send

Read when: sending text, files, quoted replies, or reactions.

wacli send requires authentication, a live connection, and writable mode. Send attempts are bounded and retry once after reconnect for known stale-session/usync timeout failures. After a successful send, wacli keeps the connection alive briefly so whatsmeow can handle retry receipts from devices that could not decrypt the first copy. Repeated send commands within 5 seconds print a stderr warning so tight loops make WhatsApp rate-limit/account-risk visible.

Commands

wacli send text --to RECIPIENT --message TEXT [--pick N] [--mention USER]... [--no-preview] [--reply-to MSG_ID] [--reply-to-sender JID] [--post-send-wait 2s]
wacli send file --to RECIPIENT --file PATH [--pick N] [--caption TEXT] [--filename NAME] [--mime TYPE] [--ptt] [--reply-to MSG_ID] [--reply-to-sender JID] [--post-send-wait 2s]
wacli send voice --to RECIPIENT --file PATH [--pick N] [--mime TYPE] [--reply-to MSG_ID] [--reply-to-sender JID] [--post-send-wait 2s]
wacli send react --to PHONE_OR_JID --id MSG_ID [--reaction TEXT] [--sender JID] [--post-send-wait 2s]

Recipients

send text and send file accept a JID, phone number, or synced contact/group/chat name.
If a name matches multiple recipients, interactive terminals prompt.
In scripts, use --pick N to choose a displayed match.
Phone numbers may use common formatting such as +1 (234) 567-8900.

Replies and reactions

send text fetches Open Graph metadata for the first http:// or https:// URL and sends it as a WhatsApp link preview.
Preview metadata fetches time out after 10 seconds and fall back to plain text.
Pass --no-preview to disable link-preview fetching.
Pass repeatable --mention values to mention user JIDs or phone numbers in group text messages.
--reply-to quotes a stored message ID.
For unsynced group replies, pass --reply-to-sender.
send react defaults to thumbs-up.
Pass --reaction "" to clear a reaction.
For group reactions, pass --sender for the original message sender.
Use --post-send-wait 0 to disable the retry-receipt grace window for latency-sensitive scripts.

Files

File uploads are capped at 100 MiB.
MIME type is detected automatically unless --mime is set.
--filename changes the displayed document name.
Captions apply to images, videos, and documents.
send voice is a shortcut for send file --ptt.
Voice notes require OGG/Opus audio (audio/ogg; codecs=opus).
When available, ffprobe sets voice-note duration and ffmpeg generates the 64-sample waveform from decoded PCM audio.

Examples

wacli send text --to mom --message "landed"
wacli send text --to "Family" --pick 2 --message "on my way"
wacli send text --to "Family" --message "@alice can you check this?" --mention 15551234567
wacli send text --to 1234567890 --message "replying" --reply-to ABC123
wacli send file --to 1234567890 --file ./pic.jpg --caption "hi"
wacli send file --to 1234567890 --file /tmp/report --filename report.pdf
wacli send voice --to 1234567890 --file ./voice.ogg
wacli send react --to 1234567890 --id ABC123 --reaction "❤️"

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