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Before You Start
Please read this all the way through so you don't get lost later. It's nothing complicated, just a few notes so everyone stays comfortable and nobody gets hurt.
Please Don't Do Anything Weird
Zawa exists to help fellow developers. It's free, it's open, and it's built with good intentions. So please:
Don't
- Use it for spam.
- Spread hoaxes, scams, or anything that would make your parents shake their heads.
- Brute force it, or hammer the API with a 100-thread bot while sipping coffee like you own the place.
Go right ahead
- Bots and notifications for your own app's users.
- OTPs and verification codes.
- Broadcasts to people who actually want your messages.
- Experiments, learning, or just tinkering.
If you abuse the system, well... your access might get switched off without warning. Sad, right? We'd be sad too. So let's just not.
Look After Your Number
Zawa connects as a linked device, so every message is sent from your own WhatsApp number. That means WhatsApp's own rules still apply:
- Messaging lots of people who don't know you in a short time is the fastest way to get banned by WhatsApp.
- Leave a gap between messages, especially when broadcasting.
- If you're just experimenting, use a spare number rather than your main one.
Feel more human
Call Send Typing a few seconds before Send Message. The recipient sees "typing…" first, just like with a real person.
Keep Your Session Keys Safe
Your id and session-id are like house keys. Anyone who has both can send messages from your number. So:
- Keep them on your server (environment variables or a secret manager), never in frontend code or a mobile app.
- Don't commit them to a public Git repository.
- If they leak, delete the session right away and create a new one.
What Data Is Stored?
To be transparent, this is what Zawa keeps while your session exists, and what it doesn't:
Not stored
- Message contents, whether you send or receive them.
- Media from a URL. The file is only downloaded temporarily to send it, then deleted straight away.
Stored while the session exists
- Session info: your number, name, profile picture, and connection status.
- Linked-device keys, so you don't have to scan the QR code again every time the server restarts.
- The address book synced from your phone, used to decide who sees your statuses and to name group members.
When you delete a session, everything that was stored is deleted too, and the linked device is logged out from your phone.
We're All Human Here
Zawa isn't an enterprise service with 24/7 support and a soothing call-center voice. But there is a real person behind it who wants to help however they can.
So if you hit a bug, an error, or you're just confused, send a friendly message to contact.azickri@gmail.com. You'll get help as soon as possible.
If all of this sounds good, head over to the Quick Start, guilt-free and with no surprise throttling. 🚀