Send Automated WhatsApp Messages with n8n

Find more information on Wassenger

Leverage n8n no-code workflow automations with Wassenger’s WhatsApp API to send automated messages through your WhatsApp number to both users and group chats.

Send WhatsApp messages, upload media files, validate phone numbers, and manage chats, contacts, team members, departments, and more within your automated workflows.

Wassenger is a versatile WhatsApp Team Chat and API solution for business messaging to automate anything on WhatsApp.

Check out the Wassenger’s API documentation and examples here

Do you want to create your first AI chatbot? Check out our new video tutorial on YouTube!

Preliminary information

Installation

You have two options to install Wassenger within n8n:

• Community Nodes (Recommended)
• Manual installation

Features

These are just some of the many features available with n8n and Wassenger

• Send Text Messages
• Send Multimedia Messages
• Schedule Messages
• Contacts Management
• Webhooks & Real-time Events
• Templates & Automation
• Advanced Features
• Utility Functions

Configuration

Configuring n8n Webhooks for External Access

• Using ngrok for Public Webhook URLs

🤩 🤖 Wassenger is a complete communication platform and API solution for WhatsApp. Explore more than 100+ API use cases and automate anything on WhatsApp by signing up for a free trial and getting started in minutes!

Alright, now that you’re all set, let’s dive in and explore everything together, step by step! 🚀

Requirements

• Node.js: v16 or higher
• n8n: v1.70 or later
• Wassenger account: Sign up for free to get API access
• API Key: obtain your API key here
• WhatsApp number: At least one WhatsApp number connected to Wassenger

Installation

Community Nodes (Recommended)

1. Go to Settings > Community Nodes

2. Select Install

3. Enter n8n-nodes-wassenger in the "Enter npm package name" field

4. Agree to the risks of using community nodes: select “I understand the risks of installing unverified code from a public source”

5. Select Install

6. You can now use Wassenger’s node in your workflows: if you can’t see it, restart the n8n instance

Manual installation

To get started, install the package in your n8n root directory:

# Using npm
npm install n8n-nodes-wassenger

# Alternatively, for Docker-based installations
docker exec -it n8n npm install n8n-nodes-wassenger

After installation, restart your n8n instance.

Setup

1. Go to Credentials

2. Select the Add Credential button

3. Select Wassenger from the “Search for app” dropdown

4. Enter your Wassenger API key in the API Key field

• Get your Wassenger API key here

5. Select Save to store your credentials

🤩 🤖 Wassenger is a complete communication platform and API solution for WhatsApp. Explore more than 100+ API use cases and automate anything on WhatsApp by signing up for a free trial and getting started in minutes!

Features

Send Text Messages

• Send formatted text messages to any WhatsApp user
• Support for rich text formatting (bold, italic, monospace, strikethrough)
• Add URLs with preview capability
• Include emojis and special characters
• Send to individual contacts or broadcast to multiple recipients

Send Multimedia Messages

• Send images, videos, documents, and audio files
• Support for GIFs and stickers
• Upload files by URL or from local storage
• Add captions to media messages
• Set media message attributes (filename, mime-type, etc.)

Schedule Messages

• Schedule messages for future delivery
• Set a specific date and time for delivery
• Schedule recurring messages with external triggers
• Cancel scheduled messages before delivery

Contacts Management

• Validate if phone numbers exist on WhatsApp
• Check the contact’s profile information
• Add contacts to your address book
• Create and manage contact groups

Webhooks & Real-time Events

• Process incoming messages via webhooks
• React to message status updates (sent, delivered, read)
• Handle group events (joins, leaves, topic changes)
• Monitor connection status changes
• Receive call notifications

Templates & Automation

• Send template messages for business accounts
• Use message variables for personalization
• Create automated reply workflows
• Set up conditional message flows based on responses

Advanced Features

• Send interactive buttons and list messages
• Create polls and gather responses
• Send location messages
• Implement quick reply buttons
• Handle message reactions

Utility Functions

• Download and process media from incoming messages
• Generate QR codes for WhatsApp Web login
• Monitor device battery and connection status
• Manage multiple WhatsApp accounts from a single workflow

🤩 🤖 Wassenger is a complete communication platform and API solution for WhatsApp. Explore more than 100+ API use cases and automate anything on WhatsApp by signing up for a free trial and getting started in minutes!

