You can filter results to specific topics. This is useful for building niche discovery tools. Available Values: ENTERTAINMENT: Celebrity and media channels. SPORTS: Teams, leagues, and athletes. LIFESTYLE: Fashion, cooking, and hobbies. BUSINESS: Companies and brands. NEWS: Global

Broad Match: Searching "Foo" will return "Foo Fighters", "Foodies", and "Football". No Wildcards: You do not need characters; the fuzzy matching is automatic. ---

Search Channels by Text

Search for channels using a text query.

GET

https://api.wawp.net/v2/channels/search/text?access_token=123456789&categories=ENTERTAINMENT&instance_id=123456789&limit=10&startCursor=value&text=Tesla

Authentication Required

Test /v2/channels/search/text endpoint

Supports

GET

No query parameters required

This endpoint doesn't expect data in the URL.

The Global Directory: Searching WhatsApp Channels

The /v2/channels/search/text endpoint provides programmatic access to WhatsApp's global directory of public channels. This is the same search engine used by the WhatsApp mobile app in the "Updates" tab.

🔍 How Search Works

The search engine performs a fuzzy match against the Channel Name and Description. It uses an internal relevance score to rank results, prioritizing Verified (Green Tick) channels and those with high follower counts in the requested region.

The "Cursor" Pagination Model

Unlike SQL databases that use OFFSET/LIMIT, tips: [ { type: 'info', title: 'Keywords', content: 'Searches channel titles and descriptions.' }, { type: 'positive', title: 'Filters', content: 'Combine with country or category filters for better results.' } ], recommendations: [ "Debounce search inputs to avoid hitting rate limits.", "Highlight matching keywords in the search results UI.", "Cache common search terms locally." ]

WhatsApp Search uses an opaque cursor string for pagination to handle millions of records efficiently.

The Workflow:

First Request: Send startCursor="" (empty string).
Response: You receive a list of channels and a nextCursor string (e.g., "cursor_Au9s...").
Next Page: Send the exact nextCursor string as the startCursor parameter in your next request.
End of Results: When nextCursor is null or empty, you have reached the end of the query results.

🎯 Filtering Strategies

Refine your search to cut through the noise.

1. By Category (`categories`)

You can filter results to specific topics. This is useful for building niche discovery tools.

Available Values:
- ENTERTAINMENT: Celebrity and media channels.
- SPORTS: Teams, leagues, and athletes.
- LIFESTYLE: Fashion, cooking, and hobbies.
- BUSINESS: Companies and brands.
- NEWS: Global and local news outlets.
- ORGANIZATIONS: Non-profits and government bodies.

2. By Text Query (`text`)

Broad Match: Searching "Foo" will return "Foo Fighters", "Foodies", and "Football".
No Wildcards: You do not need * characters; the fuzzy matching is automatic.

💡 Use Case: The "Trend Watcher" Bot

Imagine you want to monitor the cryptocurrency market sentiment on WhatsApp.

Script Loop: Run a cron job every 24 hours.
Search: Query for terms like "Bitcoin", "Crypto", "Trading".
Filter: Iterate through the results and check the subscribers_count.
Action: If a new channel appears with >10,000 followers, automatically trigger the Follow API and alert your team via Slack.

This allows you to detect emerging influencers before they become mainstream.

⚠️ Important Notes

Region Locking: The results are global but may be biased towards the region of the phone number connected to the instance.
Rate Limits: Searching is expensive. Do not use this endpoint for high-frequency autocomplete (typing) features. Debounce your requests by at least 1-2 seconds.

Request Parameters

Configure the parameters required to interact with this endpoint. All query and body arguments are listed below with their details.

URL Parameters

Passed in the URL query string

	`string`		Your unique WhatsApp Instance ID Example:
	`string`		Your API Access Token Example:
	`string`		The search query text Example:
	`array[string]`		Filter by categories. e.g. ENTERTAINMENT,SPORTS Example:
	`number`		Maximum number of results Example:
	`string`		Cursor for pagination. Leave as empty string for the first page.

Request Samples

Use these ready-to-go code snippets to integrate our API into your project quickly and efficiently. Choose your preferred language and library.

1const baseUrl = "https://api.wawp.net";
2const endpoint = "/v2/channels/search/text";
3const params = new URLSearchParams({
4  "instance_id": "123456789",
5  "access_token": "123456789",
6  "text": "Tesla",
7  "categories": "ENTERTAINMENT",
8  "limit": "10",
9  "startCursor": ""
10}).toString();
11
12
13fetch(`${baseUrl}${endpoint}${params ? '?' + params : ''}`, {
14  method: "GET",
15  headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
16  
17})
18  .then(async (response) => {
19    if (response.ok) {
20      const data = await response.json();
21      console.log("Success:", data);
22      return data;
23    }
24    
25    // Error Handling
26    if (response.status === 401) {
27      console.error("Error 401: Unauthorized - Invalid or Missing Access Token");
28    }
29    if (response.status === 500) {
30      console.error("Error 500: Internal Server Error - Unexpected Failure");
31    }
32
33    const errorText = await response.text();
34    console.error(`Error ${response.status}: ${errorText}`);
35  })
36  .catch((error) => console.error("Network Error:", error));

Interactive SamplesUTF-8

Ln 36, Col 1javascript

Expected Responses

Explore all possible responses and outcomes from the server. We have documented each status code with data examples to make success and error handling easier.

Channels retrieved successfully

application/json

array *

string *

Example

{
"channels": {
  },
"nextCursor": "cursor_456"
}

Unauthorized - Invalid or Missing Access Token

Internal Server Error - Unexpected Failure