How to install OpenWA on a Cloud VPS

OpenWA is a free, open-source WhatsApp API gateway that lets your own applications send and receive messages, manage groups and media and react to webhooks, with full control over your messaging infrastructure.

Self-hosted communication keeps your team conversations on your own server, with full data control and no history limits.

One-click install on cloudlinux.ro

The fastest way: OpenWA installs automatically at the first boot of a new server.

1. Create a Cloud VPS from the control panel.
2. In the configuration step, pick OpenWA from the app catalog.
3. Start the server. The install runs in the background for a few minutes and its status shows on the server page.
4. Access details and generated passwords are saved on the server in /root/app-credentials.txt. The app will be available on port 2785.

Manual install on any Ubuntu server

If you prefer doing it yourself, below is the exact script our automatic install runs. Execute it as root on a fresh Ubuntu server (24.04 recommended). It stops at the first error, and when it finishes you will find the access details in /root/app-credentials.txt.

export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
apt-get install -y git
git clone https://github.com/rmyndharis/OpenWA.git /opt/openwa
cd /opt/openwa
[ -f .env.example ] && cp -n .env.example .env
docker compose up -d --build
printf 'OpenWA: interfata si API-ul sunt legate de localhost (127.0.0.1:2785), fara expunere publica.\nAcceseaza-le printr-un tunel SSH de pe calculatorul tau:\n  ssh -L 2785:127.0.0.1:2785 root@%s\nApoi deschide http://localhost:2785 si scaneaza codul QR pentru a conecta WhatsApp.\nCheia de administrator (API master key) se genereaza la prima pornire; o gasesti in /opt/openwa/data/.api-key sau in: cd /opt/openwa && docker compose logs\nDocumentatie API: http://localhost:2785/api/docs\n' "$(hostname -I | awk '{print $1}')" > /root/app-credentials.txt

You can also save this script as a recipe in your account and reuse it on any new server.