Option 6: Self-Hosted Chat Bot (WhatsApp or Telegram), No Cloud

Why this beats Options 2 and 4

Choose your channel

About WhatsApp: tools like WAHA drive WhatsApp the way WhatsApp Web does. WhatsApp's terms don't allow unofficial automation, and numbers doing it can be banned. Use a dedicated spare SIM, keep volume low, reply only to commands, and never bulk-message. If that's not acceptable, use Telegram or Meta's official WhatsApp Cloud API.

Bot commands (both channels)

Plain messages (not starting with /) are ignored, so the bot stays quiet in group chats.

Built-in safety (scripts/ts03-bot): - User text is shell-quoted before reaching zsh: no command injection - Allowlist by chat id and sender id; everyone else is ignored and logged - Writes only from OWNER_ID, even inside an allowed group - One Claude call at a time (queue) + per-chat cooldown - WhatsApp webhook only answers on /hook/<HOOK_SECRET>; wrong paths get 404 - Log: ~/Library/Logs/ts03-bot.log

Part A · Common setup (both channels)

Requires Guides 1-4 (and 10 for /html): ts03-brief must work on the Mac.

1Get the repo

git clone https://github.com/rpaut03l/google-sheets-mcp-guide.git
cd google-sheets-mcp-guide

2Create the config file

mkdir -p ~/.config
cp templates/ts03-bot.env.example ~/.config/ts03-bot.env
chmod 600 ~/.config/ts03-bot.env

You'll fill it in during Part B or C. Template: templates/ts03-bot.env.example

3Keep the Mac awake and logged in

The bot runs as a launchd user agent: it needs you logged in (screen can be locked) and the Mac not sleeping. System Settings → Battery → Options → prevent sleep on power adapter, wake for network access.

Part B · Telegram (recommended)

4Create the bot

Telegram → @BotFather → /newbot → name TS-03 Tracker → username e.g. my_ts03_bot. Copy the token.

Optional: /setcommands in BotFather and paste:

week - Due in the next 7 days
brief - Morning brief
urgent - Due within 3 days
next - Next deadline
subjects - Subjects and professors
html - HTML report link, e.g. /html week
help - All commands

5Add the token

nano ~/.config/ts03-bot.env          # TG_TOKEN=123456:ABC...

6First run and find your id

cp scripts/ts03-bot ~/.local/bin/ && chmod +x ~/.local/bin/ts03-bot
ts03-bot telegram

In Telegram open your bot → Start → send /whoami. It replies with your chat id and sender id. Press Ctrl+C in the terminal.

7Allow yourself (and others)

nano ~/.config/ts03-bot.env

OWNER_ID=<your sender id>
ALLOWED_CHATS=<friend ids or group id, comma-separated>

8Install as a service

scripts/install-bot.sh telegram                    # always on
scripts/install-bot.sh telegram --digest 08:00     # + morning brief at 08:00 daily

✅ com.ts03.bot.telegram running

Test: send /week to the bot.

Step 9 (optional): Batch group

1. Add the bot to the Telegram group
2. Send /whoami in the group → copy the chat id (negative number)
3. Add it to ALLOWED_CHATS, set DIGEST_CHAT to it if the group should get the morning brief
4. Restart: scripts/install-bot.sh telegram --digest 08:00

Members type /week or /week@my_ts03_bot; only you can use write commands.

Part C · WhatsApp (WAHA, self-hosted)

10Spare number and container runtime

• A spare WhatsApp number (second SIM / eSIM, or WhatsApp Business on another number)
• Open-source Docker runtime: bash brew install colima docker docker-compose colima start (Docker Desktop also works.)

11Secrets

echo "WAHA_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 16)"   >> ~/.config/ts03-bot.env
echo "HOOK_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 16)" >> ~/.config/ts03-bot.env
grep -E "^(WAHA_KEY|HOOK_SECRET)=." ~/.config/ts03-bot.env   # both should show values (empty template lines are ignored)

12Start WAHA (bound to localhost)

mkdir -p ~/waha/sessions
set -a; source ~/.config/ts03-bot.env; set +a
export WA_HOOK_HOST=host.lima.internal        # Colima. Docker Desktop: host.docker.internal
docker compose -f templates/docker-compose.waha.yml up -d
docker logs -f waha                           # Ctrl+C once it says it's running

Compose file: templates/docker-compose.waha.yml

13Link the spare number

Open http://localhost:3000 (dashboard/Swagger; use WAHA_KEY when asked) → start session default → show the QR → on the spare phone: WhatsApp → Linked devices → Link a device → scan.

WAHA's UI and environment variable names change between versions. If something doesn't match, check https://waha.devlike.pro/.

14Install the bot and find ids

scripts/install-bot.sh whatsapp

From your own WhatsApp, message the spare number: /whoami → it replies with your chat id (e.g. [email protected]).

15Allowlist and test

nano ~/.config/ts03-bot.env

[email protected]
ALLOWED_CHATS=<group id>@g.us

(Group id: add the spare number to the group, send /whoami there.)

Restart and test:

scripts/install-bot.sh whatsapp --digest 08:00

Send /week, /html week, /ask which subject has most pending work.

Operations

launchctl list | grep ts03.bot                     # running? (number in first column)
tail -f ~/Library/Logs/ts03-bot.log                # activity
cat ~/Library/Logs/com.ts03.bot.telegram.err       # errors (or ...whatsapp.err)
scripts/install-bot.sh telegram                    # restart after editing ts03-bot.env
scripts/install-bot.sh whatsapp --uninstall        # remove
docker compose -f templates/docker-compose.waha.yml down   # stop WAHA

Troubleshooting

Security checklist

• [ ] ~/.config/ts03-bot.env is chmod 600 and never committed (.gitignore covers *.env)
• [ ] WAHA published on 127.0.0.1:3000 only, with WAHA_KEY
• [ ] macOS firewall on; webhook port 5055 not reachable from other machines (only the container needs it)
• [ ] OWNER_ID set, ALLOWED_CHATS minimal
• [ ] Spare number for WhatsApp; no bulk messaging
• [ ] Sheet data sent in replies goes to the chat's members: only allow people who may see it

Fully open source, model included?

Swap ts03 for a local model: Ollama + an MCP-capable CLI client (e.g. mcphost) using the same mcp-google-sheets server, and point the READ command map in ts03-bot at it. Fine for simple lookups; local models are much weaker at multi-step tool use, so keep writes on Claude.

Files

⬅️ All iPhone integrations