pingwa (client)

WhatsApp notifications for AI agents and scripts with zero setup — no Meta account, no templates, no dashboard: text "join", get an API key, curl → WhatsApp in 60s. Two-way human-in-the-loop: your agent asks, you tap a button to answer. From your terminal or an MCP client.

This is the open-source (MIT) pingwa client: a CLI, a tiny HTTP client, and an MCP server. It talks to a pingwa backend (the hosted service at https://pingwa.dev, or your own). The backend is separate and private; this client is not.

Install & use

No install needed with uv:

export PINGWA_KEY=pw_your_key          # get one: send "join" on WhatsApp to the service number
uvx pingwa send "build finished ✅"     # notify your own phone
echo "deploy done" | uvx pingwa send -  # from stdin
uvx pingwa ask "Deploy to prod?" --button yes --button no   # wait for a reply from your phone
uvx pingwa replies                      # pull messages your phone sent back (out-of-band steering)
uvx pingwa me                           # plan / quota / reply-window
uvx pingwa keys                         # list active API keys (up to 10 named keys per number)
uvx pingwa keys revoke ci               # revoke one by name (or reply 'revoke ci' on WhatsApp)
uvx pingwa upgrade                      # get a Stripe link to go Pro (no password needed)
uvx pingwa send "x" --json              # raw JSON response

AI agents: don't ask your human to copy-paste a key — drive the registration yourself (POST /v1/registrations; full recipe in llms.txt). The human only taps one WhatsApp link; the key is claimed by you and never travels through the chat. Works for existing accounts too — it mints an additional named key.

Exit codes: 0 ok · 2 missing key · 3 quota exceeded · 1 other. Override the backend with PINGWA_BASE_URL or --base-url.

Related MCP server: whatsapp-mcp-server

Webhooks

Prefer PUSH over polling replies? Register HTTPS endpoints and pingwa POSTs every inbound WhatsApp message to them:

uvx pingwa webhooks                                   # list your webhooks
uvx pingwa webhooks add https://your-host/pingwa-hook # returns a signing SECRET, shown ONCE
uvx pingwa webhooks rm https://your-host/pingwa-hook  # by id, or by exact url

add prints a whsec_... secret once — store it now; it never appears again. Each delivery carries an X-Pingwa-Signature: sha256=<hex> header (an HMAC-SHA256 of the raw body under that secret) — verify it and reject anything that fails. Full verification recipe and payload shape: llms.txt. Up to 5 active webhooks per account; to rotate a secret, rm then add again.

MCP server

Same tools on stdio and remote: notify(text), ask(text, buttons?, timeout?), check_replies(since?, wait?), check_status(), upgrade().

Local (stdio) — for Claude Desktop / Claude Code:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pingwa": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["pingwa", "mcp"],
      "env": { "PINGWA_KEY": "pw_your_key" }
    }
  }
}

Remote (Streamable HTTP, no install):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pingwa": {
      "url": "https://pingwa.dev/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer pw_your_key" }
    }
  }
}

Every error carries an action hint, so an agent knows what to do next.

What it sends

Only your message text and your key, to the pingwa backend you point it at — over HTTPS. Nothing else. The recipient is always your own phone (there is no "to" field). See the service's /privacy.

License

MIT — see LICENSE in the repository root. It covers this client package only (src/pingwa/client/); the pingwa server is separate, private, and not published. See NOTICE for the exact boundary.