open-wa v5 is alpha. Use v4.76.0 for mature production systems unless you are validating v5.
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v5 Alpha Prerelease

What changed in @open-wa v5.0.0-alpha.0, who should test it, and how to try it safely.

@open-wa v5.0.0-alpha.0

@open-wa v5.0.0-alpha.0 is the first v5 alpha prerelease for testers and contributors. It opens the new monorepo package line and gives early adopters a clear path to test the rebuilt runtime, transport, integrations, and docs.

What changed

  • The project is now a v5 monorepo with separate packages for the runtime, API, schema, browser drivers, plugins, and integrations.
  • The public v5 runtime centers on createClient and schema-driven method metadata.
  • Easy API commands use HTTP, while runtime events stream over Server-Sent Events.
  • Browser automation can be tested through Puppeteer, Playwright, or Lightpanda-backed driver packages.
  • MCP support lets AI agents discover and call Easy API methods as tools.
  • Early integration packages cover Chatwoot, webhooks, S3 media handling, Cloudflare session proxying, and Node-RED.

Try it

Pin the alpha version while testing:

npx @open-wa/wa-automate@5.0.0-alpha.0 --port 8080

Then open the local docs and generated metadata from the running Easy API:

http://localhost:8080/api-docs/
http://localhost:8080/meta/swagger.json
http://localhost:8080/meta/postman.json

For production workloads, stay on v4 for now:

npx @open-wa/wa-automate@4.76.0

How to test safely

  • Use a separate WhatsApp account and a disposable session directory.
  • Start with Easy API before embedding the runtime into your own app.
  • Verify login, session recovery, webhooks, event streams, and generated schemas before moving any workflow across.
  • Prefer SocketClient for remote consumers unless you need direct browser/runtime control.
  • Report regressions with the exact package version, Node version, driver package, and startup command.
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v5 Alpha Status

Understand the current version, when to use v5 vs v4, and what has changed.

How it works

Understand which process owns WhatsApp, how sessions become ready, and which integration path to choose.

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