[GOWS] - Cannot send media >128 MiB via WAHA (GoWS/PLUS): gRPC RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED (134217728)

[vhiperdev]

Title

Cannot send media >128 MiB via WAHA (GoWS/PLUS): gRPC RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED (134217728)

Describe the bug

When sending large videos via WAHA (engine GoWS, tier PLUS) using the JSON endpoint POST /api/sendFile with file.url, files up to ~100–120 MB succeed, but larger files (e.g., 143–149 MB) consistently fail with a 500 error and a gRPC “RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED … size larger than 134217728” message. This suggests an internal ~128 MiB limit in the GoWS/gRPC path, even when the media is provided by URL (no large HTTP JSON body).

Note: Sending JSON with Base64 (file.data) is limited earlier by Express/body-parser (~50 MB). Using file.url avoids the HTTP body size limit, but then fails at gRPC size 128 MiB.

I’d like to confirm whether this is a bug or an intentional/configurable limitation. If it’s a limit, documentation and/or a streaming/chunk mechanism would be helpful.

Version

GET /api/version:

{
  "version": "2025.8.1",
  "engine": "GOWS",
  "tier": "PLUS",
  "browser": null
}

Docker image: devlikeapro/waha-plus:gows

Steps to reproduce

1. Run WAHA PLUS with GoWS engine and authenticate a session (status: WORKING).
2. Serve a large local file (≥140 MB) via HTTP accessible to the container (e.g., http://host.docker.internal:8083/file/.../file_20.mp4).
3. POST /api/sendFile with the JSON body below (include X-API-Key if required).
4. Observe 500 response with gRPC RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED when file size is ≥ ~128 MiB. Files ~100 MB succeed.

Payload example (143 MB video via URL):

{
  "session": "telezap-final",
  "chatId": "55859xxxxx@c.us",
  "file": {
    "mimetype": "video/mp4",
    "filename": "file_20.mp4",
    "url": "http://host.docker.internal:8083/file/.../file_20.mp4"
  },
  "caption": "Test WAHA - via URL"
}

Expected behavior

• Either file.url should allow sending media larger than 128 MiB (ideally by streaming/chunking internally), or
• If the limit is intentional, there should be a documented configuration (e.g., raising gRPC max message size) or a clear error (e.g., 413 with guidance) and recommended workaround.

Requests - Responses

Failure response for ~143 MB:

{
  "statusCode": 500,
  "timestamp": "2025-09-14T17:21:58.677Z",
  "exception": {
    "message": "8 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED: Attempted to send message with a size larger than 134217728",
    "code": 8,
    "name": "Error"
  },
  "request": { "path": "/api/sendFile", "method": "POST" },
  "version": { "version": "2025.8.1", "engine": "GOWS", "tier": "PLUS", "browser": null }
}

Success response for ~100 MB:

{ "id": "true_55859...@c.us_3EB0E4EFDE5DEF930F017C" }

Docker Logs

Relevant excerpt:

[INFO] request errored {"url":"/api/sendFile","statusCode":500}
Error: 8 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED: Attempted to send message with a size larger than 134217728
    at MessageServiceClient.SendMessage (.../gows.js:8969:30)
    at WhatsappSessionGoWSPlus.sendMedia (.../session.gows.plus.js:123:78)
    at WhatsappSessionGoWSPlus.sendFile (.../session.gows.plus.js:131:16)

Additional context

• JSON Base64 (file.data) hits Express/body-parser limit (~50 MB) with PayloadTooLargeError, so file.url is the only viable JSON route for large media.
• Attempting multipart/form-data against WAHA endpoints appears unsupported; POST multipart to /api/sendFile results in:

  TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'session')
  at ChattingController.sendFile (.../api/chatting.controller.js:37:71)

This indicates WAHA expects JSON bodies, not multipart.

• In contrast, a separate Go-based WhatsApp API we use (outside WAHA) supports multipart/form-data uploads (streaming binary) and does not exhibit the 128 MiB limit, which suggests the constraint is specific to the WAHA GoWS/gRPC path.

Questions for maintainers

1. Is the ~128 MiB limit inherent to the current GoWS/gRPC implementation? Is there a config to increase the max message size?
2. Are there plans to support streaming/chunked media when using file.url so that larger files don’t overflow gRPC message size?
3. Will WAHA support an official multipart/form-data upload path (binary stream), which could bypass JSON/body limits and gRPC message-size constraints?
4. If the limit is intentional, could it be documented clearly (e.g., Base64 JSON ~50 MB, URL ~128 MiB) along with official workarounds?

[TiOszi]

+1

[devlikepro]

2025.11.1 - GOWS - raise gRPC payload limit to 512MB - #1365