# Connect Chat SDK to WhatsApp | Novu Connect

> Give your Chat SDK agent a voice in WhatsApp with Novu Connect.

Canonical: https://www.novu.co/channels/whatsapp/chat-sdk/

Markdown: https://www.novu.co/channels/whatsapp/chat-sdk.md

Chat SDK is the open-source template for building complete chat apps on Next.js and the AI SDK. Novu Connect gives it a voice in WhatsApp.

Novu Connect is the communication layer, the ACI, Agent Communication Infrastructure, bridge between your Chat SDK agent and WhatsApp. Your agent keeps running in your app. Novu delivers its messages to WhatsApp, maps each user, and forwards their replies back to your handler. We never run your agent's reasoning. That is the whole point.

Connect command: npx novu connect --channel whatsapp --runtime chat-sdk

## What is Chat SDK

Chat SDK gives you a production chat app out of the box: streaming UI, message history, artifacts, and an agent loop built on the AI SDK. You customize the app, wire in your own tools, and keep the reasoning in your codebase. Chat SDK runs the agent inside your product. It does not carry the conversation to your users. That last mile, reaching a person in Slack and routing their reply back to your agent, is what Novu Connect adds.

- A complete chat UI with streaming, history, and artifacts
- Built on the AI SDK, with tool calling and structured output
- A Next.js app you own, customize, and deploy yourself
- Your agent loop stays in your codebase

## How to connect Chat SDK to WhatsApp

1. Keep your Chat SDK app: Your chat app, agent loop, and tools stay in your codebase exactly as they are. Novu Connect wraps the input and output, so your Chat SDK logic does not change when you add WhatsApp.
2. Connect the channel: Run npx novu connect --channel whatsapp --runtime chat-sdk. The CLI scaffolds a bridge route in your app and connects WhatsApp. You can also paste the prompt below into your coding agent and let it wire the bridge for you.
3. Wire the bridge handler: The CLI prints a requirements file with the bridge route and handler. Point it at your Chat SDK agent so messages from WhatsApp reach the same loop that powers your in-app chat, and replies route back to the same conversation.
4. Go live: Sign in to keep the agent live, then run your dev server. Your Chat SDK agent now holds a two-way conversation in WhatsApp, and the same agent can reach every other channel from one thread.

Prompt for your coding agent: Connect this project's Chat SDK agent to WhatsApp with Novu using instructions from https://novu.co/agents.md

## Chat SDK and WhatsApp, common questions

### Do I have to rewrite my Chat SDK app to add WhatsApp?

No. Novu Connect uses a custom-code bridge. Your Chat SDK app keeps running as it is. Novu forwards messages from WhatsApp to your handler and routes replies back, so your agent code stays the same.

### Does Novu run my Chat SDK agent?

No. Novu Connect is the communication layer, the ACI, Agent Communication Infrastructure, bridge between your agent and WhatsApp. You own the reasoning and the tools. We never run your brain, that is the whole point.

### Do users in WhatsApp get the same agent as my in-app chat?

Yes. The bridge points at the same agent loop that powers your Chat SDK app, so one agent serves your product and WhatsApp, with conversation context kept per user.

### How do I connect my AI agent to WhatsApp?

Connect WhatsApp from the Novu dashboard. Novu is an official Meta Business Partner, so the embedded signup lets you pick your business number and go live in about 5 minutes, then your agent talks to users through Novu Connect.

### Do I need my own WhatsApp Business account?

Yes. WhatsApp requires a verified business account through Meta. Novu Connect handles the connection with embedded signup, so you log in once and Novu manages templates, delivery, and two-way routing after that.