A plugin platform for the official WhatsApp Desktop client on Windows.
WhatsForge adds a panel to WhatsApp's sidebar where you turn features on and off. Plugins are built from WhatsApp's own interface components, so they look and behave like parts of the app rather than something pasted on top.
Early development. Nothing here is usable yet. The architecture and plugin interface are documented; the implementation is starting.
WhatsApp for Windows is a native shell around an embedded browser that runs WhatsApp Web. WhatsForge loads its own code into that page and changes behaviour at runtime.
It does not modify WhatsApp. The installed application, its files, and the code WhatsApp's servers send are all left exactly as they are — WhatsApp's own integrity checks keep passing. Nothing is copied into WhatsApp's folder.
Installing changes one per-user Windows setting, which needs an administrator prompt once. After that, a small WhatsForge process runs with your session and loads the mod into WhatsApp each time you open it. Uninstalling removes the setting, the process and the folder, and WhatsApp goes back to normal.
See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.
Windows 10 or 11 with WhatsApp Desktop from the Microsoft Store, signed in at least once.
Download WhatsForge-Setup.exe, run it, pick a folder, click Install, approve the one administrator prompt, and let it restart WhatsApp. A bold W appears in WhatsApp's sidebar above your profile picture.
The same executable is the installer, the background program and the repair/uninstall window — running it again on an installed machine shows what it found and offers Repair and Uninstall. whatsforge.exe --doctor prints a diagnosis and needs no administrator rights.
Full instructions, what it changes, and what to do when it breaks: docs/INSTALL.md.
A plugin is one object describing what it needs and what it adds:
export default definePlugin({
name: "HideTypingIndicator",
description: "Stop sending typing notifications to the person you're chatting with.",
authors: ["you"],
permissions: ["messages:read"],
hooks: [/* ... */]
});Full reference: docs/PLUGIN-API.md.
WhatsApp does not endorse this project, and third-party modifications may conflict with WhatsApp's Terms of Service. Using WhatsForge is your decision.
What we do about that:
- No part of WhatsApp's protocol is reimplemented. Every message is sent and received by WhatsApp's own code.
- Plugins declare what they can do — read messages, send messages, use the network — and you see it before enabling one.
- Anything that can send messages on your behalf is off by default and rate-limited. Bulk sending is not supported at all, because automated messaging is the fastest way to lose a WhatsApp account.
- Nothing is sent anywhere. No telemetry, no accounts, no cloud.
There are no guarantees of safety, and we do not make any. docs/SAFETY.md explains what the actual risks are and how the design tries to limit them.
Windows only, targeting the Microsoft Store build of WhatsApp Desktop. macOS WhatsApp is a native Catalyst application with no equivalent hook, and there is no official Linux client.
MIT. See LICENSE.