[cripperzprodigy]

Problem Description

On WhatsApp Web 2.3000.x (e.g. 2.3000.1046738589), calling client.getChats() consistently throws a minified CDP evaluation error:

Evaluation failed: r: r
    at Client.getChats (Client.js:1669:23)

Root Causes

1. Property Rename (_serialized → $1): WhatsApp Web's minified bundler renamed internal WID and key object serialization properties from _serialized to $1. In src/util/Injected/Utils.js, calls like .createWid(chat.id._serialized) pass undefined, throwing minified r: r exceptions inside #evaluate.
2. Promise.all Fail-Fast Trap: window.WWebJS.getChats and window.WWebJS.getChannels map all chats through getChatModel() inside an unprotected Promise.all. If an account is in multiple groups/channels and ANY single chat throws (e.g. stale group metadata, kicked from group, LID migration glitch in toPn, or revoked newsletter), the entire getChats() batch rejects.

---

Proposed Changes

1. _serialized || $1 Fallbacks:
   Added fallback lookups across all 9 direct crash sites in Injected/Utils.js (e.g., chat.id._serialized || chat.id.$1).

2. __ensureSerializedIds Model Normalizer:
   Hooked a normalizer into getMessageModel, getChatModel, and getContactModel ensuring that models returned across the CDP boundary into Node.js always guarantee id._serialized.

3. __getChatModelSafe Fault-Tolerant Resolver:

   • Routes getChats() and getChannels() through __getChatModelSafe: if metadata enrichment fails for an individual group or channel, it falls back to basic chat serialization (chat.serialize()) instead of rejecting the whole batch.
   • Wrapped groupMetadata.update() and newsletterMetadata.update() in try/catch error boundaries.
   • Filtered unresolvable entries with results.filter(Boolean).

---

Verification

• Validated with automated unit tests including vm-sandbox simulation of throwing group metadata and unmigrated LID participants.
• Verified in live production on an active account with 2,560 contacts and multiple groups on WhatsApp Web 2.3000.1046738589 — getChats() successfully recovers offline message history without errors.

[Furqanameen]

Is there anybody who has done it to get older messages smooth as it has been doing on the web?
I am stuck to get this feature to make it same way and then do my customization.

[emrecirik]

Confirmed on WhatsApp Web 2.3000.1047868043 (whatsapp-web.js 1.34.7, puppeteer 24.38.0, Chrome, Node 22).

For the record, the underlying page-side error behind the minified r: r is:

DataError: Failed to execute 'get' on 'IDBObjectStore': No key or key range specified.

i.e. an undefined key (the missing _serialized) reaching IndexedDB. chat.fetchMessages() fails identically (#201884 looks like the same root cause). Restoring _serialized makes getChats() return all 344 chats and fetchMessages() work again.

One robustness note on the $1 fallback: that name is a minified, build-specific symbol and will change on the next rename. Resolving it by value rather than by name has survived every build I've tested:

for (const value of Object.values(key)) {
    if (typeof value === 'string' && /^(true|false)_/.test(value)) return value;
}

(as a last resort after _serialized and before the user@server reconstruction).