[Chatwoot Integration] WAHA attempts to send media before upload is complete on external storage (Wasabi S3)

[MrDandi79]

When integrating Chatwoot → WAHA (GoWS Plus) with external S3-compatible storage (Wasabi), WAHA attempts to send the media file before the upload is fully propagated or publicly accessible, resulting in a 404 error.

This leads to 2–3 failed attempts before the final retry succeeds.

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💡 Steps to reproduce

1. Configure Chatwoot with external Active Storage (Wasabi S3):

   ACTIVE_STORAGE_SERVICE=s3_compatible
   STORAGE_ENDPOINT=https://s3.wasabisys.com
   

2. Connect WAHA Plus (GoWS) to Chatwoot via /api/sendFile.

3. Send a large attachment (e.g. 15–30 MB ZIP or XLSX).

4. Observe WAHA logs:

   • First attempt → AxiosError: 404

   • Second attempt → AxiosError: 404

   • Third attempt → success.

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🧠 Expected behavior

WAHA should wait a few seconds before attempting to download and send the file, or allow configuration of a delay (backoff) between upload and media fetch.

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⚙️ Current behavior

• WAHA calls fileToMedia() immediately after receiving the webhook from Chatwoot.

• At this point, the file URL (Active Storage redirect) still points to an object that isn't yet available in Wasabi.

• WAHA retries automatically but without a configurable delay, resulting in multiple unnecessary 404s.

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🧩 Suggested solution

• Introduce an environment variable to delay the first attempt of media download, such as:

  WAHA_MEDIA_SEND_DELAY_MS=5000
  

  or

  WAHA_APPS_JOBS_BACKOFF=5000
  

• Alternatively, WAHA could check file availability (HTTP 200) before proceeding.

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🧾 Environment

Component | Version -- | -- WAHA Version | 2025.9.7 (Plus, GoWS) Chatwoot | 3.x (Active Storage + Wasabi) Storage | Wasabi S3 (s3.wasabisys.com) OS | Ubuntu 24.04 (Easypanel VPS, 8GB RAM, 100GB SSD)