whatsapp ack reaction | Friends of the Crustacean 🦞🤝 | Page 1

ocean owl Apr 22, 2026, 11:15 PM

#

Hi Krill.. I am running openclaw version 2026.4.20. Whatsapp reaction is behaving in a wierd way; i am getting ack reaction for direct conversation (which i didn't get earlier) and not getting any reaction when addressing in a group; i have pasted my whatsapp portion in openclaw.json; could you pls review and let me know how to get reaction for group and no reaction for direct conversation; "whatsapp": {
"enabled": true,
"capabilities": [
"voice",
"images"
],
"dmPolicy": "allowlist",
"allowFrom": [
"",
"+",
"+"
],
"groupAllowFrom": [
""
],
"groupPolicy": "allowlist",
"groups": {
"138g.us": {
"requireMention": true
},
"120363*****@g.us": {
"requireMention": true
}
},
"ackReaction": {
"emoji": "👍",
"direct": true,
"group": "mentions"
},
"debounceMs": 0,
"mediaMaxMb": 50

zinc roseBOT Apr 22, 2026, 11:15 PM

#

quaint saddleBOT Apr 22, 2026, 11:15 PM

#

To help others find answers, you can mark your question as solved via Right click solution message -> Apps -> ✅ Mark Solution

ocean owl Apr 22, 2026, 11:17 PM

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hello krill

ocean owl Apr 23, 2026, 12:14 AM

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@sterile geode

ocean owl Apr 23, 2026, 1:43 AM

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@sterile geode can you help me

#

Hi Krill.. I am running openclaw version 2026.4.20. Whatsapp reaction is behaving in a wierd way; i am getting ack reaction for direct conversation (which i didn't get earlier) and not getting any reaction when addressing in a group; i have pasted my whatsapp portion in openclaw.json; could you pls review and let me know how to get reaction for group and no reaction for direct conversation; "whatsapp": {
"enabled": true,
"capabilities": [
"voice",
"images"
],
"dmPolicy": "allowlist",
"allowFrom": [
"",
"+",
"+"
],
"groupAllowFrom": [
""
],
"groupPolicy": "allowlist",
"groups": {
"138g.us": {
"requireMention": true
},
"120363*****@g.us": {
"requireMention": true
}
},
"ackReaction": {
"emoji": "👍",
"direct": true,
"group": "mentions"
},
"debounceMs": 0,
"mediaMaxMb": 50

ocean owl Apr 23, 2026, 4:12 AM

#

@sterile geode

sterile geodeBOT Apr 23, 2026, 4:14 AM

#

I checked the current docs + WhatsApp code path.

Two things jump out:

Direct acks are expected with your current config
You have:
```
ackReaction: {
  emoji: "👍",
  direct: true,
  group: "mentions"
}
```
So if you want no reaction in direct chats, change that to:

#

   ackReaction: {
     emoji: "👍",
     direct: false,
     group: "mentions"
   }

group: "mentions" only reacts on a real mention-triggered turn
In WhatsApp groups, that means one of these has to happen:
- explicit WhatsApp mention of the bot
- reply to a bot message
- configured mention pattern match
If you’re just typing the bot’s name in plain text, that may not count as a mention, so no 👍 gets sent.

A couple more notes:

#

If you want ack reaction on every allowed group message, use:

ackReaction: {
  emoji: "👍",
  direct: false,
  group: "always"
}

If that first group id is literal and not redacted, it looks malformed:
```
"138*******g.us"
```
It should be ...@g.us.
channels.whatsapp.groups is also the group allowlist, so a bad group JID can definitely cause weird behavior.

Docs:

#

If it still doesn’t react in groups after switching direct: false, run this while sending one test group message:

openclaw logs --follow

and look for lines around:

group mention debug
sending ack reaction

If you paste that snippet, I can tell you exactly why the group turn is not being counted as a mention.

Glad we caught the direct: true part, that one is definitely causing the DM behavior. 🦐

#whatsapp ack reaction