I think this is a pretty niche demand and probably another topic for r/DataHoarder but anyway, here I am.
I created this application to basically have a way to store my WhatsApp messages away from the Google/Meta servers. Or at least not depend so much on Google backup.
Whatsapp has a very limited export functionality, which any user can use through the app’s own interface. Once these messages and media have been exported, you can place them in a folder monitored by ChatVault, send them to an email monitored by ChatVault or upload them via the interface. Once ingested by chatvault, it will record the chat media on disk and save the messages in a database in a structured way. These messages can be accessed in a front end similar to a chat application.
It’s still under development, some things need to be improved (mainly the UI), it’s still far from ideal, it’s true, the way Whatsapp allows us to export messages is quite bad, which makes the entire process of exporting and ingesting it into chatvault quite coupled but it can still be useful for those who want to store their messages independently, just like I wanted.
https://github.com/vitormarcal/chatvault
Edit: add an application interface image
Please don’t take this as criticism, this is a great idea and I fully plan on contributing to the codebase.
With that said I spent a few hours trying to get it to work. No luck. Docker, no. Docker compose. No.
I took the code and built / run manually. That worked but then I couldn’t import a chat. I tested with one line with no attachments. From just that one line, here are the problems so far:
Again none of that is supposed to be criticism. This is a great idea and I fully intend to help out with it.
Good job!