p24-infra Docs

waha-session-stopped-after-reboot

3 min read

[NIEAKTYWNE — WAHA zdecommissioned 2026-06-30] WAHA zastąpiona przez whatsup-android-chat-puller. Ten dokument zachowany jako archiwum historyczne. Patrz: issue #2007

Playbook: WAHA session STOPPED after reboot

Trigger

vps-h1 reboots (planned or unplanned) and the WhatsApp default session comes up in STOPPED state. Symptoms: WhatsApp messages not received, webhook to n8n not firing, WAHA dashboard shows “STOPPED”.

Discovered: 2026-06-25 reboot.

Confirm

ssh root@72.60.32.61
WAHA_KEY=$(grep '^WAHA_API_KEY' /root/.env | cut -d= -f2-)
curl -s -H "X-Api-Key: $WAHA_KEY" http://localhost:13000/api/sessions/default | python3 -c "import sys,json; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print('status:', d.get('status'))"
# Expected WORKING, problem = STOPPED

Step-by-step fix

Immediate: Start the session via API

ssh root@72.60.32.61
WAHA_KEY=$(grep '^WAHA_API_KEY' /root/.env | cut -d= -f2-)
curl -s -X POST -H "X-Api-Key: $WAHA_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  http://localhost:13000/api/sessions/default/start
sleep 10
curl -s -H "X-Api-Key: $WAHA_KEY" http://localhost:13000/api/sessions/default \
  | python3 -c "import sys,json; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print('status:', d.get('status'))"
# Must show: status: WORKING

Verify webhook routing works

Send a test WhatsApp message to +49 1578 5573196 and confirm it appears in n8n.

Root cause (fixed in PR #1362)

Two bugs caused the session not to auto-start:

  1. WHATSAPP_FILES_FOLDER=/app/sessions (no dot) didn’t match the volume mount at /app/.sessions. WAHA created a fresh empty sqlite DB on every container start, so WHATSAPP_RESTART_ALL_SESSIONS found nothing to restart.

  2. WHATSAPP_RESTART_ALL_SESSIONS=true is silently ignored on WAHA CORE tier (PLUS/PRO feature only).

Fixes applied (PR #1362, merged 2026-06-25):

  • WHATSAPP_FILES_FOLDER=/app/.sessions (matches volume)
  • waha-session.service systemd unit: waits 30s after docker.service, polls /api/health, then calls POST /api/sessions/default/start

Confirm permanent fix is in place

ssh root@72.60.32.61
 
# Check docker-compose has correct FILES_FOLDER
grep WHATSAPP_FILES_FOLDER /root/docker-compose.yml
# Expected: - WHATSAPP_FILES_FOLDER=/app/.sessions
 
# Check systemd service is enabled
systemctl is-enabled waha-session
# Expected: enabled
 
# Check service ran after last boot
systemctl status waha-session
# Expected: "Active: active (exited)" after last boot

If systemd service is missing

ssh root@72.60.32.61
# Copy from repo (PR #1362 adds hostinger/waha-session.service)
cp /opt/p24-infra/hostinger/waha-session.service /etc/systemd/system/waha-session.service
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable waha-session

Escalation

If session shows STOPPED even after POST /api/sessions/default/start:

  1. Check if credentials are still valid: docker exec waha ls /app/.sessions/noweb/default/creds.json
  2. If creds missing: session needs to be re-authenticated (QR code scan) — create human-action issue
  3. If creds present but status stays STOPPED after 30s: check WAHA logs: docker logs waha --tail 50

Prevention

  • vps-h1 planned reboots: check session status within 2 minutes of reboot complete
  • Monitor: Prometheus container_last_seen{name="waha"} — fires ContainerHighRestarts if WAHA crashes
  • The systemd service handles the normal reboot case automatically from PR #1362 onwards

Audit Log — Log to infra_operations

After this operation completes, log it to the infra_operations audit table.

Python (Linux server — bms-4, vps-i1, vps-h1, or similar):

import sys
sys.path.insert(0, '/opt/p24-infra')
from scripts.lib.log_op import log_op
 
log_op(
    actor="claude",  # "radieu" for manual human ops, "claude" for agent
    op_type="restart",
    resource="waha-session",
    result="success",  # "success" | "failed" | "skipped"
    detail="WAHA session restarted after VPS reboot",
    env="vps-h1",
    gh_issue=2730,
)

PowerShell (Windows dev machine):

$env:SUPABASE_URL = (Get-Content "C:\code_2026\p24-infra\.env.local" | Select-String "^SUPABASE_URL=").ToString().Split("=",2)[1].Trim()
$env:SUPABASE_SERVICE_KEY = (Get-Content "C:\code_2026\p24-infra\.env.local" | Select-String "^SUPABASE_SERVICE_KEY=").ToString().Split("=",2)[1].Trim()
python -c "
import os, sys
sys.path.insert(0, 'C:/code_2026/p24-infra')
from scripts.lib.log_op import log_op
log_op('claude', 'restart', 'waha-session', 'success', 'WAHA session restarted after VPS reboot', 'vps-h1')
"
$env:SUPABASE_URL = ''; $env:SUPABASE_SERVICE_KEY = ''

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