🎉 WhatsApp Message Automation for New Year Greetings with Node.js🎉

Source: Dev.to

Overview

Automate sending Happy New Year messages on WhatsApp using Node.js and whatsapp-web.js.
The automation runs entirely on your computer, keeping your WhatsApp account private and your credentials secure.

Prerequisites

• Node.js v18 LTS or higher
• (Optional) Homebrew on macOS for easy installation of Node.js

Installation

macOS (Homebrew)

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

brew install node@18
echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/opt/node@18/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

Verify the installation:

node -v
npm -v

Windows / Manual Install

Download Node.js LTS (v18 or higher) from nodejs.org and ensure “Add to PATH” is checked.

node -v
npm -v

Project Setup

Create a project folder and install the required packages.

macOS / Linux

mkdir ~/whatsapp-bot
cd ~/whatsapp-bot
npm init -y
npm install whatsapp-web.js qrcode-terminal formdata-node

Windows

mkdir C:\whatsapp-bot
cd C:\whatsapp-bot
npm init -y
npm install whatsapp-web.js qrcode-terminal formdata-node

Script: contacts2025_send.js

Create a file named contacts2025_send.js in the project folder and paste the following code:

// contacts2025_send.js
const { Client, LocalAuth } = require('whatsapp-web.js');

const client = new Client({
  authStrategy: new LocalAuth({ clientId: 'default' }),
  puppeteer: { headless: false } // Opens Chrome for authentication
});

client.on('ready', async () => {
  console.log('✅ WhatsApp Web authenticated');

  const chats = await client.getChats();
  const contacts2025 = [];

  for (const chat of chats) {
    if (chat.isGroup) continue; // skip groups; remove this line to include groups

    const messages = await chat.fetchMessages({ limit: 50 });
    for (const msg of messages) {
      if (!msg.fromMe) {
        const msgDate = new Date(msg.timestamp * 1000);
        if (msgDate.getFullYear() === 2025) {
          contacts2025.push({
            id: chat.id._serialized,
            name: chat.name || chat.id._serialized
          });
          break;
        }
      }
    }
  }

  console.log('Contacts who messaged you in 2025:');
  contacts2025.forEach(c => console.log(c.name));

  for (const contact of contacts2025) {
    await client.sendMessage(contact.id, '🎉 Happy New Year! 🎉');
    console.log(`Message sent to ${contact.name}`);
    await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 5000)); // 5‑second delay
  }

  client.destroy();
});

client.initialize();

Running the Script

macOS / Linux

cd ~/whatsapp-bot
node contacts2025_send.js

Windows

cd C:\whatsapp-bot
node contacts2025_send.js

The first run will display a QR code in the terminal. Scan it via WhatsApp → Linked Devices → Link a Device. The session is saved locally with LocalAuth, so subsequent runs won’t require scanning again.

Customization

Include Groups

Remove or comment out the line:

if (chat.isGroup) continue;

Personalized Messages

Replace the static message with a template:

await client.sendMessage(contact.id, `🎉 Happy New Year, ${contact.name}! 🎉`);

Adjust Delays

Increase the timeout to respect WhatsApp rate limits:

await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 8000)); // 8‑second delay

Logging

You can append sent messages to a log file for tracking:

const fs = require('fs');
...
await client.sendMessage(contact.id, '🎉 Happy New Year! ��');
fs.appendFileSync('sent_log.txt', `${new Date().toISOString()} - Sent to ${contact.name}\n`);