Frequently Asked Questions

General

What is WhatsMine? A self-hosted, multi-tenant customer-messaging platform (WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, SMS, Email) with AI chatbots, automation, broadcasting and a full SaaS billing layer. See What is WhatsMine?

Can I sell access to my own customers? Yes — that's the whole point. WhatsMine is a complete SaaS: plans, billing, white-label branding, an admin panel and a marketing site are all built in.

Do I own the code? Yes. You get the full Laravel + React source to host and customise.

Is there a recurring fee to the author? No platform fee — you keep your subscription revenue. You only pay for the external services you choose to use (hosting, Meta, AI, payment processing fees, SMS, etc.).

Installation & hosting

What do I need to run it? PHP 8.2+, MySQL 8+, Node 20+ (for building assets), and standard Laravel hosting. See Requirements.

Can it run on shared hosting? Yes, if the host meets the PHP/MySQL requirements and lets you run a cron job. A VPS is recommended for reliable queue workers and real-time. See Deployment.

Do I need Redis / Pusher / Qdrant? All optional. Database-backed fallbacks ship by default. Add Redis for performance, Pusher (or Reverb) for real-time, and Qdrant for large-scale AI search.

How do I update to a new version? Follow the Updating guide — back up, replace files, migrate, rebuild, restart workers.

Channels

Do I need my own Meta App? Yes — you create one Meta App and configure it once in Admin → Integrations. Your customers then connect their own WhatsApp numbers through it.

Why can't I message a WhatsApp contact freely? WhatsApp's 24-hour rule: outside 24 hours of the customer's last message you can only send approved templates.

Do Messenger and Instagram need separate setup? They reuse your Meta App but need their products/permissions added and a webhook subscription. See Messenger & Instagram.

Billing

Which payment gateways are supported? Stripe, PayPal and Paddle — enable any combination. See Payments.

Why aren't renewals happening? Almost always a webhook issue: the endpoint or signing secret isn't set in the gateway, or the queue worker/scheduler isn't running. See Troubleshooting.

Can I give a customer free or custom access? Yes — assign a plan or create a manual subscription.

AI

Do I need an AI key? Only to use AI features. Add one platform-wide key so AI works for everyone, or let customers bring their own. See AI Providers.

Which models can I use? OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude) and Google Gemini.

Customisation

Can I rebrand it completely? Yes — name, logo, colours, marketing site and legal pages, plus per-customer branding. See Branding & Settings.

Can I add my own features? Yes — scaffold a new module with php artisan saas:make-module.

Is it translatable? Fully — add languages, translate in-app (with AI assist) and use RTL. See i18n.

Demo

How do I set up a public demo? Use Demo Mode on a separate environment — it blocks writes and masks personal data, with a one-click demo login.

Still stuck? See Troubleshooting or Getting Support.