Using https://wwebjs.dev/ to read my whatsapp messages,
redis for storage/interop,
and a script written for https://github.com/matryer/xbar for a "GUI",
instead of running WhatsApp Desktop / WhatsApp Web on my machine (very bad for my attention), I have a status bar icon saying when did I last get a message from my wife, and the text of the last few messages.
you can use matrix and integrate all those (whatsbook, telegram, irc, etc) into a single client. most clients have os integration and custom notification settings
