🚀 I Built a Self-Hosted, Low-Memory WhatsApp CRM with Universal AI (And I’m Looking for Contributors!)
👋 Hey DEV Community! Have you ever tried setting up a WhatsApp CRM for your startup, agency, or side project? If you have, you’ve probably hit the grim reality of the current WhatsApp SaaS ecosystem: 💸 Insane Seat-Based Pricing: Paying $50 to $150 per agent per month just to let a couple of teamm
Have you ever tried setting up a WhatsApp CRM for your startup, agency, or side project?
If you have, you’ve probably hit the grim reality of the current WhatsApp SaaS ecosystem:
I got tired of these artificial barriers. So I decided to build OpenWAB — a lightweight, 100% self-hostable WhatsApp CRM powered by a Universal Multi-Provider AI Engine.
And the best part? Zero software subscription fees. Zero seat pricing. No middlemen. You only pay Meta’s raw API charges directly to Meta.
I’m preparing to launch OpenWAB as a premier open-source project, and I’m looking for passionate developers, UI/UX designers, and open-source contributors to help build the future of WhatsApp automation! 🤝
OpenWAB is a production-grade, self-hosted WhatsApp CRM designed from day one to run on ultra-affordable infrastructure (strictly engineered to run under a ~510 MB active RAM budget on a standard $5/month VPS).
It connects directly to the official Meta WhatsApp Cloud API, avoiding unofficial web scrapers, QR code hacks, and risk-prone reverse-engineered protocols.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | OpenWAB Flow | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | 📱 WhatsApp Customer | | │ | | ▼ (Webhook < 50ms) | | ⚡ Next.js 16 Webhook Ingestion ────► 🔒 HMAC SHA-256 Signature Guard | | │ | | ▼ (BullMQ Queues + Redis) | | 📦 Message Worker ──────────────► 🐘 PostgreSQL + Drizzle ORM | | │ │ | | ├─────────────────────────┐ ▼ | | ▼ ▼ 📡 SSE Real-Time Broker | | 🤖 Universal AI Worker 📥 Media Download │ | | (OpenAI/Anthropic/ (Encrypted Temp) ▼ | | Gemini/Groq/Ollama) 💻 Shared Agent Inbox | | | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode 🔥 Features Built & Running Today Here is what's already built, tested, and running under the hood:
We intentionally selected a modern, developer-friendly, and lightweight stack:
This is where YOU come in! Here are the big features on our upcoming development roadmap:
Whether you are a frontend wizard, a backend specialist, a DevOps enthusiast, or a technical writer, we would love your help!
Drop a comment below, leave your feedback, or share what you'd like to see added. Let’s build something incredible together! 🚀🔥