New WhatsApp Adapter Available

Vercel's Chat SDK has expanded its multi-platform support with a new WhatsApp adapter. This addition brings the total number of supported messaging platforms to six, including Slack, Discord, GitHub, Teams, and Telegram—all manageable through a single, unified codebase.

Supported Features

The WhatsApp adapter enables developers to build bots with the following capabilities:

• Core messaging: Send and receive messages with reaction support
• Media handling: Automatic download and processing of images, voice messages, and stickers
• Smart formatting: Auto-chunking breaks long messages into WhatsApp-friendly segments
• Location sharing: Native support for location data via Google Maps URLs
• Read receipts: Track message delivery status

Important Limitations

Developers should be aware of several constraints when building WhatsApp bots:

• No message history: Bots cannot access previous conversation context
• No editing or deletion: Messages cannot be modified or removed after sending
• 24-hour window: WhatsApp's business messaging policy limits bot responses to within 24 hours of user initiation
• Card limitations: Interactive cards render as reply buttons (max 3 options) with text fallback

Getting Started

To implement the adapter, install the WhatsApp adapter package and configure it in your Chat instance. The API follows the same pattern as other Chat SDK adapters, making it straightforward for teams already using the platform.

The implementation was partially enabled by community contributions, with special recognition given to the open-source contributor behind PR #102.