New Contributor: Need Help Understanding the Baileys Codebase and Where to Start

[Pavan-Kumar-KN]

Hello everyone,
I’m a beginner to open-source development, and this is my first open-source project that I want to contribute to. I’ve recently started exploring the Baileys WhatsApp Web API project and really want to understand its architecture and how I can meaningfully start contributing.

So far, I’ve:

• Cloned and run the example successfully.
• Read through the wiki and documentation.
• Explored the makeWASocket() function and event listeners like messages.upsert and connection.update.

However, I’m finding it a bit challenging to understand how the different core modules like auth, signal store, and proto files interact. Could someone please help me with a roadmap or some guidance on which parts of the code to study first if my goal is to start contributing to small issues (like bug fixes or features)?

Any beginner-friendly tips on reading the Baileys source code or understanding its event-handling workflow would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for your time and for maintaining such an amazing project!

[hnustag1]

Hello, I recently need to work on a project that involves this open-source library. I hope we can exchange ideas. Could you provide me with a version of the sample code that you have successfully run?

[InvictusNavarchus]

What for? Why would you need a sample code? The entire repository is open source. This doesn't make sense.

[ojuolokun86]

u can chat me up on whatsapp so we can discuss more

i will give you guide
+2348051891310

[theduckverse]

I’ve been exploring this exact problem: when you open an unfamiliar repository, how do you determine which files are actually worth reading first?

One approach I’ve been testing is analyzing the repository structure and dependencies, then producing a short ordered reading path — essentially, “read these 5 files first, in this order,” with an explanation of why each one matters.

I ran into this problem often enough that I built Project MRI to experiment with the idea. I’d be curious whether an ordered reading path like that would actually help in a repository like Baileys, especially with the interaction between auth, the signal store, and proto files.