Use cases

WhatsApp group API for developers

WaGate gives you a REST API for WhatsApp groups. From your own code you can create a group, add, remove, promote or demote people, rename it, set its description and settings, and fetch its invite link. Each request is authenticated with the token of one linked number, and a free sandbox is included.

What you can automate

• Create a group, optionally with people already named, or inside a community.
• Add, remove, promote or demote up to 50 people per request.
• Rename a group and set or clear its description.
• Change who can send, who can edit group info and who can add members.
• Get the invite link.
• Read a group, or list the groups the number is in.
• Get a signed webhook when someone joins, leaves, or is promoted or demoted.

A first call

Create a group, then add a person. The number you call from must be linked to a channel. The same two calls in curl and Node (set GROUP_JID in curl to the jid the first call returns):

API=https://api.wagate.dev/v1
BASE="$API/sessions/$CHANNEL_ID"
AUTH="Authorization: Bearer $CHANNEL_TOKEN"

curl -s -X POST "$BASE/groups" \
  -H "$AUTH" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"subject":"Team","participants":[]}'

curl -s -X POST "$BASE/groups/$GROUP_JID/participants" \
  -H "$AUTH" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"action":"add","participants":["66XXXXXXXXX"]}'

const API = 'https://api.wagate.dev/v1';
const { CHANNEL_ID, CHANNEL_TOKEN } = process.env;
const BASE = `${API}/sessions/${CHANNEL_ID}`;
const headers = {
  Authorization: `Bearer ${CHANNEL_TOKEN}`,
  'Content-Type': 'application/json',
};

async function call(method, path, body) {
  const res = await fetch(`${BASE}${path}`, {
    method,
    headers,
    body: body === undefined ? undefined : JSON.stringify(body),
  });
  const data = await res.json();
  if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`${res.status} ${data.code}: ${data.error}`);
  return data;
}

const group = await call('POST', `/groups`, {"subject":"Team","participants":[]});
console.log(group);
const added = await call('POST', `/groups/${group.jid}/participants`, {"action":"add","participants":["66XXXXXXXXX"]});
console.log(added);

Every group route

Limits and honest caveats

• A create counts as one group add for the group, one for each person you name, and one more when you create it inside a community with parent_jid. On the free sandbox channel those come out of its 5 adds a day. Past the allowance the request is refused whole.
• Some people cannot be added. Per person you can get a refusal for their privacy settings, a recent exit, a block, or a number that is not on WhatsApp. The answer says which.
• If the outcome of an add is unclear, the result is "unknown". Read the group before you retry.
• The API has no idempotency key. Never re-create a group without listing groups first.
• Adding people to groups on a new number is what gets numbers restricted. Add a few at a time, with random gaps, and watch the number health readings.
• WaGate is independent. You link your own number. It is not an official WhatsApp route.

WaGate is an independent WhatsApp API for developers: send and receive messages, automate groups and communities, and get signed webhooks with a free sandbox. Not affiliated with WhatsApp or Meta. You link your own number.