Whats4Linux is an unofficial WhatsApp client for Linux with a native Go backend and a lightweight WebKit-based UI.

It is not a wrapper around WhatsApp Web.
Instead, it directly connects to WhatsApp using the official multi-device protocol via whatsmeow.

The goal of Whats4Linux is to provide a fast, efficient, Linux-first desktop client without Electron, Chromium, or browser automation.

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✨ Key Highlights

• Uses WhatsApp’s real multi-device APIs
• Native Go backend for networking, crypto, and storage
• Lightweight UI rendered using WebKitGTK (via Wails)
• No Electron, no Node.js, no Chromium
• Linux-first in spirit, cross-platform by design.

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🧠 Architecture

Whats4Linux follows a native-backed, web-rendered architecture:

flowchart LR
    UI["Web UI (WebKitGTK)"] -->|Wails RPC| Go[Native Go Backend]
    Go -->|Multi-Device Protocol| WA[WhatsApp Servers]
    Go --> DB["(SQLite)"]
    Go --> Media[Media Cache]

What is native?

• WhatsApp protocol implementation
• Encryption & crypto
• Message sync & pagination
• Database access
• Media handling
• IPC between frontend and backend

What is not native?

• UI widgets (HTML/CSS instead of GTK/Qt)

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🚀 Features

Messaging

• One-to-one chats
• Group chats
• Full chat history sync (TODO)

Media & Storage

• Linux-native media cache
• SQLite-backed message storage
• Optimized database configuration for chat workloads

Performance

• Lower memory usage than Electron clients
• No Chromium overhead
• Minimal JS ↔ Go IPC
• Tuned SQLite queries and cache sizes

Privacy & Security

• Uses WhatsApp’s official encryption via whatsmeow
• No telemetry
• No analytics
• All data stored locally

Customisation

• Custom JS, CSS allowed
• Custom Bezier curve editor for UI animations
• Easy to use colour scheme editor

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🐧 Linux-First Design

Whats4Linux is built specifically for Linux:

• Uses WebKitGTK instead of Chromium
• Respects XDG base directories
• Designed for long-running sessions
• Works on both Wayland and X11

Settings Page

Login Page

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🛠 Tech Stack

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📦 Building

⚠️ Project is under active development

git clone https://github.com/lugvitc/whats4linux
cd whats4linux
wails build

This will produce a binary in the build/bin/ directory.

🧪 Development Notes

• The backend exposes strongly-typed APIs to the frontend via Wails bindings.
• Message pagination is optimized for large chat histories.
• SQLite is tuned using WAL mode and controlled cache sizes for high-throughput reads.
• Media loading is lazy to avoid unnecessary memory usage.
• UI performance is carefully tuned to minimize scroll jank and IPC overhead.
• Designed for long-running sessions without gradual memory bloat.

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Contributing

Contributions are what make the open source community such an amazing place to be learn, inspire, and create. Any contributions you make are greatly appreciated.

• If you have suggestions for adding or removing features, feel free to open an issue to discuss it, or directly create a pull request after you edit the README.md file with necessary changes.
• Please make sure you check your spelling and grammar.
• Create individual PR for each suggestion.

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Creating A Pull Request

1. Fork the Project
2. Create your Feature Branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your Changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the Branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

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⚠️ Disclaimer

Whats4Linux is an unofficial WhatsApp client and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to WhatsApp or Meta in any way.

Use at your own risk.

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📜 License

This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0).

You are free to:

• Use the software
• Study and modify the source code
• Redistribute copies
• Distribute modified versions

Under the condition that:

• Any network-deployed modifications must also be released under the same license.

See the LICENSE file for full details.

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❤️ Philosophy

Build native where it matters.
Keep the UI lightweight.
Respect Linux and its users.

Whats4Linux exists to provide a performant, efficient, and Linux-focused WhatsApp experience without unnecessary abstractions or heavy runtimes. Your feedback and contributions are highly appreciated!