# Groups (/en/docs/wa/groups)

Use this page when you take part in WhatsApp groups, or run one, and want help keeping up: find questions nobody
answered, sum up a week, keep a list of what waits on you and count the group's activity. Reading marks nothing
read, so checking on a group does not tell its members you looked.

Some words on this page:

* **A group id** ends in `@g.us` (`120363000000000001@g.us`). `wa personal chats list 'kind:group' --offline` lists
  your groups with their ids; a group's name works too when only one chat has it.
* **An admin** is a member with rights to manage the group. Some commands count only your answers and the admins'.
* **The local store** is the copy of messages `wa` keeps on this computer, filled by the phone's history push and by
  `serve`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-setup/content.md#wa-serve "Command reference: wa serve"). Reports and tasks use it, so they see only what arrived.
* **A task** is something that waits on you, such as a question nobody answered. `wa` opens and closes tasks in the
  local store.

## What you can do [#what-you-can-do]

| Task | Command |
| --- | --- |
| Find questions that wait for an answer | `wa personal review --unanswered` |
| Sum up a week: decisions, promises, open questions | `wa personal review 'date>7d'` |
| Keep a list of what waits on you | `wa personal tasks list` |
| See the week's activity | `wa personal stats chats show --offline` |
| See one group and who is in it | `wa personal chats show`, `chats members list`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-admin/content.md#wa-chats-members-list "Command reference: wa chats members list") |
| Delete a message for everyone, as the group's admin | `wa personal messages delete --for-everyone` |
| Make a group, join one by its link, or leave | `wa personal chats create`, `chats join`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-chats-join "Command reference: wa chats join"), `chats leave`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-chats-leave "Command reference: wa chats leave") |
| Add or remove people, make someone an admin | `wa personal chats members add`, `chats admins add`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-admin/content.md#wa-chats-admins-add "Command reference: wa chats admins add") |
| Rename a group, set or remove its photo, or change who may add people | `wa personal chats update` |
| Show or replace the invite link | `wa personal chats links show`, `chats links reset`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-admin/content.md#wa-chats-links-reset "Command reference: wa chats links reset") |
| Let in or turn away people who asked to join | `wa personal chats requests list`, `chats requests confirm`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-admin/content.md#wa-chats-requests-confirm "Command reference: wa chats requests confirm") |
| Follow a channel, read its posts, or unfollow it | `wa personal chats join`, `messages sync`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-messages-sync "Command reference: wa messages sync"), `chats leave`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-chats-leave "Command reference: wa chats leave") ([channels](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/usage/content.md#channels)) |
| Post to a channel you run | `wa personal messages send` ([channels](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/usage/content.md#channels)) |

Every option is in the [command reference](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands/content.md).

## With an agent [#with-an-agent]

Your AI agent (for example Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or Gemini CLI) can run these checks for you. An agent with a
terminal needs the [wa skill](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/recipes/content.md#once-first); an agent in an app without a terminal needs the
[MCP server](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/mcp/content.md).

The names, messages and results below are fictional.

### Who is waiting for an answer [#who-is-waiting-for-an-answer]

**Your request:**

> What in the hiking group has been waiting for an answer for more than four hours?

**Command:**

```sh
wa personal review 'chat:120363000000000001@g.us' --unanswered 4h --json
```

**Example agent answer:**

> **2 questions are waiting for an answer.**
>
> | Person | Question                           | Waiting  |
> | ------ | ---------------------------------- | -------- |
> | Lena   | What time do we leave on Saturday? | 6 hours  |
> | Sam    | Are the tents shared?              | 12 hours |

A question mark outside a link, or a reply to you or an admin, opens a question; your or an admin's reply closes it.

### A weekly report [#a-weekly-report]

**Your request:**

> Summarise the week in the hiking group.

