Wechaty Getting Started

Wechaty is a Conversational SDK for Chatbot Makers. It's well designed with a very easy to use API, supports all platforms including Linux, OSX, Win32, and Docker.

As a developer, you can use Wechaty to easily build your bot, effectively manage message sending/receiving, room creating/inviting, contact friendship, and delightful add artificial intelligence between users and your bot.

This repository should work out-of-the-box, and is the best start point for Wechaty beginners.

Features

Works out-of-the-box under Linux/Mac/Windows.
Supports all puppets like Web, Pad, Windows, and Mac.
Reply a dong message when it received a ding.

Requirements

Node.js v12+
Build Tools for your platform

Getting Started

1 Install Node.js (>=12)

If you have not installed Node.js(or version is below 10),You need to install the latest version of Node.js first by following the links below:

Instal Node.js for other platforms can be found at https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/

2 Clone this Repository

git clone https://github.com/wechaty/wechaty-getting-started.git
cd wechaty-getting-started

3 Install Dependencies

npm install

4 Run the Bot

npm start

Or use node to run bot directly

# Linux: export WECHATY_LOG=verbose
# Win32: set WECHATY_LOG=verbose
npx ts-node examples/ding-dong-bot.ts

You are all set!

Working with Different Puppets

By default, the Wechaty will use the Web protocol (wechaty-puppet-puppeteer) for logging in bot.

If you want to use other protocols instead of the Web protocol, then you need to specified a puppet service provider other than the wechaty-puppet-puppeteer.

Thanks for the great contributions from our great community, there are many puppet service providers can be used by Wechaty, which helps us to use protocols like Web, Pad, Mac, and Windows.

In order to specify a puppet service provider, you can set the environment WECHATY_PUPPET to the specific NPM module name.

Wechaty Puppet Service Providers

Protocol	NPM
Web	`wechaty-puppet-puppeteer`
Hostie	`wechaty-puppet-hostie`
Pad	`wechaty-puppet-padplus`

For example, if you want to use the Hostie puppet, you should set WECHATY_PUPPET=wechaty-puppet-hostie before you run npm start.

You also need a TOKEN for the wechaty-puppet-hostie, and set it to the WECHATY_PUPPET_HOSTIE_TOKEN environment variable.

Linux

export WECHATY_PUPPET=wechaty-puppet-hostie
export WECHATY_PUPPET_HOSTIE_TOKEN='your_token_here'
npm start

Windows

set WECHATY_PUPPET=wechaty-puppet-hostie
set WECHATY_PUPPET_HOSTIE_TOKEN='your_token_here'
npm start

Advanced

1 Wechaty Tutorial

Above is a 10 minute video tutorial(a little outdated, it's running under v0.14 or older versions of Wechaty), which is a good way to start if you are new to Wechaty.

2 More Examples

Note: Please make sure you can run npm start with this repository first before you go furture with more examples!

Official Wechaty Examples Directory

API REFERENCE

GitBook: https://wechaty.js.org/api

FAQ

1. I can not login with my Wechat account

WeChat account that registered after 2017 will not be able to login via Web API. Learn more at wechaty/wechaty#872

Solution: Wechaty support protocols other than Web API, such as pad. Learn more at wechaty/wechaty#1296

2. What is a `Puppet` in Wechaty

The term Puppet in Wechaty is an Abstract Class for implementing protocol plugins. The plugins are the component that helps Wechaty to control the Wechat(that's the reason we call it puppet).

The plugins are named PuppetXXX, like PuppetPuppeteer is using the google puppeteer to control the WeChat Web API via a chrome browser, PuppetPadchat is using the WebSocket protocol to connect with a Protocol Server for controlling the iPad Wechat program. More detail you could go Puppet in wiki.