Quickstart

Get Whatomate up and running in minutes using Docker or manual installation.

Quick Start (Docker)

The fastest way to get started:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/shridarpatil/whatomate.git
cd whatomate
cp config.example.toml docker/config.toml
cp docker/.env.example docker/.env  # Edit to set PostgreSQL credentials and timezone

# Start all services (PostgreSQL, Redis, Server)
make docker-up

# Access the application
open http://localhost:8080

Note

The .env file is required by Docker Compose. It sets PostgreSQL credentials (POSTGRES_USER, POSTGRES_PASSWORD, POSTGRES_DB) and the server timezone (TZ). Copy docker/.env.example to docker/.env and edit as needed.

Default login: admin@admin.com / admin

Caution

Change the admin password immediately after first login.

Kubernetes

A community-maintained Helm chart is available at ankit373/whatomate-helm. Please note that this chart is not officially maintained by the Whatomate project; any issues related to the chart should be reported in its repository.

Manual Installation

Prerequisites

• Go 1.25+ (the module targets go 1.25.0)
• Node.js 20+ — only needed to build the frontend. CI builds it on Node 20; Vite 7 requires 20.19+ or 22.12+.
• PostgreSQL — CI tests against 15/16, the Docker Compose file ships 17
• Redis 7 (Redis 6+ works; username requires 6+ ACLs)

Step 1: Clone and Configure

git clone https://github.com/shridarpatil/whatomate.git
cd whatomate
cp config.example.toml config.toml

Step 2: Setup PostgreSQL

# Create database
createdb whatomate

# Or using psql
psql -c "CREATE DATABASE whatomate;"

# Or with custom user
psql -c "CREATE USER whatomate WITH PASSWORD 'whatomate123';"
psql -c "CREATE DATABASE whatomate OWNER whatomate;"

Update config.toml with your database credentials:

[database]
host = "localhost"
port = 5432
user = "whatomate"
password = "whatomate123"
name = "whatomate"

Step 3: Setup Redis

macOS

brew install redis
brew services start redis

Ubuntu/Debian

sudo apt install redis-server
sudo systemctl start redis

Docker

docker run -d -p 6379:6379 redis:alpine

Step 4: Start Backend

# Install Go dependencies
go mod download

# Run migrations and start server
make run-migrate

Step 5: Start Frontend

Open a new terminal:

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

Step 6: Access Application

Service	URL
Frontend	http://localhost:3000
API	http://localhost:8080

Login: admin@admin.com / admin

Caution

Change the admin password immediately after first login via the Profile page.

Production Build

For production, build a single binary with embedded frontend:

make build-prod
./whatomate server -migrate

This creates a self-contained binary—no separate frontend server needed. Access at http://localhost:8080.

3rd Party Hosting

Railway Template

Template to start with a production ready instance!

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
connection refused (database)	Ensure PostgreSQL is running: pg_isready
connection refused (redis)	Ensure Redis is running: redis-cli ping
database does not exist	Create it: createdb whatomate
permission denied	Check database user/password in config.toml
port already in use	Change port in config.toml or stop conflicting service
Frontend can’t reach API	Ensure backend is running on port 8080

WhatsApp Configuration

To connect your WhatsApp Business account:

1. Create a Meta Business account at business.facebook.com
2. Set up a WhatsApp Business API account
3. Generate an access token and note your Phone Number ID
4. Add these credentials in Whatomate’s Settings → Accounts

Tip

For development, use Meta’s test phone numbers to send messages without affecting your production account.

Next Steps

• Configuration Reference - Detailed configuration options
• Dashboard Overview - Explore the dashboard
• API Reference - Integrate via REST API