Phone Numbers: Argentina

🇦🇷 Argentine mobile numbers (country code 54) are registered on WhatsApp with a 9 after the country code: 5491112345678, while integrations often have them as 541112345678 - without the 9.

If you send a message to the wrong form - the request fails or the message goes nowhere.

The app automatically resolves the right number before sending, so you can send messages to Argentine numbers with or without the 9 - no changes on your side.

How it works#

When you call send message APIs with an Argentine number in chatId (54 + area code + number, with or without the 9), the app checks the supplied form first and then the other one, going through the tiers below - cheapest first:

1. In-memory cache - previously resolved numbers.
2. Persistent cache - verified resolutions saved in the database.
3. Local contacts - the number is matched against the session’s contact and LID store.
4. WhatsApp lookup - asks WhatsApp servers which form exists (can be turned off with lookup: false).

Other APIs (typing, mark as read, group operations, etc.) resolve using local tiers only - they never call WhatsApp lookup and never fail.

Installation#

• Configure env variables

WAHA_APPS_ENABLED=True
# If you don't need other apps - explicitly specify apps to enable
#WAHA_APPS_ON=argentine-phone-numbers

• Restart WAHA server

docker compose up -d

• Create an app using 📊 Dashboard or API below

API#

You can use 🧩 Apps API or 🖥️ Sessions API endpoints.

POST /api/apps

{
  "app": "argentine-phone-numbers",
  "session": "{session}",
  "id": "app_{session}",
  "config": {
    "strict": false,
    "lookup": true,
    "cache": {
      "memoryTtl": "24h",
      "persistent": true,
      "persistentTtl": "31d"
    }
  }
}

• strict - what to do when the number is confirmed NOT on WhatsApp:
  • false (default) - warn in logs and send to the best-guess number anyway.
  • true - reject the request with 422 error.
• lookup - allow asking WhatsApp servers for numbers that local tiers can’t resolve. When false, unresolved numbers are sent as provided.
• cache.memoryTtl - how long to keep resolved numbers in memory (duration format - 30m, 24h, 7d).
• cache.persistent - save verified resolutions in the database so they survive restarts. Unverified guesses and negatives are never saved.
• cache.persistentTtl - how long to keep resolved numbers in the database.

Cache API#

The app also exposes endpoints to monitor and clean up the resolved-numbers cache. All endpoints require the app to be enabled for the session.

Get cache stats#

Stats for both cache tiers:

GET /api/apps/argentine-phone-numbers/{session}/cache/stats

{
  // null when the session is not running
  "memory": {
    "total": 100
  },
  // null when the persistent cache is disabled
  "db": {
    "total": 100,
    "verified": 90
  }
}

List in-memory cache#

Entries from the in-memory cache tier of the running session, sorted by key (422 if the session is not running):

GET /api/apps/argentine-phone-numbers/{session}/cache/memory?limit=100&offset=0

[
  {
    "key": "541112345678",
    // Empty string is a confirmed-negative - the number is verified NOT to exist on WhatsApp
    "chatId": "5491112345678@c.us",
    // null when the entry has no TTL
    "expiresAt": "2026-08-28T00:00:00.000Z"
  }
]

List persistent cache#

Entries from the persistent (database) cache tier, sorted by id - works even when the session is stopped (422 if cache.persistent is disabled):

GET /api/apps/argentine-phone-numbers/{session}/cache/db?limit=100&offset=0

[
  {
    "id": 1,
    "key": "541112345678",
    "chatId": "5491112345678@c.us",
    "verified": true,
    "resolvedAt": "2026-08-27T00:00:00.000Z"
  }
]

Purge cache#

Removes ALL persistent cache entries and clears the in-memory tier (the in-memory tier only when the session is running):

DELETE /api/apps/argentine-phone-numbers/{session}/cache/purge

{
  // Number of entries removed from the persistent cache
  "deleted": 10
}

Thanks to ropu for the original implementation.