Client.getState() and Client.getChats() throws r: r despite client being CONNECTED and WhatsApp Web fully loaded

[infoshahnn]

Issue Description

• I am using latest version of whatsapp-web.js library and when start application it getting logs below

0|whatsapp-reader | ⏳ 100% WhatsApp
0|whatsapp-reader | ✅ AUTHENTICATED
0|whatsapp-reader | ======================================
0|whatsapp-reader | ✅ WhatsApp READY
0|whatsapp-reader | ======================================
0|whatsapp-reader | WhatsApp Web Version: 2.3000.1043270046
0|whatsapp-reader | 🌐 URL: https://web.whatsapp.com/
0|whatsapp-reader | 📄 Title: (53) WhatsApp Business
0|whatsapp-reader | {
0|whatsapp-reader | body: '53\n' +
0|whatsapp-reader | 'All\n' +
0|whatsapp-reader | 'Unread\n' +
0|whatsapp-reader | '53\n' +
0|whatsapp-reader | 'Favourites\n' +
0|whatsapp-reader | 'Groups\n' +
0|whatsapp-reader | '28\n' +
0|whatsapp-reader | 'Rice\n' +
0|whatsapp-reader | 'यशस्वी कमोडिटी(Aivaग्रुप)\n' +
0|whatsapp-reader | '15:17\n' +
0|whatsapp-reader | "Don't Msg Yashasvi\n" +
0|whatsapp-reader | ': \n' +
0|whatsapp-reader | 'Photo\n' +
0|whatsapp-reader | 'IPGA Market Update,,,,,\n' +
0|whatsapp-reader | '15:22\n' +
0|whatsapp-reader | 'Ipga market update\n' +
0|whatsapp-reader | ': \n' +
0|whatsapp-reader | 'IPGA MARKET UPDATE 16 JULY 2026 JAIPUR MARKET (ALL PAID) CHANA:6100-75 CHANA DAL(DESI):6950-75 Free Pulses Market Update Join WhatsApp Group - https://chat.whatsapp.com/E5SmPW9LEuL0oJP7Ub9UEm?s=cl&p=a&ilr=1&amv=2 Follow our IPGA MARKET UPDATE channel- https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaA8scvKmCPGJoa02T1l Pls subscribe to our IPGA’s YouTube cha',
0|whatsapp-reader | readyState: 'complete',
0|whatsapp-reader | chatItems: 0,
0|whatsapp-reader | hasWWebJS: true
0|whatsapp-reader | }
0|whatsapp-reader | 📸 Screenshot saved: debug-ready.png
0|whatsapp-reader | State: CONNECTED
0|whatsapp-reader | ❌ getChats failed: r: r
0|whatsapp-reader | at ExecutionContext.#evaluate (/root/whatsAppReader/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/cdp/ExecutionContext.ts:456:34)
0|whatsapp-reader | at async ExecutionContext.evaluate (/root/whatsAppReader/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/cdp/ExecutionContext.ts:293:12)
0|whatsapp-reader | at async IsolatedWorld.evaluate (/root/whatsAppReader/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/cdp/IsolatedWorld.ts:196:12)
0|whatsapp-reader | at async CdpFrame.evaluate (/root/whatsAppReader/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/api/Frame.ts:488:12)
0|whatsapp-reader | at async CdpPage.evaluate (/root/whatsAppReader/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/api/Page.ts:2362:12)
0|whatsapp-reader | at async Client.getChats (/root/whatsAppReader/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/src/Client.js:1669:23)
0|whatsapp-reader | at async Client. (/root/whatsAppReader/src/whatsapp-reader.ts:1090:23)
0|whatsapp-reader | 🔄 Cycle 1/13
0|whatsapp-reader | 🌐 Fetching latest chats from WhatsApp...
0|whatsapp-reader | Attempt 1 failed r: r
0|whatsapp-reader | at ExecutionContext.#evaluate (/root/whatsAppReader/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/cdp/ExecutionContext.ts:456:34)
0|whatsapp-reader | at async ExecutionContext.evaluate (/root/whatsAppReader/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/cdp/ExecutionContext.ts:293:12)
0|whatsapp-reader | at async IsolatedWorld.evaluate (/root/whatsAppReader/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/cdp/IsolatedWorld.ts:196:12)
0|whatsapp-reader | at async CdpFrame.evaluate (/root/whatsAppReader/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/api/Frame.ts:488:12)
0|whatsapp-reader | at async CdpPage.evaluate (/root/whatsAppReader/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/api/Page.ts:2362:12)
0|whatsapp-reader | at async Client.getChats (/root/whatsAppReader/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/src/Client.js:1669:23)
0|whatsapp-reader | at async getChatsWithRetry (/root/whatsAppReader/src/whatsapp-reader.ts:212:27)
0|whatsapp-reader | at async getChatsCached (/root/whatsAppReader/src/whatsapp-reader.ts:503:19)
0|whatsapp-reader | at async processChats (/root/whatsAppReader/src/whatsapp-reader.ts:1518:22)
0|whatsapp-reader | at async scheduler (/root/whatsAppReader/src/whatsapp-reader.ts:1807:19)

