videos, and documents with a live terminal dashboard, media syncing, and conversation tracking.

Features

• Live Dashboard — Real-time terminal UI with message feed and database statistics (Rich + Live)
• WhatsApp Ingestion — Full event capture via Baileys (messages, edits, reactions, statuses, media)
• Media Storage — Automatically sync media to S3, Cloudflare R2, or local filesystem with per-media-type filtering
• Media Viewer — Browse, inspect, and download stored media by type (image/video/document)
• Interactive Setup — Guided configuration wizard for WhatsApp connection, storage providers, DB path, dashboard theme, and logging
• SQLite Database — 7 tables: messages, edits, statuses, reactions, media, media_handshake, conversations
• CLI Menu — Simple numbered menu for all operations
• Multiple Themes — Default, Dark, and Light dashboard themes

Architecture

WhatsApp (mobile)
    |
    | Baileys library
    v
Node.js (baileys_service.js)
    |-- Downloads media to media/ folder
    |-- Normalizes events
    |
    v
WebSocket Server (ws_server.js :3000)
    |
    +---> Python Client (websocket_services.py)
              |
              +---> SQLite (messages, media, etc.)
              +---> S3 / R2 / Local (media files)
              +---> Rich Dashboard (dashboard.py)

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+
• Node.js 18+
• npm
• (Optional) Localstack or S3-compatible storage for media sync

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone <repo-url> && cd pywacli

# Python dependencies
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate     # Windows
# source .venv/bin/activate  # Linux/Mac
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Node.js dependencies
npm install

Configuration

Run the setup wizard to configure everything interactively:

python main.py setup

Or configure individual sections later via the menu.

Configuration file location

~/.pywacli/config.json

Sections

Section	Description	Defaults
whatsapp	WebSocket URL, auto-reconnect	ws://localhost:3000, true
media_storage	One or more storage entries (S3/R2/Local) with media type toggles	Empty
database	SQLite file path	./pywacli.db
dashboard	Refresh interval, theme	1s, default
logging	Log level, output file	INFO, ./pywacli.log

Example media storage entry

{
  "store_image": true,
  "store_video": true,
  "store_document": true,
  "provider": "s3",
  "endpoint": "http://localhost:4566",
  "access_key_id": "test",
  "secret_access_key": "test",
  "region": "us-east-1",
  "bucket_name": "whatsapp-media",
  "local_path": null,
  "id": 1
}

Usage

Start the application

python main.py

This shows the main menu:

  1   Dashboard     Launch the WhatsApp dashboard
  2   Setup         Run the interactive configuration wizard
  3   Config        Open configuration menu
  4   Run           Start baileys + websocket services
  5   Media         Browse stored media
  0   Exit          Exit the application

CLI commands

All commands are also available directly:

Command	Description
python main.py dashboard	Launch the live dashboard
python main.py setup	Run configuration wizard
python main.py config	Open configuration menu
python main.py run	Start baileys + websocket in separate terminals
python main.py media	Browse and download stored media

Or using the module directly:

python -m src.cli [command]

Run services

Opens two new terminal windows:

python main.py run

• Terminal 1: node src/services/baileys_service.js (WhatsApp client)
• Terminal 2: python src/services/websocket_service.py (Event listener)

After starting, scan the QR code in the Node.js terminal with WhatsApp to connect.

Media viewer

Browse and download stored media files:

Media Viewer
  1   Images
  2   Videos
  3   Documents
  4   All Media
  0   Back

Select a media ID to view full details (type, filename, sender, timestamp, sync status) and download the file from S3 or local storage.

Events

Event	Description
message.new	New text message
message.update	Message edited
message.reaction	Emoji reaction
status.new	Status/story update
conversation.new	Unified conversation event
media.new	Image/video/document received

Database tables

Table	Contents
messages	Text messages with sender metadata
message_edits	Edit history
statuses	WhatsApp status updates
reactions	Emoji reactions
media	Media metadata (type, filename, path, sender)
media_handshake	Per-entry sync status (success/failure reason)
conversations	Unified conversation log

Project structure

pywacli/
├── main.py                          # Entry point
├── package.json                     # Node.js dependencies
├── requirements.txt                 # Python dependencies
├── src/
├── pywacli/
│     ├── cli/
│     ├── __init__.py
│     ├── __main__.py              # Typer CLI app & menu
│     ├── app.py                   # App orchestrator
│     ├── config_manager.py        # ~/.pywacli/config.json management
│     ├── configuration.py         # Interactive setup wizard
│     └── ui/
│     │    ├── dashboard.py         # Live Rich dashboard
│     │    ├── media_viewer.py      # Media browser & downloader
│     │    ├── tables.py            # (reserved)
│     │    └── live_feed.py         # (reserved)
│     ├── db/
│     │   ├── database.py              # SQLite schema & CRUD
│     │   ├── init_db.py               # Table initializer
│     │   ├── retriver_db.py           # Read queries
│     │   └── bucket_connection.py     # S3/R2 connection manager
│     ├── services/
│     │   ├── baileys_service.js       # WhatsApp Baileys client
│     │   ├── ws_server.js             # WebSocket server
│     │   ├── session_manager.js       # Baileys socket singleton
│     │   └── websocket_services.py    # Python WebSocket consumer
│     └── utils/
│          ├── bucket_utils.py          # S3 upload/download helpers
│          └── local_utils.py           # Local file storage
├── .env.example                     # Environment template
└── LICENSE                          # MIT

License

MIT