Build your own WhatsApp with Claude Code

A messaging app: one-to-one and group chats, read receipts and typing indicators, photo and voice note messages and more.

1–2 weeksMore screens, accounts and a backend

The Claude Code prompt

Build my own take on WhatsApp: a messaging app. Give it an original name, logo, colours and copy, and do not use WhatsApp's name, branding or assets.

Version one should have:
- One-to-one and group chats
- Read receipts and typing indicators
- Photo and voice note messages
- Contact list
- Push notifications

The hard part: Real-time delivery and offline sync. Use websockets or a realtime database and queue messages for offline users.

How to build it:
1. Read this folder first. If it is empty, set up Next.js (App Router, TypeScript, Tailwind) with Postgres through Prisma or Supabase, and Supabase Auth or Auth.js for sign-in. Write a short PLAN.md with the data model, screens, third-party services and what you are leaving out of version one.
2. Build the core loop end to end before anything else: one-to-one and group chats, working with real data saved to the database.
3. Add the rest of the features one at a time, and seed realistic demo data so every screen looks alive.
4. Keep API keys in environment variables, and put any paid service behind a small interface with a local stub, so the app runs on a fresh machine without accounts.
5. Run it, click through every screen on desktop and mobile widths, fix what breaks, and finish with a summary of what works, what is stubbed and how to deploy it.

Paste it into Claude Code in an empty folder. It plans first, so read PLAN.md and steer before it starts building.

Version one

  • One-to-one and group chats
  • Read receipts and typing indicators
  • Photo and voice note messages
  • Contact list
  • Push notifications

The hard part

Real-time delivery and offline sync. Use websockets or a realtime database and queue messages for offline users.

Make it yours: a niche WhatsApp ignores, an original name and brand, and one feature it does badly done well.

More to build

More in Messaging · Every build idea