Generic Utilities

Generic utilities provide common functionality needed throughout Baileys, including Buffer serialization, timing functions, and message key operations.

BufferJSON

JSON serialization utilities for handling Buffers and Uint8Arrays.

export const BufferJSON = {
  replacer: (k: any, value: any) => any
  reviver: (_: any, value: any) => any
}

replacer

Converts Buffers to JSON-serializable objects.

any

The key being stringified

value

any

The value being stringified

return

any

JSON-serializable representation of the value

reviver

Converts JSON objects back to Buffers.

any

The key (unused)

value

any

The value being parsed

return

any

Reconstructed Buffer or original value

Example:

import { BufferJSON } from '@whiskeysockets/baileys'

// Object with Buffer
const data = {
  name: 'test',
  buffer: Buffer.from('hello world')
}

// Serialize with replacer
const json = JSON.stringify(data, BufferJSON.replacer)
console.log(json)
// {"name":"test","buffer":{"type":"Buffer","data":"aGVsbG8gd29ybGQ="}}

// Deserialize with reviver
const restored = JSON.parse(json, BufferJSON.reviver)
console.log(restored.buffer) // <Buffer 68 65 6c 6c 6f 20 77 6f 72 6c 64>
console.log(restored.buffer.toString()) // "hello world"

// Works with nested objects
const nested = {
  user: {
    id: '123',
    keys: {
      publicKey: Buffer.from([1, 2, 3, 4])
    }
  }
}

const jsonNested = JSON.stringify(nested, BufferJSON.replacer)
const restoredNested = JSON.parse(jsonNested, BufferJSON.reviver)
console.log(restoredNested.user.keys.publicKey) // <Buffer 01 02 03 04>

When to use:

When storing authentication state to JSON files
For serializing keys and cryptographic data
With useMultiFileAuthState or custom auth state handlers
Any time you need to JSON.stringify/parse objects containing Buffers

getKeyAuthor

Extracts the author/sender JID from a message key.

export const getKeyAuthor = (
  key: WAMessageKey | undefined | null,
  meId?: string
): string

key

WAMessageKey | undefined | null

The message key to analyze

meId

string

default:"'me'"

Your JID to use if the message is from you

return

string

The JID of the message author

Example:

import { getKeyAuthor } from '@whiskeysockets/baileys'

// Message from you
const myMessageKey = {
  remoteJid: '[email protected]',
  fromMe: true,
  id: 'ABC123'
}

const author1 = getKeyAuthor(myMessageKey, '[email protected]')
console.log(author1) // "[email protected]"

// Message from another user
const theirMessageKey = {
  remoteJid: '[email protected]',
  fromMe: false,
  id: 'DEF456'
}

const author2 = getKeyAuthor(theirMessageKey)
console.log(author2) // "[email protected]"

// Group message
const groupMessageKey = {
  remoteJid: '[email protected]',
  fromMe: false,
  participant: '[email protected]',
  id: 'GHI789'
}

const author3 = getKeyAuthor(groupMessageKey)
console.log(author3) // "[email protected]"

When to use:

To identify who sent a message
For displaying sender information in UI
When processing reactions, poll updates, or event responses
Handles group messages with participants correctly

unixTimestampSeconds

Converts a Date to Unix timestamp in seconds.

export const unixTimestampSeconds = (date?: Date): number

date

Date

default:"new Date()"

The date to convert (defaults to current time)

return

number

Unix timestamp in seconds

Example:

import { unixTimestampSeconds } from '@whiskeysockets/baileys'

// Current timestamp
const now = unixTimestampSeconds()
console.log(now) // 1699564800

// Specific date
const specificDate = new Date('2024-01-01T00:00:00Z')
const timestamp = unixTimestampSeconds(specificDate)
console.log(timestamp) // 1704067200

// Use in message
const messageTimestamp = unixTimestampSeconds()
await sock.sendMessage(jid, {
  text: 'Hello',
  timestamp: messageTimestamp
})

When to use:

When creating messages (for messageTimestamp)
For comparing message times
Any time you need Unix timestamps for WhatsApp protocol

delay

Creates a promise that resolves after a specified time.

export const delay = (ms: number): Promise<void>

number

required

Milliseconds to delay

return

Promise<void>

Promise that resolves after the delay

Example:

import { delay } from '@whiskeysockets/baileys'

// Wait 1 second
await delay(1000)
console.log('1 second has passed')

// Use in message sending
for (const recipient of recipients) {
  await sock.sendMessage(recipient, { text: 'Hello' })
  await delay(500) // Wait 500ms between messages
}

