WhatsMSN

MSN Messenger × WhatsApp

It's 2004. You've just legged it home from school, dumped your bag by the door, and you're waiting for the dial-up to connect so you can get on MSN before tea. That little chime. The buddy list slowly filling with green. Someone's set their name to song lyrics again. A nudge rattles the whole window. brb dinner :).

WhatsMSN is that feeling, bolted onto your actual messages. It's a desktop client that talks to real WhatsApp but dresses the whole thing up as MSN Messenger 6 on Windows XP — the Luna blue title bars, the green buddy blobs, the "Never give out your password…" banner, the lot. Your contacts become buddies, your chats become conversation windows, and sending a nudge really does shake the other person's window.

Under the hood it's an Electron app; WhatsApp connectivity comes from Baileys (the WhatsApp Web protocol over WebSocket — no browser, no phone emulation), and every last icon is hand-drawn to dodge the copyright police.

  

Screenshots are from demo mode (MSN_DEMO=1) — canned 2004-flavoured contacts and auto-replies, no account required.

Features

• Sign-in window — the classic welcome screen, but the credential box is a WhatsApp Link a device QR code. Scan it with your phone and the session persists across restarts (multi-device, phone can go offline).
• Buddy list — your WhatsApp chats presented as MSN contacts, split into Online / Groups / Offline using WhatsApp presence, with the last message shown as the contact's personal message and unread counts in red.
• Conversation windows — one window per chat, MSN-style David says: message log, To: David <…> header, the away notice, the "Never give out your password…" warning, emoticon shortcodes (:), (Y), (L), <3, …), a working typing indicator both ways, and display pictures pulled from WhatsApp profile photos.
• Nudge — sends a nudge message and physically shakes the recipient's window (if they also run this app; everyone else just gets the text).
• Toasts & tray — incoming messages slide a toast up from the corner (click to open the conversation) and a buddy icon sits in the system tray with status controls, just like 2003.
• Working menus — File/Contacts/Actions/Tools/Help drop-downs (Sign Out, Send a Nudge, Send a File…), right-click contact context menus, profile dialogs, yellow XP tooltips, collapsible contact groups.
• Formatting & handwriting — the "A" button toggles bold/italic (sent as WhatsApp *bold*/_italic_ markup, rendered both ways) and the handwriting tab sends your scribble as a real WhatsApp image.
• Send Files — the toolbar button sends actual WhatsApp documents.
• Away contacts — recently-online contacts show as orange "(Away)" with the clock buddy icon before dropping to Offline.
• Sounds — synthesised WebAudio homages to the message ding, the sign-in chime, the contact-online chime and the nudge buzzer.

Run it

npm install
npm start

Then scan the QR with WhatsApp on your phone (Settings › Linked devices › Link a device).

Demo mode (no WhatsApp account needed)

MSN_DEMO=1 npm start

Populates the UI with canned 2004-flavoured data and auto-replies, so you can click around without linking anything.

Environment variables

Variable	Purpose
MSN_DEMO=1	Fake data, no real WhatsApp connection
MSN_DEBUG=1	Log Baileys connection updates to the console
MSN_SHOT_DIR	Save a PNG of each window after load (used for the screenshots)
MSN_SHOT_PROBE	JS snippet run in each window before its screenshot (dev aid)
HTTPS_PROXY	Honoured for the WhatsApp WebSocket (corporate/sandbox proxies)
ELECTRON_MIRROR	Use if GitHub releases are blocked when installing, e.g. https://npmmirror.com/mirrors/electron/

Legal-ish notes

• Uses an unofficial WhatsApp protocol library; Meta does not endorse this and heavy automation can get numbers banned. Use with your own account, gently.
• MSN Messenger was a Microsoft product. This is a fan homage; the butterfly here is a hand-drawn generic butterfly, honest.