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openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix WhatsApp group inbound silently fails if group not in channels.whatsapp.groups

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WhatsApp groups only receive inbound messages if they are explicitly listed in channels.whatsapp.groups in the config. Having the group in groupAllowFrom is NOT sufficient. There is no warning or error when messages are dropped.

Error Message

WhatsApp groups only receive inbound messages if they are explicitly listed in channels.whatsapp.groups in the config. Having the group in groupAllowFrom is NOT sufficient. There is no warning or error when messages are dropped.

  • No warning, no error — completely silent failure

Root Cause

WhatsApp groups only receive inbound messages if they are explicitly listed in channels.whatsapp.groups in the config. Having the group in groupAllowFrom is NOT sufficient. There is no warning or error when messages are dropped.

Fix Action

Workaround

Add the group to channels.whatsapp.groups with an empty config:

"groups": {
  "<group-id>@g.us": {}
}

Code Example

"groups": {
  "<group-id>@g.us": {}
}
RAW_BUFFERClick to expand / collapse

Summary

WhatsApp groups only receive inbound messages if they are explicitly listed in channels.whatsapp.groups in the config. Having the group in groupAllowFrom is NOT sufficient. There is no warning or error when messages are dropped.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Configure channels.whatsapp.groupPolicy: "open"
  2. Add a group to channels.whatsapp.groupAllowFrom
  3. Do NOT add the group to channels.whatsapp.groups
  4. Send a message in that group mentioning the bot

Expected Behavior

  • Messages are received and routed to the agent, OR
  • A warning log is emitted: "Inbound message from group X dropped: group not in channels.whatsapp.groups"

Actual Behavior

  • Messages appear in web-inbound logs (the monitor sees them)
  • Messages are never dispatched to the agent session
  • directory groups list --channel whatsapp does not show the group
  • No warning, no error — completely silent failure
  • Outbound (message send, cron announce) works fine to the same group

Workaround

Add the group to channels.whatsapp.groups with an empty config:

"groups": {
  "<group-id>@g.us": {}
}

Impact

Silent message loss. The bot appears to work (sends messages via cron/announce) but never processes replies. Users assume the bot is ignoring them.

Environment

  • OpenClaw: 2026.5.18 / 2026.5.12 (both affected)
  • WhatsApp provider: web bridge

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#retrieval issue#search optimization#API routing#API middleware#SSR setup

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