// Retry with delay
async function sendWithRetry(jid, content) {
  for (let i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
    try {
      await sock.sendMessage(jid, content)
      return
    } catch (err) {
      if (i < 2) {
        await delay(1000 * (i + 1)) // Exponential backoff
      }
    }
  }
}

When to use:

To add delays between operations
For rate limiting message sending
In retry logic with backoff
To avoid triggering WhatsApp’s anti-spam

generateRegistrationId

Generates a random 14-bit registration ID for Signal protocol.

export const generateRegistrationId = (): number

return

number

Random 14-bit number (0-16383)

Example:

import { generateRegistrationId } from '@whiskeysockets/baileys'

const regId = generateRegistrationId()
console.log(regId) // Random number between 0 and 16383

// Used internally during auth state initialization
const authState = {
  creds: {
    registrationId: generateRegistrationId(),
    // ... other credentials
  }
}

When to use:

Automatically used when creating new authentication credentials
You rarely need to call this directly
Part of the Signal protocol setup

fetchLatestBaileysVersion

Fetches the latest Baileys version from GitHub.

export const fetchLatestBaileysVersion = async (
  options?: RequestInit
): Promise<{
  version: WAVersion
  isLatest: boolean
  error?: any
}>

options

RequestInit

Fetch options (headers, dispatcher, etc.)

return

object

Object containing version array, isLatest flag, and optional error

Example:

import { fetchLatestBaileysVersion, makeWASocket } from '@whiskeysockets/baileys'

// Fetch and use latest version
const { version, isLatest } = await fetchLatestBaileysVersion()
console.log('Version:', version) // [2, 3000, 1033846690]
console.log('Is latest:', isLatest) // true

const sock = makeWASocket({
  version,
  // ... other options
})

// With custom fetch options
const { version: v2 } = await fetchLatestBaileysVersion({
  headers: {
    'User-Agent': 'MyBot/1.0'
  }
})

When to use:

To ensure your bot uses the latest WhatsApp Web version
Recommended for production bots
Call once on startup

fetchLatestWaWebVersion

Fetches the latest WhatsApp Web version directly from WhatsApp servers.

export const fetchLatestWaWebVersion = async (
  options?: RequestInit
): Promise<{
  version: WAVersion
  isLatest: boolean
  error?: any
}>

options

RequestInit

Fetch options

return

object

Object containing version array, isLatest flag, and optional error

Example:

import { fetchLatestWaWebVersion, makeWASocket } from '@whiskeysockets/baileys'

// Fetch latest WA Web version
const { version, isLatest } = await fetchLatestWaWebVersion()
console.log('WA Web Version:', version) // [2, 3000, 1033846690]

const sock = makeWASocket({
  version,
  // ... other options
})

When to use:

Alternative to fetchLatestBaileysVersion
Gets version directly from WhatsApp instead of Baileys repo
Use if you want the absolute latest WA Web version

toNumber

Converts Long or number types to JavaScript number.

export const toNumber = (
  t: Long | number | null | undefined
): number

Long | number | null | undefined

Value to convert (from protobuf Long type)

return

number

JavaScript number (returns 0 for null/undefined)

Example:

import { toNumber } from '@whiskeysockets/baileys'

// Convert protobuf Long
const timestamp = message.messageTimestamp // Long type
const timestampNum = toNumber(timestamp)
console.log(timestampNum) // 1699564800

// Handles null/undefined
const nullValue = toNumber(null)
console.log(nullValue) // 0

// Regular numbers pass through
const regularNum = toNumber(12345)
console.log(regularNum) // 12345

When to use:

When working with protobuf message fields
To convert timestamps from messages
Handles Long type from WAProto definitions

Core

Authentication

Types

Utilities

Generic Utilities

BufferJSON

replacer

reviver

getKeyAuthor

unixTimestampSeconds

delay

generateRegistrationId

fetchLatestBaileysVersion

fetchLatestWaWebVersion

toNumber

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Core

Authentication

Types

Utilities

​BufferJSON

​replacer

​reviver

​getKeyAuthor

​unixTimestampSeconds

​delay

​generateRegistrationId

​fetchLatestBaileysVersion

​fetchLatestWaWebVersion

​toNumber

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

BufferJSON

replacer

reviver

getKeyAuthor

unixTimestampSeconds

delay

generateRegistrationId

fetchLatestBaileysVersion

fetchLatestWaWebVersion

toNumber