Zalo Personal (unofficial)
Status: experimental. This integration automates a personal Zalo account via native zca-js inside OpenClaw.
Warning: This is an unofficial integration and may result in account suspension/ban. Use at your own risk.
Plugin required
Zalo Personal ships as a plugin and is not bundled with the core install.
- Install via CLI:
openclaw plugins install @openclaw/zalouser
- Or from a source checkout:
openclaw plugins install ./extensions/zalouser
- Details: Plugins
No external zca/openzca CLI binary is required.
Quick setup (beginner)
- Install the plugin (see above).
- Login (QR, on the Gateway machine):
openclaw channels login --channel zalouser
- Scan the QR code with the Zalo mobile app.
- Enable the channel:
{
channels: {
zalouser: {
enabled: true,
dmPolicy: "pairing",
},
},
}
- Restart the Gateway (or finish setup).
- DM access defaults to pairing; approve the pairing code on first contact.
What it is
- Runs entirely in-process via
zca-js.
- Uses native event listeners to receive inbound messages.
- Sends replies directly through the JS API (text/media/link).
- Designed for “personal account” use cases where Zalo Bot API is not available.
Naming
Channel id is zalouser to make it explicit this automates a personal Zalo user account (unofficial). We keep zalo reserved for a potential future official Zalo API integration.
Finding IDs (directory)
Use the directory CLI to discover peers/groups and their IDs:
openclaw directory self --channel zalouser
openclaw directory peers list --channel zalouser --query "name"
openclaw directory groups list --channel zalouser --query "work"
Limits
- Outbound text is chunked to ~2000 characters (Zalo client limits).
- Streaming is blocked by default.
Access control (DMs)
channels.zalouser.dmPolicy supports: pairing | allowlist | open | disabled (default: pairing).
channels.zalouser.allowFrom accepts user IDs or names. During setup, names are resolved to IDs using the plugin’s in-process contact lookup.
Approve via:
openclaw pairing list zalouser
openclaw pairing approve zalouser <code>
Group access (optional)
- Default:
channels.zalouser.groupPolicy = "open" (groups allowed). Use channels.defaults.groupPolicy to override the default when unset.
- Restrict to an allowlist with:
channels.zalouser.groupPolicy = "allowlist"
channels.zalouser.groups (keys should be stable group IDs; names are resolved to IDs on startup when possible)
channels.zalouser.groupAllowFrom (controls which senders in allowed groups can trigger the bot)
- Block all groups:
channels.zalouser.groupPolicy = "disabled".
- The configure wizard can prompt for group allowlists.
- On startup, OpenClaw resolves group/user names in allowlists to IDs and logs the mapping.
- Group allowlist matching is ID-only by default. Unresolved names are ignored for auth unless
channels.zalouser.dangerouslyAllowNameMatching: true is enabled.
channels.zalouser.dangerouslyAllowNameMatching: true is a break-glass compatibility mode that re-enables mutable group-name matching.
- If
groupAllowFrom is unset, runtime falls back to allowFrom for group sender checks.
- Sender checks apply to both normal group messages and control commands (for example
/new, /reset).
Example:
{
channels: {
zalouser: {
groupPolicy: "allowlist",
groupAllowFrom: ["1471383327500481391"],
groups: {
"123456789": { allow: true },
"Work Chat": { allow: true },
},
},
},
}
Group mention gating
channels.zalouser.groups.<group>.requireMention controls whether group replies require a mention.
- Resolution order: exact group id/name -> normalized group slug ->
* -> default (true).
- This applies both to allowlisted groups and open group mode.
- Authorized control commands (for example
/new) can bypass mention gating.
- When a group message is skipped because mention is required, OpenClaw stores it as pending group history and includes it on the next processed group message.
- Group history limit defaults to
messages.groupChat.historyLimit (fallback 50). You can override per account with channels.zalouser.historyLimit.
Example:
{
channels: {
zalouser: {
groupPolicy: "allowlist",
groups: {
"*": { allow: true, requireMention: true },
"Work Chat": { allow: true, requireMention: false },
},
},
},
}
Multi-account
Accounts map to zalouser profiles in OpenClaw state. Example:
{
channels: {
zalouser: {
enabled: true,
defaultAccount: "default",
accounts: {
work: { enabled: true, profile: "work" },
},
},
},
}
Typing, reactions, and delivery acknowledgements
- OpenClaw sends a typing event before dispatching a reply (best-effort).
- Message reaction action
react is supported for zalouser in channel actions.
- Use
remove: true to remove a specific reaction emoji from a message.
- Reaction semantics: Reactions
- For inbound messages that include event metadata, OpenClaw sends delivered + seen acknowledgements (best-effort).
Troubleshooting
Login doesn’t stick:
openclaw channels status --probe
- Re-login:
openclaw channels logout --channel zalouser && openclaw channels login --channel zalouser
Allowlist/group name didn’t resolve:
- Use numeric IDs in
allowFrom/groupAllowFrom/groups, or exact friend/group names.
Upgraded from old CLI-based setup:
- Remove any old external
zca process assumptions.
- The channel now runs fully in OpenClaw without external CLI binaries.
Last modified on March 22, 2026