Configuring n8n Webhooks for External Access

To receive events from Wassenger or other external services, you’ll need to configure n8n with a publicly accessible URL. By default, n8n runs locally and generates webhook URLs using localhost, which external services cannot reach.

Understanding Webhook Configuration

n8n creates webhook URLs by combining the protocol, host, and port settings. When running behind a reverse proxy or needing public access, you must manually set the webhook URL.

Setting the Webhook URL

Temporary Configuration (Session Only)

Mac / Linux

export WEBHOOK_URL=https://your-domain.com/
n8n start

Windows (Command Prompt)

set WEBHOOK_URL=https://your-domain.com/
n8n start

Windows (PowerShell)

$env:WEBHOOK_URL = "https://your-domain.com/"
n8n start

Permanent Configuration

Mac / Linux

Add to your ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or appropriate shell configuration file:

echo 'export WEBHOOK_URL=https://your-domain.com/' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Windows

Set a system environment variable through:

1. Right-click on ‘This PC’ or ‘My Computer’ → Properties
2. Click ‘Advanced system settings’
3. Click ‘Environment Variables’
4. Add a new system variable with:

• Name: WEBHOOK_URL
• Value: https://your-domain.com/

Verifying Your Webhook Configuration

1. Start n8n after setting the webhook URL
2. Create a new workflow and add a “Wassenger” node that uses webhooks
3. The webhook URL should now show your custom domain instead of the localhost
4. External services can now successfully send events to your n8n instance

Note: Ensure your domain is properly set up with SSL and that your network/firewall allows incoming connections to the port your n8n instance is using.

Using ngrok for Public Webhook URLs

If you’re developing locally and need a quick way to expose your n8n instance to the internet for testing webhooks, ngrok is a great solution.

Installing ngrok

Mac

# Using Homebrew
brew install ngrok

Or download and install it manually here

Linux

Follow the instructions described here

Windows

1. Download ngrok from https://ngrok.com/download
2. Extract the zip file
3. Optionally, add the ngrok executable to your PATH or move it to a directory that’s already in your PATH

Alternatively, follow the instructions here

🤩 🤖 Wassenger is a complete communication platform and API solution for WhatsApp. Explore more than 100+ API use cases and automate anything on WhatsApp by signing up for a free trial and getting started in minutes!

Setting Up ngrok

1. Sign up for a free account at https://ngrok.com
2. Get your auth token from the ngrok dashboard
3. Configure ngrok with your auth token:

ngrok authtoken YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN

Using ngrok with n8n

1. Start your n8n instance first:

n8n start

2. In a new terminal window, start ngrok pointing to n8n’s default port:

ngrok http 5678

3. Ngrok will display a URL like https://abc123.ngrok.io

4. Set this as your n8n webhook URL in a new terminal:

Mac/Linux

export WEBHOOK_URL=https://abc123.ngrok.io/ n8n start

Windows (Command Prompt)

set WEBHOOK_URL=https://abc123.ngrok.io/ n8n start

Windows (PowerShell)

$env:WEBHOOK_URL = "https://abc123.ngrok.io/" n8n start

5. You’ll need to restart n8n for the webhook URL changes to take effect

🤩 🤖 Wassenger is a complete communication platform and API solution for WhatsApp. Explore more than 100+ API use cases and automate anything on WhatsApp by signing up for a free trial and getting started in minutes!

Example Workflow

1. Start n8n on port 5678
2. Launch ngrok: ngrok http 5678
3. Note the ngrok URL (e.g., https://abc123.ngrok.io)
4. Stop n8n
5. Set the webhook URL environment variable with the ngrok URL
6. Restart n8n
7. Create a workflow with a Wassenger webhook trigger
8. The webhook URL will now use your ngrok domain and be accessible from the internet

Note: Free ngrok sessions expire after a few hours and the URL changes each time you restart ngrok. For production use, consider a permanent solution like a proper domain with a reverse proxy.