• It getting number of total chats and some other details but when calling client.getChats() function it throw error
• waClient.getState() is library function and we are trying to getting whatsapp state
• waClient.getChats() is library function and we are reading whatsapp messages
• but due to this error we are unable to read messages from whatsapp

Need to look on it to resolve this issue. I think most of the developers face this issue

Thanks & Regards

Reproduction Steps

1. Getting number of chats those are unread
2. Trying to read each chat using client.getChats() library function it throw error

Code Sample

client.on("ready", async () => {
    const waClient = client!;

console.log("======================================");
    console.log("✅ WhatsApp READY");
    console.log("======================================");

const page = (waClient as any).pupPage;

const waVersion = await page.evaluate(() => {
        return (window as any).Debug?.VERSION ??
              (window as any).Debug?.VERSION_BASE ??
              "Unknown";
    });

console.log("WhatsApp Web Version:", waVersion);

try {
        console.log("🌐 URL:", await page.url());
        console.log("📄 Title:", await page.title());

const debug = await page.evaluate(() => ({
            body: document.body.innerText.substring(0, 500),
            readyState: document.readyState,
            chatItems: document.querySelectorAll('[role="listitem"]').length,
            hasWWebJS: typeof (window as any).WWebJS !== "undefined",
        }));

console.log(debug);

// Save screenshot for debugging if needed
        await page.screenshot({
            path: "debug-ready.png",
            fullPage: true,
        });

console.log("📸 Screenshot saved: debug-ready.png");

} catch (err) {
        console.error("Debug failed:", err);
    }

// Wait a few seconds after READY
    await sleep(5000);

try {
        console.log("State:", await waClient.getState());

// Test getChats only once
        const chats = await waClient.getChats();

console.log(`✅ getChats success: ${chats.length} chats`);

} catch (err) {
        console.error("❌ getChats failed:", err);

// Don't return; continue so the rest of the app can still start if desired.
    }

// First run initialization
    if (Object.keys(state).length === 0) {
        await initializeState(waClient);
    }

// Start scheduler
    scheduler();
  });

User Setup

WhatsApp	Type
Account Type	WhatsApp Business
Authentication Strategy	LocalAuth
WhatsApp Web Version	2.3000.1043270046
whatsapp-web.js Version	1.34.7

Environment	Version
Browser Type	Google Chrome
Browser Version	149.0.7827.155
Phone OS Version	Android 16
Running OS Version	24.04
Node.js Version	22.22.3

Checklist

• I use the latest released version of whatsapp-web.js.
• I have searched existing issues and confirmed this is not a duplicate.
• I have verified this is a library issue, not a problem with my code.

@Adi1231234 please check this issue

[TheLazyH]

Also hitting this — same failure signature (r: r from #evaluate), same call path via Client.getChats(). Adding my trace and setup in case the extra data point helps narrow it down.

