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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/jihvijhojhviihogyuvi/whatsapp-api/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

GET /qr is a browser-friendly alternative to phone-number pairing. Instead of returning JSON, it serves a self-contained HTML page that renders the current WhatsApp Web QR code as an image and refreshes itself every 5 seconds. This makes it easy to authenticate on any machine where you have access to both the server and a web browser — just open the URL, scan the code with your phone, and the page will reflect the new ready state on its next refresh.

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Endpoint

GET /qr
This endpoint returns text/html, not application/json.

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Behavior

The server generates the HTML page dynamically on each request:
  • If a QR code is available (has_qr: true), it is rendered as a 360×360 PNG image embedded in the page as a base64 data URL (<img src="data:image/png;base64,..."/>).
  • If no QR code is available yet (client not started or already authenticated), the page shows the message: “No QR is available yet. Start auth, then refresh this page.”
  • The current state value from the WhatsApp client is displayed below the image so you can monitor progress without a separate API call.
  • A <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5"> tag causes the browser to reload the page every 5 seconds automatically.

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How to Use

1

Start the server

Make sure the WhatsApp MCP API server is running and reachable at http://127.0.0.1:8790.
2

Start the authentication flow

Call POST /api/auth/start to launch Chrome and begin WhatsApp Web initialization:
curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8790/api/auth/start
Wait for the response to show state: "qr" or poll GET /api/status until has_qr becomes true.
3

Open the QR page in a browser

Navigate to the QR page in any web browser on the same machine (or any machine with network access to the server):
http://127.0.0.1:8790/qr
The QR code image will appear on the page.
4

Scan the QR code with WhatsApp

On your phone, open WhatsApp and go to Settings → Linked devices → Link a device. Point the camera at the QR code displayed in your browser.
5

Authentication completes

After a successful scan, the WhatsApp client transitions through authenticated → ready. The page continues auto-refreshing every 5 seconds and will show state: ready once the connection is established.
WhatsApp QR codes expire after a short period. If the code expires before you scan it, the server automatically generates a new one. Because the page refreshes every 5 seconds, a fresh QR code will appear within seconds — no manual action is needed.
For headless server environments where no browser is available, use phone-number pairing instead. Call POST /api/auth/start to start Chrome, then POST /api/pairing-code with your phone number to receive an 8-character code you can enter directly in the WhatsApp app under Settings → Linked devices → Link with phone number instead.

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