WhatsApp Channels vs. WhatsApp Groups: The Key Difference

WhatsApp Groups put your number in front of everyone. Anyone in the group can message you directly, see your phone number, and contact you outside the group. That works for customer communities. It does not work for broadcasting to thousands of followers.

WhatsApp Channels solve this. Your followers see your content but not your number. They can react — but not reply. You broadcast without exposing yourself to thousands of inbound messages. No more drowning in "where's my order?" replies from a product announcement.

MoltFlow's Channel API wraps all of this in 9 REST endpoints and 8 MCP tools, so you can publish from code, schedule posts, and track follower growth without touching the WhatsApp app.

Already have a channel with followers? Use GET /channels/discover to find your existing channels, then POST /channels/import to connect them to MoltFlow — no need to create from scratch.

The Anatomy of a Channel Post

Every channel post goes through the same lifecycle:

Create — POST /api/v2/channels/{id}/broadcast with { "text": "..." }
Track — A ChannelPost record is created with status: pending → sent
Count — Monthly post counter is incremented against your plan limit

For media posts (image/video), you provide a publicly accessible URL:

bash

curl -X POST https://apiv2.waiflow.app/api/v2/channels/{channel_id}/broadcast \
  -H "X-API-Key: $MOLTFLOW_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "post_type": "image",
    "media_url": "https://cdn.example.com/product-launch.jpg",
    "caption": "New product just dropped. React with 🔥 if you want early access."
  }'

WAHA fetches the media directly from your URL and delivers it to all channel followers.

Scheduling Channel Posts

Channel posts support the same scheduling engine as regular messages — one-time ISO 8601 timestamps and recurring cron expressions.

One-time post:

bash

curl -X POST https://apiv2.waiflow.app/api/v2/scheduled-messages \
  -H "X-API-Key: $MOLTFLOW_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Product Launch Announcement",
    "session_id": "your-session-uuid",
    "channel_id": "your-channel-uuid",
    "target_type": "channel",
    "message_content": "The launch is live. Link in our Story.",
    "schedule_type": "once",
    "scheduled_time": "2026-03-15T09:00:00Z"
  }'

Weekly recurring post:

bash

curl -X POST https://apiv2.waiflow.app/api/v2/scheduled-messages \
  -H "X-API-Key: $MOLTFLOW_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Weekly Update",
    "session_id": "your-session-uuid",
    "channel_id": "your-channel-uuid",
    "target_type": "channel",
    "message_content": "This week: ...",
    "schedule_type": "recurring",
    "cron_expression": "0 9 * * 1"
  }'

Plan Limits and the 6-Hour Sync

Channel features are available on all plans. The difference is capacity:

Plan	Channels	Posts/Month
Free	1	10
Starter	2	50
Pro	5	500
Business	20	2,000

Follower counts refresh automatically every 6 hours via a Celery beat task. You can also trigger an on-demand sync from the dashboard's channel detail view. The sync queries WAHA directly — no third-party analytics service, no delay.

MCP Tools for Agents

If you're running Claude, GPT, or any MCP-compatible agent, 8 channel tools are available at https://apiv2.waiflow.app/mcp:

list_channels — list all channels for your account
get_channel — get details including follower count and invite link
create_channel — programmatically create a new channel
delete_channel — remove a channel you own
broadcast_channel_post — send an immediate text post
schedule_channel_post — schedule a future or recurring post
discover_channels — find existing WhatsApp channels available for import
import_channel — import an existing channel into MoltFlow

An agent can draft a post, check your follower count, decide whether to send now or at peak hours, and broadcast — entirely autonomously.

What About WAHA Versions?

Channel media broadcasting (image/video) was broken in WAHA 2025.9.x through 2025.10.x. If you're on a version in that range, MoltFlow automatically disables the media upload controls and shows you a clear message. Text posts work on all versions.

Run GET /api/v2/channels/capabilities to check your WAHA version compatibility:

bash

curl https://apiv2.waiflow.app/api/v2/channels/capabilities \
  -H "X-API-Key: $MOLTFLOW_API_KEY"
# {"media_broadcast_enabled": true, "waha_version": "2026.1.0", ...}

Upgrade your WAHA instance to any 2026.x version to enable full media support.