**Command:**

```sh
wa personal review 'chat:120363000000000001@g.us date>7d' --json
```

**Example agent answer:**

> **Decided:** leave at 7:00 from the station.
>
> **Committed:** Lena — food; Sam — tents.
>
> **Still open:** who brings the cooking pot.

### On a schedule [#on-a-schedule]

No agent is needed for a list of open questions: it is an ordinary command, and it reads only the store.

```cron
0 9,21 * * * wa personal review 'chat:120363000000000001@g.us' --unanswered --json >> ~/hiking-open.jsonl 2>> ~/wa-cron.log
```

cron starts jobs with an almost empty environment: see [running on a schedule](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/recipes/content.md#running-on-a-schedule).

## What waits on you [#what-waits-on-you]

`review`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-review "Command reference: wa review") and `serve`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-setup/content.md#wa-serve "Command reference: wa serve") keep a list of tasks in the local store: what you have to do, and what someone owes you. A task
points at its message and never copies it. Where a rule opens one:

* **A one-to-one chat:** a question you did not answer, and a message that mentions you.
* **A group:** only a question that replies to your message, and a mention of you. Other people's questions are not
  your tasks.
* **A channel or the chat with yourself:** nothing.

Your answer closes the task. To record every question in a group, whoever it is for, tag the group. In a tagged
group a direct reply from any member other than the one who asked also closes the question; a later message that
does not reply to it closes nothing:

```sh
wa personal tags add --chat 120363000000000001@g.us watch-tasks
```

The first fill of the store opens no tasks from your history; later messages do. To turn a group's history into
tasks, list what would open, then open it:

```sh
wa personal tasks scan 120363000000000001@g.us
wa personal tasks scan 120363000000000001@g.us --last 300 --yes
```

When someone promises you something, keep it as their task, and list what others owe you. The message locator, the
task key `PR-4` and the other ids in this section are made up; take real ones from a search, a list or `tasks list`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-tasks-list "Command reference: wa tasks list"):

```sh
wa personal tasks add msg:whatsapp/100000000000009%40lid/120363000000000001%40g.us/3EB0A1B2C3D4E5F6A7B8 \
  --type promise --category other --assignee sender
wa personal tasks list "assignee:any state:open"
```

`--assignee sender` is whoever sent the message; `--assignee person:<id>` names someone else, and
`tasks update <task> --assignee none`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-tasks-update "Command reference: wa tasks update") clears it. A task with no assignee is fine: better than a missed one.

See what waits on you, oldest first, then only questions and mentions in one group:

```sh
wa personal tasks list state:open
wa personal tasks list 'chat:120363000000000001@g.us (kind:question OR kind:mention)'
```

Add what the rules cannot see, such as a promise you made, by the message's locator from a search or a list:

```sh
wa personal tasks add msg:whatsapp/100000000000009%40lid/120363000000000001%40g.us/3EB0A1B2C3D4E5F6A7B8 \
  --type promise --category other
```

`tasks categories`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-tasks-categories "Command reference: wa tasks categories") lists the categories a task can take. If the task may be the same job as an open one, `tasks add`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-tasks-add "Command reference: wa tasks add")
refuses with exit code `2` and lists the candidates; repeat with `--into <task>` or `--new`.

Close a task that needs no answer:

```sh
wa personal tasks close PR-4 --as dismissed --reason no-reply-needed
```

An AI agent that closes a task states how sure it is with `--certainty`, from 0 to 1. Below the store's threshold
(`task_agent_close_min`, 0.8 by default) the task stays open with a close suggestion. `tasks list close:suggested`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-tasks-list "Command reference: wa tasks list")
finds them; confirm one with `tasks close <task>`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-tasks-close "Command reference: wa tasks close"), or refuse it with `tasks reject <task>`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-tasks-reject "Command reference: wa tasks reject").

