[CHATWOOT] Outgoing messages from phone should appear as regular messages, not private notes

[jptorresagnello]

Title:
[CHATWOOT] Outgoing messages from phone should appear as regular messages, not private notes

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Description

When using WAHA with Chatwoot integration, messages sent from the mobile phone (WhatsApp app) appear as private notes in Chatwoot instead of regular outgoing messages. This creates confusion because private notes are meant for internal team communication, not customer-facing messages.

Current Behavior

• User sends a WhatsApp message directly from their phone
• Message appears in Chatwoot as a private note (with note icon)
• This is confusing because it looks like internal team communication rather than actual customer messages

Expected Behavior

Messages sent from the mobile phone should appear as regular outgoing messages in Chatwoot, similar to how Evolution API handles this scenario.

Why This Matters

1. Confusion with internal notes: Private notes are designed for team communication. When actual customer messages appear as notes, it creates confusion about what's internal vs. external communication.

2. Workflow disruption: Users who need to respond from both Chatwoot and their mobile phone (for flexibility) cannot easily distinguish between actual internal notes and messages sent from the phone.

3. Migration from Evolution API: Evolution API handled this correctly by showing phone-sent messages as regular outgoing messages. This behavior change makes migration from Evolution to WAHA difficult.

Use Case

Many users need the flexibility to respond to customers from either:

• Chatwoot web interface (when at their desk)
• WhatsApp mobile app (when away from computer)

Both should appear as regular messages in the conversation history, not as internal notes.

Proposed Solution

Add a configuration option (environment variable or settings) to control this behavior:

CHATWOOT_OUTGOING_AS_NOTES=false  # Show phone messages as regular outgoing messages
CHATWOOT_OUTGOING_AS_NOTES=true   # Current behavior (keep as notes)

This would allow users to choose the behavior that fits their workflow.

Additional Context

• Using WAHA version: 2025.11.1
• Chatwoot version: 3.15.7
• Previously used Evolution API which handled this correctly

Would it be possible to add this feature or provide guidance on how to modify this behavior?

[devlikepro]

it's not that easy