Wechaty Getting Started

Wechaty is a Conversatioanl RPA SDK for Chatbot Makers. It's well designed with an easy to use API, supports all OSs including Linux, OSX, Win32, Docker, and lots of IMs including WeChat, WeCom, Whatsapp, Lark, Gitter, etc.

As a developer, you can use Wechaty to easily build your bot, effectively manage message sending/receiving, room creating/inviting, contact friendship, and delightful add artificial intelligence between users and your bot.

This repository should work out-of-the-box, and is the best start point for Wechaty beginners.

If you have any questions, please join our Gitter at https://gitter.im/wechaty/wechaty

TL;DR

The fatest way to getting started with Wechaty is to use a Cloud IDE.

If you have no idea about anything, then you should try Gitpod first.

Gitpod ❤️ Wechaty

Use Gitpod to run our Wechaty Getting Started ding-dong BOT instantly inside your browser!

Learn more about Gitpod ❤️ Wechaty from our blog: Getting Started Without Leave Your Browser: Wechaty ❤️ Gitpod, @huan, Feb 06, 2021

Google Cloud Shell

Generated via open-in-cloud-shell

The Google Cloud Shell should open our tutorial in the right panel for you, please follow it to finish the tutorials.

Features

Works out-of-the-box under Linux/Mac/Windows.
Supports all puppets like Web, Pad, Windows, and Mac.
Reply a dong message when it received a ding.

Requirements

Node.js v12+
Wechaty Puppet Service TOKEN (if you want to use RPA protocols other than Web)

Getting Started

1 Install Node.js (>=12)

If you have not installed Node.js(or version is below 10),You need to install the latest version of Node.js first by following the links below:

Instal Node.js for other platforms can be found at https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/

2 Clone this Repository

git clone https://github.com/wechaty/wechaty-getting-started.git
cd wechaty-getting-started

3 Install Dependencies

npm install

Troubleshooting

You might want to use taobao registry mirror for NPM:

npm --registry=https://registry.npm.taobao.org install

You mignt need windows-build-tool if you are using windows:
```
npm install windows-build-tools
```

4 Run the Bot

You can use export to set environment variables in Linux, and use set in Windows.

Linux

export WECHATY_LOG=verbose
export WECHATY_PUPPET=wechaty-puppet-wechat
npm start
# the above is equals to the below command:
# npx ts-node examples/ding-dong-bot.ts

Windows

set WECHATY_LOG=verbose
set WECHATY_PUPPET=wechaty-puppet-wechat
npm start
# the above is equals to the below command:
# npx ts-node examples/ding-dong-bot.ts

You are all set!

Working with Different Puppets

In our getting started example, the ding-dong BOT is using wechaty-puppet-wechat4u when WECHATY_PUPPET is not set, which is just for newcomer's convenience.

By default, the Wechaty will use the Puppet Service for logging in your bot. You can use other Puppet Provider like Whatsapp Web protocol(wechaty-puppet-whatsapp).

If you want to use a Wechaty Puppet Provider for different protocols, then you need to specified a puppet service provider name (the same as its NPM name) by setting the WECHATY_PUPPET environment variable.

Thanks for the great contributions from our great community, there are many Wechaty Puppets can be used by Wechaty, which helps us to use protocols like Web, Pad, Mac, and Windows.

Wechaty Puppets

Protocol	NPM
Puppet Service	`wechaty-puppet-service`
Whatsapp Web	`wechaty-puppet-whatsapp`
WeChat Web	`wechaty-puppet-wechat`
WeChat Pad	`wechaty-puppet-padlocal`

Visit our website for learning more about Wechaty Puppet Service Providers

For example, if you want to use the padlocal puppet, you should set WECHATY_PUPPET=wechaty-puppet-padlocal before you run npm start.

You also need a TOKEN for the wechaty-puppet-padlocal, and set it to the WECHATY_PUPPET_PADLOCAL_TOKEN environment variable. Apply the PadLocal TOKEN from here

Linux / macOS

export WECHATY_PUPPET=wechaty-puppet-padlocal
export WECHATY_PUPPET_PADLOCAL_TOKEN='puppet_padlocal_your-token-here'
npm start

Windows

set WECHATY_PUPPET=wechaty-puppet-padlocal
set WECHATY_PUPPET_PADLOCAL_TOKEN='puppet_padlocal_your-token-here'
npm start

Learn more about how to install under windows from this blog post.

Advanced

1 Wechaty Tutorial

Above is a 10 minute video tutorial(a little outdated, it's running under v0.14 or older versions of Wechaty), which is a good way to start if you are new to Wechaty.

2 More Examples

Note: Please make sure you can run npm start with this repository first before you go furture with more examples!

Official Wechaty Examples Directory

API REFERENCE

GitBook: https://wechaty.js.org/api

FAQ

1. I can not login with my Wechat account

WeChat account that registered after 2017 will not be able to login via Web API. Learn more at wechaty/wechaty#872

Solution: Wechaty support protocols other than Web API, such as pad. Learn more at wechaty/wechaty#1296

2. What is a `Puppet` in Wechaty

The term Puppet in Wechaty is an Abstract Class for implementing protocol plugins. The plugins are the component that helps Wechaty to control the Wechat(that's the reason we call it puppet).

The plugins are named PuppetXXX, like PuppetWeChat is using the google puppeteer to control the WeChat Web API via a chrome browser, PuppetPadchat is using the WebSocket protocol to connect with a Protocol Server for controlling the iPad Wechat program. More detail you could go Puppet in wiki.