Send WhatsApp messages with Baileys

Send text, links, contacts, locations, reactions, polls, and pin messages using sock.sendMessage. Full reference with working TypeScript examples.

Every message in Baileys goes through a single method: sock.sendMessage(jid, content, options?). The jid is the WhatsApp ID of the recipient, content is an AnyMessageContent object describing the message type, and the optional options parameter accepts MiscMessageGenerationOptions for things like quoting, disappearing messages, and timestamps.

const jid: string
const content: AnyMessageContent
const options: MiscMessageGenerationOptions

sock.sendMessage(jid, content, options)

See the full list of content types in the AnyMessageContent type alias and all available options in the MiscMessageGenerationOptions type alias.

Non-media messages

Text message

The simplest message sends a plain string in the text field.

await sock.sendMessage(jid, { text: 'hello word' })

Quote / reply

Pass the original WAMessage object as quoted in the options to thread a reply beneath it. This works with all message types.

await sock.sendMessage(jid, { text: 'hello word' }, { quoted: message })

Mention a user

Include the @number mention in the text and list the full JIDs in mentions. The @ prefix in the text is optional but recommended so WhatsApp highlights the mention in the UI.

await sock.sendMessage(
    jid,
    {
        text: '@12345678901',
        mentions: ['[e-mail]']
    }
)

Forward a message

Retrieve the WAMessage object from your store and pass it as forward. WhatsApp handles the forwarding label automatically.

const msg = getMessageFromStore() // implement this on your end
await sock.sendMessage(jid, { forward: msg }) // WA forward the message!

Location message

Send a pin on the map by providing degreesLatitude and degreesLongitude.

await sock.sendMessage(
    jid,
    {
        location: {
            degreesLatitude: 24.121231,
            degreesLongitude: 55.1121221
        }
    }
)

Contact message (vCard)

Build a standard vCard string and wrap it in the contacts object. You can include multiple contacts in the same message by adding more entries to the contacts array.

const vcard = 'BEGIN:VCARD\n' // metadata of the contact card
            + 'VERSION:3.0\n'
            + 'FN:Jeff Singh\n' // full name
            + 'ORG:Ashoka Uni;\n' // the organization of the contact
            + 'TEL;type=CELL;type=VOICE;waid=911234567890:[phone]\n' // WhatsApp ID + phone number
            + 'END:VCARD'

await sock.sendMessage(
    id,
    {
        contacts: {
            displayName: 'Jeff',
            contacts: [{ vcard }]
        }
    }
)

Reaction message

Pass the key of the message you want to react to. Use an empty string for text to remove an existing reaction.

await sock.sendMessage(
    jid,
    {
        react: {
            text: '💖', // use an empty string to remove the reaction
            key: message.key
        }
    }
)

Pin message

Pin or unpin a message by passing its key. Set type to 1 to pin and 0 to unpin. The time field controls how long the pin lasts.

Duration	Seconds
24 hours	86400
7 days	604800
30 days	2592000

await sock.sendMessage(
    jid,
    {
        pin: {
            type: 1, // 0 to remove
            time: 86400,
            key: message.key
        }
    }
)

Poll message

Create a poll with a name, an array of option strings, and the number of options a voter can select. Set toAnnouncementGroup to true when posting to a community announcement group.

await sock.sendMessage(
    jid,
    {
        poll: {
            name: 'My Poll',
            values: ['Option 1', 'Option 2'],
            selectableCount: 1,
            toAnnouncementGroup: false // or true
        }
    }
)

Poll votes are encrypted. To read them, listen for messages.update and use getAggregateVotesInPollMessage. Set getMessage in your socket config to improve poll vote decryption reliability.

Link previews

By default, WhatsApp Web does not generate link previews. Baileys can generate them for you, but you must first install the optional dependency:

yarn add link-preview-js

Once installed, send a message with a URL in the text field — Baileys detects the URL automatically and fetches preview metadata.

await sock.sendMessage(
    jid,
    {
        text: 'Hi, this was sent using https://github.com/whiskeysockets/baileys'
    }
)

Disappearing messages

Send a protocol message to enable or disable disappearing messages in a chat, or attach ephemeralExpiration to any individual message to make only that message disappear.

Duration	Seconds
Remove	0
24 hours	86400
7 days	604800
90 days	7776000

1. Enable disappearing messages for a chat

   // turn on disappearing messages
   await sock.sendMessage(
       jid,
       // this is 1 week in seconds -- how long you want messages to appear for
       { disappearingMessagesInChat: WA_DEFAULT_EPHEMERAL }
   )
   
2. Send a single disappearing message

   // will send as a disappearing message
   await sock.sendMessage(jid, { text: 'hello' }, { ephemeralExpiration: WA_DEFAULT_EPHEMERAL })
   
3. Disable disappearing messages for a chat

   // turn off disappearing messages
   await sock.sendMessage(
       jid,
       { disappearingMessagesInChat: false }
   )