When calling `group.setDescription(newDescription)` on a Chat object, the method throws an error: "Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'get')".

[likeahurricane]

Issue Description

Description

When calling group.setDescription(newDescription) on a Chat object, the method throws an error: "Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'get')".

Expected Behavior

The group description should be updated successfully.

Actual Behavior

Throws error: "Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'get')"

Additional Context

• The user is admin of the group
• This happens consistently across multiple groups
• The error occurs at the method call level, not during execution
• Tested with latest version (1.34.6) - issue persists

Logs

[ERROR]: Error processing group GroupName: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'get')

Reproduction Steps

1. Get a Chat object from client.getChats()
2. Call chat.setDescription("new description")
3. Error occurs immediately

Code Sample

async function executeReplaceGroupLinksCommand(client, msg) {
  try {
    const chats = await client.getChats();
    const group = chats.find(chat => chat.isGroup);

if (group && typeof group.setDescription === 'function') {
      try {
        const result = await group.setDescription("new description");
        console.log("Success");
      } catch (error) {
        console.error("Error:", error.message); // "Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'get')"
      }
    }
  } catch (error) {
    console.error("Error:", error.message);
  }
}

User Setup

WhatsApp	Type
Account Type	Standard
Authentication Strategy	LocalAuth
WhatsApp Web Version	2.3000.1036990300
whatsapp-web.js Version	1.34.6

Environment	Version
Browser Type	Chrome
Browser Version	146.0.7680.153
Phone OS Version	Android 16
Running OS Version	Ubuntu 23.04 (Lunar Lobster)
Node.js Version	22.17.0

Checklist

• I use the latest released version of whatsapp-web.js.
• I have searched existing issues and confirmed this is not a duplicate.
• I have verified this is a library issue, not a problem with my code.

[BenyFilho]

Checking your code, because everything is working fine>

[likeahurricane]

Sorry if I missed something on my side. I double-checked my implementation but I’m still getting the same error consistently.

Would you mind sharing a minimal working snippet where setDescription works correctly? That would really help me understand what I might be doing wrong.

Thanks in advance!

[BenyFilho]

const chat = await client.getChatById('xxxxxxxx@g.us');
const fez = await chat.setDescription('This is the New Description');
console.log(fez);

[jalpaben4197-wq]

Are you ADMIN in the GROUP?

[likeahurricane]

I realized that the fix for the Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'get') error in GroupChat.setDescription is already present in the GitHub repository.

The issue was that I was using the npm published version (1.34.6), which didn't include the fix, while the GitHub code does.

The solution is to use "whatsapp-web.js": "github:pedroslopez/whatsapp-web.js" in package.json to install directly from GitHub, where the setDescription method already uses window.WWebJS.getChat instead of window.Store.GroupMetadata.get.

The lines of code involved in the fix are in the setDescription method of GroupChat.js:

Problematic code (npm 1.34.6):

let descId = window.Store.GroupMetadata.get(chatWid).descId;

Fixed code (GitHub):

const chat = await window.WWebJS.getChat(chatId, { getAsModel: false });
let descId = chat.groupMetadata.descId;

The issue was that window.Store.GroupMetadata was undefined, causing the "Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'get')" error.

I apologize for opening the issue without checking the GitHub version first.

Thank you for the support