## The group's numbers [#the-groups-numbers]

```sh
wa personal stats chats show 120363000000000001@g.us --offline
wa personal stats chats show 120363000000000001@g.us --offline --since-time 30d --by week
```

Messages, active members, replies, reactions and questions answered, counted from the local store for a period,
7 days unless `--since-time` says otherwise. A count covers only what the store holds; a stretch before `wa` linked
is not there, so a number is a minimum, never a proof of silence. `members` counts the joins and leaves the store
holds, the ones `chats events`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-chats-events "Command reference: wa chats events") lists; for a group the store holds none of yet, the JSON leaves `members` out, sets
`complete`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-setup/content.md#wa-complete "Command reference: wa complete") to `false` and says so in `missing`. `chats members history`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-admin/content.md#wa-chats-members-history "Command reference: wa chats members history") shows who joined or left between member
fetches.

## One group and who is in it [#one-group-and-who-is-in-it]

```sh
wa personal chats show 120363000000000001@g.us
wa personal chats members list 120363000000000001@g.us
```

`chats show`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-chats-show "Command reference: wa chats show") gives the group's kind, unread count, last message time and its members as the local store holds them;
it never connects. `chats members list`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-admin/content.md#wa-chats-members-list "Command reference: wa chats members list") asks WhatsApp who is in the group now; while `serve`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-setup/content.md#wa-serve "Command reference: wa serve") runs, it goes through
`serve`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-setup/content.md#wa-serve "Command reference: wa serve") ([one connection per device](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/sessions/content.md#one-connection-per-device)).

## Deleting for everyone [#deleting-for-everyone]

```sh
wa personal messages delete 120363000000000001@g.us 3EB0AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA --for-everyone
```

In a group you administer, this removes another member's message for everyone; anywhere, it removes your own. It
needs the message in the local store, since WhatsApp addresses a message by its sender too. It asks first by
default, and it cannot be undone. Without `--for-everyone` it is for you only: `wa` asks WhatsApp to take the
message from all your devices and leave it with the others.

## Run a group [#run-a-group]

```sh
wa personal chats create "Hiking" 100000000000002@lid
wa personal chats members add 120363000000000001@g.us 100000000000002@lid
wa personal chats members remove 120363000000000001@g.us 100000000000003@lid
wa personal chats admins add 120363000000000001@g.us 100000000000002@lid
wa personal chats update 120363000000000001@g.us --title "Hiking club" --only-admins-add on --join-approval on
wa personal chats update 120363000000000001@g.us --only-admins-send on --disappear-after 7d
wa personal chats update 120363000000000001@g.us --photo club.jpg
wa personal chats update 120363000000000001@g.us --remove-photo
wa personal chats links show 120363000000000001@g.us
wa personal chats links reset 120363000000000001@g.us
wa personal chats requests list 120363000000000001@g.us
wa personal chats requests confirm 120363000000000001@g.us 100000000000004@lid
wa personal chats join https://chat.whatsapp.com/AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
wa personal chats leave 120363000000000001@g.us
```

