Vinay Keerthi 141dfc3321 fix: preserve newlines and formatting in Twilio WhatsApp messages (#13022)
## Description

This PR fixes an issue where Twilio WhatsApp messages were losing
newlines and markdown formatting. The problem had two root causes:

1. Text-based renderers (WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS) were converting
newlines to spaces when processing plain text without markdown list
markers
2. Twilio WhatsApp channels were incorrectly using the plain text
renderer instead of the WhatsApp renderer, stripping all markdown
formatting

The fix updates the markdown rendering system to:
- Preserve newlines by overriding the `softbreak` method in WhatsApp,
Instagram, and PlainText renderers
- Detect Twilio WhatsApp channels (via the `medium` field) and route
them to use the WhatsApp renderer
- Maintain backward compatibility with existing code

## Type of change

- [x] Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
- [ ] New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
- [ ] Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing
functionality not to work as expected)
- [ ] This change requires a documentation update

## How Has This Been Tested?

Added comprehensive test coverage:
- 3 new tests for newline preservation in WhatsApp, Instagram, and SMS
channels
- 4 new tests for Twilio WhatsApp specific behavior (medium detection,
formatting preservation, backward compatibility)
- All 53 tests passing (up from 50)

Manual testing verified:
- Twilio WhatsApp messages with plain text preserve newlines
- Twilio WhatsApp messages with markdown preserve formatting (bold,
italic, links)
- Regular WhatsApp, Instagram, and SMS channels continue to work
correctly
- Backward compatibility maintained when channel parameter is not
provided

## Checklist:

- [x] My code follows the style guidelines of this project
- [x] I have performed a self-review of my code
- [x] I have commented on my code, particularly in hard-to-understand
areas
- [ ] I have made corresponding changes to the documentation
- [x] My changes generate no new warnings
- [x] I have added tests that prove my fix is effective or that my
feature works
- [x] New and existing unit tests pass locally with my changes
- [x] Any dependent changes have been merged and published in downstream
modules
2025-12-08 22:04:30 +05:30
2019-11-25 09:48:11 +05:30
2019-08-14 15:18:44 +05:30
2019-08-14 15:18:44 +05:30
2019-08-14 15:18:44 +05:30
2023-05-06 10:44:52 +05:30
2019-10-20 14:17:26 +05:30
2019-08-14 15:18:44 +05:30
2024-02-01 15:37:05 +05:30
2024-10-02 00:36:30 -07:00
2024-10-02 00:36:30 -07:00
2024-10-02 00:36:30 -07:00
2025-03-21 18:14:51 -07:00
2025-01-16 10:59:33 -08:00

Header light mode Header dark mode

Chatwoot

The modern customer support platform, an open-source alternative to Intercom, Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud etc.

Maintainability CircleCI Badge Docker Pull Badge Docker Build Badge Commits-per-month Discord uptime response time Artifact HUB

Deploy Deploy to DO

Chat dashboard dark mode Chat dashboard

Chatwoot is the modern, open-source, and self-hosted customer support platform designed to help businesses deliver exceptional customer support experience. Built for scale and flexibility, Chatwoot gives you full control over your customer data while providing powerful tools to manage conversations across channels.

Captain AI Agent for Support

Supercharge your support with Captain, Chatwoots AI agent. Captain helps automate responses, handle common queries, and reduce agent workload—ensuring customers get instant, accurate answers. With Captain, your team can focus on complex conversations while routine questions are resolved automatically. Read more about Captain here.

💬 Omnichannel Support Desk

Chatwoot centralizes all customer conversations into one powerful inbox, no matter where your customers reach out from. It supports live chat on your website, email, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram, Line, SMS etc.

📚 Help center portal

Publish help articles, FAQs, and guides through the built-in Help Center Portal. Enable customers to find answers on their own, reduce repetitive queries, and keep your support team focused on more complex issues.

🗂️ Other features

Collaboration & Productivity

  • Private Notes and @mentions for internal team discussions.
  • Labels to organize and categorize conversations.
  • Keyboard Shortcuts and a Command Bar for quick navigation.
  • Canned Responses to reply faster to frequently asked questions.
  • Auto-Assignment to route conversations based on agent availability.
  • Multi-lingual Support to serve customers in multiple languages.
  • Custom Views and Filters for better inbox organization.
  • Business Hours and Auto-Responders to manage response expectations.
  • Teams and Automation tools for scaling support workflows.
  • Agent Capacity Management to balance workload across the team.

Customer Data & Segmentation

  • Contact Management with profiles and interaction history.
  • Contact Segments and Notes for targeted communication.
  • Campaigns to proactively engage customers.
  • Custom Attributes for storing additional customer data.
  • Pre-Chat Forms to collect user information before starting conversations.

Integrations

  • Slack Integration to manage conversations directly from Slack.
  • Dialogflow Integration for chatbot automation.
  • Dashboard Apps to embed internal tools within Chatwoot.
  • Shopify Integration to view and manage customer orders right within Chatwoot.
  • Use Google Translate to translate messages from your customers in realtime.
  • Create and manage Linear tickets within Chatwoot.

Reports & Insights

  • Live View of ongoing conversations for real-time monitoring.
  • Conversation, Agent, Inbox, Label, and Team Reports for operational visibility.
  • CSAT Reports to measure customer satisfaction.
  • Downloadable Reports for offline analysis and reporting.

Documentation

Detailed documentation is available at chatwoot.com/help-center.

Translation process

The translation process for Chatwoot web and mobile app is managed at https://translate.chatwoot.com using Crowdin. Please read the translation guide for contributing to Chatwoot.

Branching model

We use the git-flow branching model. The base branch is develop. If you are looking for a stable version, please use the master or tags labelled as v1.x.x.

Deployment

Heroku one-click deploy

Deploying Chatwoot to Heroku is a breeze. It's as simple as clicking this button:

Deploy

Follow this link to understand setting the correct environment variables for the app to work with all the features. There might be breakages if you do not set the relevant environment variables.

DigitalOcean 1-Click Kubernetes deployment

Chatwoot now supports 1-Click deployment to DigitalOcean as a kubernetes app.

Deploy to DO

Other deployment options

For other supported options, checkout our deployment page.

Security

Looking to report a vulnerability? Please refer our SECURITY.md file.

Community

If you need help or just want to hang out, come, say hi on our Discord server.

Contributors

Thanks goes to all these wonderful people:

Chatwoot © 2017-2025, Chatwoot Inc - Released under the MIT License.

Description
No description provided
Readme MIT 181 MiB
Languages
Ruby 46.1%
Vue 28.1%
JavaScript 22.9%
HTML 1.6%
SCSS 0.5%
Other 0.7%