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Zalo Personal (unofficial)

This channel is the unofficial fallback when you need Zalo access from a personal account instead of the official bot platform. Fased drives zca-cli, listens for inbound messages, and keeps the usual DM and group policy model on top of that automation layer. Status: experimental. This integration automates a personal Zalo account through zca-cli.
Warning: This is an unofficial integration and may result in account suspension/ban. Use at your own risk.

Setup from Agent > Channels

Zalo Personal ships with Fased as a local bundled channel extension. You do not need to download an npm package in a normal install. Open Agents, select the Agent, then use Agent > Channels > Zalo Personal. Use the QR login flow, save the channel, then restart the gateway if the UI reports that the runtime still needs to load.

Prerequisite: zca-cli

The Gateway machine must have the zca binary available in PATH.
  • Verify: zca --version
  • If missing, install zca-cli (see extensions/zalouser/README.md or the upstream zca-cli docs).

Quick setup (beginner)

Treat this as a higher-risk integration. Keep it on a separate personal account, assume the login can break, and avoid exposing it more broadly than necessary.
  1. Login (QR, on the Gateway machine):
    • fased channels login --channel zalouser
    • Scan the QR code in the terminal with the Zalo mobile app.
  2. Enable the channel in Agent > Channels > Zalo Personal:
{
  channels: {
    zalouser: {
      enabled: true,
      dmPolicy: "pairing",
    },
  },
}
  1. Restart the Gateway if the UI asks for it.
  2. DM access defaults to pairing; approve the pairing code on first contact.

What it is

  • Uses zca listen to receive inbound messages.
  • Uses zca msg ... to send replies (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:
fased directory self --channel zalouser
fased directory peers list --channel zalouser --query "name"
fased 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. The wizard resolves names to IDs via zca friend find when available. Approve via:
  • fased pairing list zalouser
  • fased 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 are group IDs or names)
  • Block all groups: channels.zalouser.groupPolicy = "disabled".
  • Agent > Channels and CLI setup can prompt for group allowlists.
  • On startup, Fased resolves group/user names in allowlists to IDs and logs the mapping; unresolved entries are kept as typed.
Example:
{
  channels: {
    zalouser: {
      groupPolicy: "allowlist",
      groups: {
        "123456789": { allow: true },
        "Work Chat": { allow: true },
      },
    },
  },
}

Multi-account

Accounts map to zca profiles. Example:
{
  channels: {
    zalouser: {
      enabled: true,
      defaultAccount: "default",
      accounts: {
        work: { enabled: true, profile: "work" },
      },
    },
  },
}

Troubleshooting

zca not found:
  • Install zca-cli and ensure it’s on PATH for the Gateway process.
Login doesn’t stick:
  • fased channels status --probe
  • Re-login: fased channels logout --channel zalouser && fased channels login --channel zalouser