* **The members see each of these**, so each goes through the profile's [permissions](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/permissions/content.md) and hourly
  limit, like a send, and connects (through `serve`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-setup/content.md#wa-serve "Command reference: wa serve") while it runs).
* **Only people you know are added.** `chats create`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-admin/content.md#wa-chats-create "Command reference: wa chats create") and `members add` take someone in your address book or that you
  have written to, and refuse anyone else: WhatsApp bans accounts that add strangers.
* **An admin has every right.** WhatsApp has one kind of admin, so `admins add` takes no `--can` and gives them all.
* **One invite link.** A group has one link; `link reset` replaces it, and the old one stops working. Only admins see
  it.
* **Settings.** `update` changes the name, the description, `--only-admins-add`, `--join-approval`,
  `--only-admins-send`, `--only-admins-edit-info` and `--disappear-after`. Messages disappear after 24h, 7d or 90d,
  the times WhatsApp offers; any other is refused, and `off` keeps them.
* **The photo.** `update --photo` takes a square JPEG of 190 to 720 pixels a side, the only kind WhatsApp takes as a
  group photo. `wa` does not convert or crop one: export it as a JPEG first. A file not named `.jpg` or `.jpeg`, or a
  PNG or WebP renamed to one, is refused before connecting. `update --remove-photo` takes the photo away, and is
  refused beside `--photo`. The photo is set or removed first: if the title, description or a setting given with it
  then fails, the error says so.
* **A group's name works too**, as in every command that names a chat: `wa` looks it up in the local store first,
  then in WhatsApp's chat list. Part of the name is enough, case does not matter, and an emoji matches with or
  without the invisible mark a copied one often carries ("Семья❤️" finds "Семья❤"). A name that matches several
  chats is refused; name one by its `…@g.us` id. Every connection saves the groups you are in to the local store, so
  `chats list kind:group`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-chats-list "Command reference: wa chats list") shows them once `serve`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-setup/content.md#wa-serve "Command reference: wa serve"), `watch`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-setup/content.md#wa-watch "Command reference: wa watch") or any command that connects has run.
* `join` on a group that approves who joins answers `requested: true`; you are in once an admin lets you in.
* **`leave` marks the group left in the local store**, and `wa personal store clear --left` lists it. A `join` that
  gets in takes the mark off, and so does being added back while `serve`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-setup/content.md#wa-serve "Command reference: wa serve") or `watch`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-setup/content.md#wa-watch "Command reference: wa watch") runs.

With `--offline`, `chats members list`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-admin/content.md#wa-chats-members-list "Command reference: wa chats members list") shows the members stored before instead of asking WhatsApp.
`chats members fetch`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-admin/content.md#wa-chats-members-fetch "Command reference: wa chats members fetch") keeps the member list in the local store. `chats members history`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-admin/content.md#wa-chats-members-history "Command reference: wa chats members history") shows what the fetches
recorded: everyone present at the first fetch, then who joined or left at each later one.

```sh
wa personal chats events 120363000000000001@g.us --offline
wa personal chats events 120363000000000001@g.us 'time>=30d' --json
```

`chats events`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-chats-events "Command reference: wa chats events") lists who joined, left, was added, removed, promoted or demoted, and each new title, oldest first,
for 7 days unless the query names a time (`time>=30d`). It answers from the local store and never connects. `wa`
keeps there what the phone pushes with a group's history (the service messages it shows in the chat) and, while
`wa serve`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-setup/content.md#wa-serve "Command reference: wa serve") or `wa watch`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-setup/content.md#wa-watch "Command reference: wa watch") runs, each change as it happens; a change seen both ways is kept once. Someone who came in
or went out on their own `join`s or `leave`s; anyone else's doing `add`s or `remove`s them. A change from before the
link that the phone did not push is not there, so an empty list does not prove nobody joined.

An agent connected over the [MCP server](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/mcp/content.md) can run the same commands, as far as the profile's
[permissions](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/permissions/content.md) allow.

## Communities [#communities]

A WhatsApp community holds several groups under one name. In `wa` a community is a group too, with
`provider_metadata.community: true`, and a group in a community names it in `parent_chat_id`. Both come with what
WhatsApp says about the group, so they show in the answers of `chats update`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-admin/content.md#wa-chats-update "Command reference: wa chats update"), `chats create`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-admin/content.md#wa-chats-create "Command reference: wa chats create") and `chats join`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-chats-join "Command reference: wa chats join"). The
local store keeps them from the history the phone pushes, so `chats list`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-chats-list "Command reference: wa chats list") and `chats show`[↗](/llms.mdx/docs/wa/commands-personal/content.md#wa-chats-show "Command reference: wa chats show") show them too. When a
group is added to a community while `wa` is connected, the store names the community; when it is taken out, the store
stops naming it. Either way it keeps the group's title and counts.

Listing a community's groups, and adding a group to a community or taking it out, are done on the phone.