Bug Description

In WhatsApp self-chat mode, the bridge (scripts/whatsapp-bridge/bridge.js) unconditionally drops all fromMe messages from group chats. This means the user cannot interact with the agent through WhatsApp groups — their own messages never reach the gateway, regardless of group_policy or group_allow_from configuration.

This affects any self-chat mode user who wants the agent to respond in WhatsApp groups.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Set up Hermes with WhatsApp in self-chat mode
2. Configure a group in group_allow_from with group_policy: allowlist and require_mention: false
3. Send a message in the allowlisted group from the paired WhatsApp account
4. Observe: message never appears in gateway.log, agent never responds

Expected Behavior

In self-chat mode, the user's own messages in allowlisted groups should pass through the bridge and reach the gateway, where group_policy / require_mention config can properly handle them. This is consistent with how non-fromMe group messages and fromMe DM messages work.

Actual Behavior

The bridge silently drops all fromMe group messages at the filtering stage, before they ever reach the gateway. No log entry is produced. The gateway has no opportunity to apply group policy.

Affected Component

• Gateway (Telegram/Discord/Slack/WhatsApp)

Messaging Platform

WhatsApp

Debug Report

Unable to share debug report (contains private group JIDs and session data). The issue is reproducible by inspecting the bridge source code directly.

Operating System

macOS 15.4

Hermes Version

Latest main branch (commit 244ae6db, Apr 21 2026)

Root Cause Analysis

The bug is in scripts/whatsapp-bridge/bridge.js, in the fromMe message handling block:

Line ~212:

if (msg.key.fromMe) {
    if (isGroup || chatId.includes('status')) continue;  // ← drops ALL group fromMe messages

The isGroup || condition unconditionally skips group messages from the user. The intent was to prevent echo loops, but this is overly broad — it prevents ALL user group messages from reaching the gateway.

Line ~227:

if (!isSelfChat) continue;

Even if the first check is fixed, this line would block group messages in self-chat mode because groups can never match the selfChat JID comparison.

Proposed Fix

Two changes in scripts/whatsapp-bridge/bridge.js:

Change 1 — Line ~212: Remove isGroup || from the status broadcast filter:

-        if (isGroup || chatId.includes('status')) continue;
+        if (chatId.includes('status')) continue;

Status broadcasts are still correctly filtered. Group messages are now allowed through to the next check.

Change 2 — Line ~227: Allow group messages to bypass the selfChat DM check:

-        if (!isSelfChat) continue;
+        if (!isSelfChat && !isGroup) continue;

Groups are never "self-chat" by JID comparison, so they need an explicit bypass.

Safety: Echo-back prevention remains intact via:

• REPLY_PREFIX check downstream (prevents processing agent's own replies)
• recentlySentIds tracking (prevents re-processing recently sent messages)
• In bot mode (WHATSAPP_MODE === 'bot'), all fromMe messages are still skipped before reaching this code

Are you willing to submit a PR for this?

• I'd like to fix this myself and submit a PR