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[core] Resolve Brazilian 9th-digit ambiguity on send (opt-in) - #2180

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[core] Resolve Brazilian 9th-digit ambiguity on send (opt-in)#2180
bergpinheiro wants to merge 2 commits into
devlikeapro:devfrom
bergpinheiro:feat/br-phone-resolution

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@bergpinheiro

@bergpinheiro bergpinheiro commented Jul 23, 2026

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Problem

Brazilian mobile numbers went through a 9th-digit migration. For DDD 11–30
every mobile carries the extra 9, so a static rule is enough. For DDD 31–99
the form is ambiguous
: some accounts are registered with the 9, some
without, and the number alone does not tell which.

Integrations send whatever their CRM holds — usually the carrier form, with
the 9 — and the message fails or goes nowhere depending on how the account is
actually registered.

What this adds

resolveOutboundChatId() on WhatsappSession, applied to the send paths of
all four engines. It resolves the number to the chat id the account is
actually registered under, tiered cheapest-first:

  1. in-memory cache (24h), keyed by both forms of the number
  2. static 9th-digit rule for DDD < 31 — no network
  3. local contact / LID map — no network
  4. WhatsApp lookup (usync), single-flight so concurrent sends to the same new
    number share one query

Read and presence operations resolve locally only ({ validate: false }):
they never reach the network and never throw.

A number confirmed not to exist is soft by default — warn and send the best
guess — so a usync false negative never blocks a valid send.
WAHA_BR_PHONE_STRICT=true rejects it with 422 instead.

Toll-free (0800) numbers

Brazilian toll-free numbers are non-geographic: dialed as 0800 + 7
subscriber digits, but stored on WhatsApp under country code 55 with the
leading 0 dropped — 08000464636 is stored as 558000464636. A caller
sending the dialed form (08000464636 or 5508000464636) hits a send that
cannot resolve it to a LID and fails.

This rewrites the dialed form to the stored one with a deterministic rule —
no lookup, since unlike the 9th digit there is no ambiguity. The already-stored
form routes through untouched. Only 0800 is handled (0300/0500/0900 share
the shape but are not covered).

Opt-in

Off unless WAHA_BR_PHONE_NORMALIZE=true. Non-Brazilian numbers exit on the
first check (isBrazilCountryCode): no cache, no lookup, no cost.

Variable Default Effect
WAHA_BR_PHONE_NORMALIZE false enables the resolution
WAHA_BR_PHONE_STRICT false 422 on a confirmed-nonexistent number instead of best-guess

Relationship to PhoneJidNormalizer

PhoneJidNormalizer converts a JID into an E.164 string for the Chatwoot
contact record — one direction, static rule. This resolves the opposite
direction: an inbound phone number into the chat id to address, with a server
lookup for the range where a static rule cannot decide.

They do not overlap, and its rule stays correct for DDD 11–30 — that is
exactly what tier 2 does here.

checkNumberStatus answering with a LID

GOWS checkNumberStatus returned whatever jid the usync answer carried.
Since whatsmeow queries contacts with addressing_mode=lid, that can be a
LID — a contract break for an endpoint documented as returning the "Chat id
for the phone number", and it also breaks tier 4 of this feature.

Fixed by recovering the phone number from the LID map (findPNByLid), with a
fallback to the LID when no mapping exists. WANumberExistResult gains an
optional lid so no identifier is lost. Happy to split this out if you would
rather handle it separately.

Also

isBrazilMobile now accepts any digit after the leading 9 on a 9-digit local.
Brazil has no 9-digit landline, so 9 + 8 digits is unambiguously mobile;
requiring 6–9 right after the 9 rejected real numbers.

Validation

Against a live GOWS session:

  • 5585991203123 (extra 9) and 558591203123 (correct form) resolve to the
    same chat id, with a single usync shared between them through the cache
  • a toll-free 0800 sent in either dialed form addresses the stored number
  • a mobile outside the lookup range and two landlines pass through untouched
  • a non-Brazilian number triggers no Brazilian logic at all

Unit tests in brPhone.test.ts and session.abc.brPhone.test.ts.

Please excuse my explanation of our complex Brazilian numbering system;

patron:PRO

Brazilian mobiles went through a 9th-digit migration. For DDD 11-30 every
mobile carries the extra 9, so a static rule is enough. For DDD 31-99 the
form is ambiguous: some accounts are registered with the 9, some without,
and the number alone does not tell which.

Adds resolveOutboundChatId() to WhatsappSession, applied on the send paths
of all four engines. Tiered, cheapest first: in-memory cache -> static rule
for DDD < 31 -> local contact/LID map -> WhatsApp lookup, single-flight so
concurrent sends to the same new number share one query. Read and presence
operations resolve locally only and never reach the network.

Brazilian toll-free numbers (0800) are non-geographic: dialed as '0800'
plus 7 subscriber digits, but stored on WhatsApp under country code 55 with
the leading 0 dropped ('08000464636' -> '558000464636'). Callers send the
dialed form, which the send path cannot resolve to a LID and rejects. This
rewrites it to the stored form with a deterministic rule - no lookup, since
unlike the 9th digit there is no ambiguity.

Opt-in via WAHA_BR_PHONE_NORMALIZE, off by default. Non-Brazilian numbers
exit on the first check, with no cache and no lookup. A number confirmed
not to exist is soft by default (warn and send the best guess);
WAHA_BR_PHONE_STRICT=true rejects it with 422 instead.

GOWS checkNumberStatus recovers the phone number when the usync answer
carries a LID (addressing_mode=lid), falling back to the LID when no
mapping exists, and WANumberExistResult gains an optional lid so no
identifier is lost. isBrazilMobile now accepts any digit after the leading
9 on a 9-digit local, since Brazil has no 9-digit landline.
@bergpinheiro

bergpinheiro commented Jul 23, 2026

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@devlikepro If you have time to review this PR before the next version, and if it makes sense for Waha, everyone here was asking me for this.

patron:PRO

@nestordavalos

nestordavalos commented Jul 23, 2026

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I love you

@gabrielgranado

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nice job!

@devlikepro

devlikepro commented Jul 29, 2026

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👁️

patron:PRO

rejectCall receives the JID that placed the call, not an outbound
destination, so it must not go through resolveOutboundChatId. That helper
applies the Brazilian 9th-digit normalization, which retargets the reject at
a different number than the caller - WhatsApp then drops the stanza
silently: the RPC returns OK and the local event says "rejected", but the
caller's phone keeps ringing.

Note that validate:false does not avoid this. It only skips the network
lookup and the throws; the toll-free rewrite, the cache and the static
DDD rule still run.

Affects GOWS, NOWEB and WEBJS (WPP has no rejectCall). Restores the
pre-existing ensureSuffix behaviour in all three.
@bergpinheiro

bergpinheiro commented Jul 30, 2026

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Pushed a follow-up commit fixing a regression this PR itself introduced.

The PR routed rejectCall through the new resolveOutboundChatId, but from there is the JID that placed the call, not an outbound destination. Normalizing it retargets the reject at a different number, and WhatsApp drops the stanza silently — the RPC returns OK and the local event says "rejected", but the caller's phone keeps ringing.

validate: false does not avoid it: that only skips the network lookup and the throws, while the toll-free rewrite, the cache and the static DDD rule still run.

It affected GOWS, NOWEB and WEBJS (WPP has no rejectCall). The commit restores the pre-existing ensureSuffix behaviour in all three and adds a short comment so the same mistake isn't repeated. tsc --noEmit clean.

I hit this in production before opening the PR and had fixed it only in GOWS on my side, which is why it slipped through here — sorry about that.

patron:PRO

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4 participants