wacli is a command-line interface for WhatsApp that focuses on syncing, searching, and sending messages through the WhatsApp Web protocol. It is designed as a third-party CLI built on top of whatsmeow, giving developers and power users a local-first way to work with WhatsApp data outside the standard app interface. The project supports interactive authentication through a QR-based login flow and then transitions into a non-interactive sync mode for ongoing message capture. It stores data locally, which enables fast offline search across previously synced conversations and makes it useful for automation, archiving, and analysis workflows. Beyond basic messaging, it also includes tools for backfilling older history on a best-effort basis, downloading media, and managing groups. The overall design emphasizes human-readable terminal output by default, with optional JSON output for scripting and machine-readable pipelines.
Features
- QR-based interactive authentication
- Continuous local sync with follow mode
- Fast offline message search
- Text and file sending from the terminal
- Media download for synced messages
- Group listing and participant management