Stack trace:

RAW ERROR: {"stack":"r: r\n    at #evaluate (.../puppeteer-core/lib/cjs/puppeteer/cdp/ExecutionContext.js:391:56)\n    at async ExecutionContext.evaluate (.../ExecutionContext.js:277:16)\n    at async IsolatedWorld.evaluate (.../IsolatedWorld.js:100:16)\n    at async CdpFrame.evaluate (.../api/Frame.js:362:20)\n    at async CdpPage.evaluate (.../api/Page.js:830:20)\n    at async Client.getChats (.../whatsapp-web.js/src/Client.js:1729:23)","message":"r","name":"r"}

Behavior observed:

• client reaches ready and stays connected (confirmed via getState() → CONNECTED)
• Failure is 100% reproducible — not intermittent. Tried 3x retry with 3s backoff, fails identically every attempt.
• Increasing protocolTimeout to 120000ms in the Puppeteer launch config did not resolve it (rules out a plain timeout).
• Tried adding a longer post-ready warm-up delay (15s) before first call — no change.

Setup:

whatsapp-web.js version	(fill in — run npm ls whatsapp-web.js)
WhatsApp account type	(Personal / Business)
Auth strategy	LocalAuth
OS	macOS
Node.js version	(fill in — run node -v)
Browser	Google Chrome (system install, not bundled Chromium)

Happy to provide more logs or test a patch if one comes up, this is currently blocking group-message sending entirely for our internal tool.

---

[fanalis90]

i got same error for getChat , i change some code
in node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/src/util/Injected/Utils.js:

change in line about 920 from Promise.all(...) to Promise.allSettled(...). :
window.WWebJS.getChats = async () => {
const chats = window.require('WAWebCollections').Chat.getModelsArray();
const chatPromises = chats.map((chat) =>
window.WWebJS.getChatModel(chat),
);
return (await Promise.allSettled(chatPromises))
.filter((result) => result.status === 'fulfilled')
.map((result) => result.value);
};

[shivekkhurana]

Adding another reproducible data point from a local macOS app. This looks like the same failure signature: the browser now launches, the client reaches ready, but client.getChats() throws the minified r: r error from inside Puppeteer's page evaluation.

Summary

In my app, initialization gets as far as the ready event. The failure happens immediately when calling client.getChats() inside the ready handler. Because this happens before my app can locate the target group chat, the sync task exits through the uncaught exception path.

Environment

Item	Value
OS	macOS 15.7.4, build 24G517
Node.js	v26.4.0
Package manager / script	yarn tsx src/tasks/syncMessages.ts
Bun installed	1.3.14, with bun.lock present
whatsapp-web.js dependency	github:wwebjs/whatsapp-web.js#1780711a1c86dfeca7c5ba6a66f950eac93dde28
Installed whatsapp-web.js version reported by npm	1.34.7
Top-level puppeteer	24.17.0
puppeteer bundled under whatsapp-web.js	24.38.0
puppeteer-core bundled under whatsapp-web.js	24.38.0
Auth strategy	LocalAuth
Browser mode	headless: false

npm ls whatsapp-web.js puppeteer puppeteer-core --depth=3 reports:

chakki@ /Users/shivekkhurana/Wip/chakki
├─┬ puppeteer@24.17.0
│ └── puppeteer-core@24.17.0
└─┬ whatsapp-web.js@1.34.7 invalid: "github:wwebjs/whatsapp-web.js#1780711a1c86dfeca7c5ba6a66f950eac93dde28" from the root project
  └─┬ puppeteer@24.38.0
    └── puppeteer-core@24.38.0

Relevant client setup

const client = new Client({
  authStrategy: new LocalAuth(),
  puppeteer: {
    headless: false,
    args: ["--no-sandbox", "--disable-setuid-sandbox"],
  },
});

client.on("ready", async () => {
  logger.info("WhatsApp Web client is ready");

  const chats = await client.getChats();
  const group = chats.find((chat) => chat.name === GROUP_NAME);

  // ...
});

Error

{"level":50,"time":"2026-07-16T13:05:24.130Z","env":"development","error":{"type":"Error","message":"r","stack":"r: r
    at ExecutionContext.#evaluate (/Users/shivekkhurana/Wip/chakki/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/node_modules/puppeteer/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/cdp/ExecutionContext.ts:456:34)
    at async ExecutionContext.evaluate (/Users/shivekkhurana/Wip/chakki/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/node_modules/puppeteer/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/cdp/ExecutionContext.ts:293:12)
    at async IsolatedWorld.evaluate (/Users/shivekkhurana/Wip/chakki/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/node_modules/puppeteer/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/cdp/IsolatedWorld.ts:196:12)
    at async CdpFrame.evaluate (/Users/shivekkhurana/Wip/chakki/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/node_modules/puppeteer/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/api/Frame.ts:488:12)
    at async CdpPage.evaluate (/Users/shivekkhurana/Wip/chakki/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/node_modules/puppeteer/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/api/Page.ts:2362:12)
    at async Client.getChats (/Users/shivekkhurana/Wip/chakki/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/src/Client.js:1729:23)
    at async Client.<anonymous> (/Users/shivekkhurana/Wip/chakki/src/tasks/syncMessages.ts:156:17)","name":"r"},"msg":"Uncaught Exception"}

Behavior

• Browser launch/auth is working now.
• ready fires.
• client.getChats() fails immediately with Error name/message r.
• The failure is inside the injected/evaluated WhatsApp Web code path, not at browser startup.
• The app never gets a chat list back, so downstream code cannot find the configured group.

Given the new comment above about changing window.WWebJS.getChats from Promise.all(...) to Promise.allSettled(...), this data point seems consistent with one or more chat models failing during serialization and causing the whole getChats() result to reject. I have not patched node_modules yet, but I can test a patch if maintainers want a specific diff/build to validate.

Update

I tried patching from Promise.all to Promise.allSettled as suggested by @fanalis90. But it didn't work.

The original error was gone, but the group chats didn't load, and the downstream workflow failed.

[fiksun-23]

payload.hasQuotMsg = 'no';
if (msg.hasQuotedMsg) {
const quoted = await msg.getQuotedMessage();
payload.hasQuotMsg = 'yes';
payload.QuotMsg = quoted.body;
if (quoted.type === 'location') {
const lat = quoted.location.latitude;
const lng = quoted.location.longitude;
payload.latitude = lat;
payload.longitude = lng;
payload.QuotMsg = 'lat = ' + lat + ' long = ' + lng;
}else if (quoted.hasMedia) {
const media = await quoted.downloadMedia();
payload.QuotMimetype = media.mimetype;
payload.QuotFilename = media.filename;
payload.QuotFile_data = media.data;
payload.QuotType = "media";
}
}

My code is throwing error when the message has quoted media message when const quoted = await msg.getQuotedMessage();.
The err.message is "r" only. Is this the same issue?

[papablack]

+1

[Dinamo597]

Actually, I have the same problem, already try to change the parameters at the definition the client, but whitout news, these are my logs:

nodejs-1 | at ExecutionContext.#evaluate (/app/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/cdp/ExecutionContext.ts:456:34)
nodejs-1 | at async ExecutionContext.evaluate (/app/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/cdp/ExecutionContext.ts:293:12)
nodejs-1 | at async IsolatedWorld.evaluate (/app/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/cdp/IsolatedWorld.ts:196:12)
nodejs-1 | at async CdpFrame.evaluate (/app/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/api/Frame.ts:488:12)
nodejs-1 | at async CdpPage.evaluate (/app/node_modules/puppeteer-core/src/api/Page.ts:2362:12)
nodejs-1 | at async Client.getChatById (/app/node_modules/whatsapp-web.js/src/Client.js:1694:22)
nodejs-1 | at async handleIncomingMessage (/app/src/whatsappEvents.ts:89:22)
nodejs-1 | [2026-07-22 06:30:15] ⚠️ Intento de acceso no autorizado bloqueado.

i am using the whatsappweb.js@1.34.7 version