Connect WeChat

What it is

WeChat connects through an Official Account — the business presence people follow inside WeChat. The card asks for two values from your Official Account admin: the App ID and the App secret. The App ID identifies the account; the App secret is what Agentency uses to obtain permission to send messages on its behalf.

WeChat finishes with a verification handshake, like the Meta platforms. Pressing Connect leaves the channel at Pending verification and gives you a callback URL and a verify token to paste into your Official Account's server configuration. The difference from Meta is timing: WeChat verifies the moment you enable the server configuration, so the badge usually flips to Connected within seconds rather than after a wait.

When you would use it

Use this when you serve customers in mainland China or a Chinese-speaking market and you already operate an Official Account that people message.

Where to find it

Open Dashboard → Chatbots → your chatbot → Integrations → Messaging and click the WeChat card.

Steps

1. Sign in to your WeChat Official Account admin and find the App ID and App secret. The drawer's View official setup guide link goes to WeChat's developer documentation for message push.
2. In Agentency, open Integrations → Messaging → WeChat, paste both values, and press Connect. Agentency validates them by requesting API access from WeChat, so wrong values fail here rather than later.
3. The drawer now shows Finish the webhook setup with a Callback URL and a Verify token. Copy both.
4. In your Official Account admin, open Settings → Server Configuration and paste the callback URL into the server address field and the verify token into the token field.
5. Save, then enable the server configuration. Enabling is what makes WeChat call the address; saving alone does nothing.
6. Watch the drawer. It should flip to Connected almost immediately.
7. Message your Official Account from WeChat on a phone and confirm the reply, then check Conversations.

What you will see

The connect form has four numbered steps and the official-guide link. WeChat has no extra note callout.

After connecting you get the Finish the webhook setup panel with the callback URL, the verify token, copy buttons on both, and a spinner reading Waiting for the webhook to be verified. The panel states the consequence directly: while it is pending, messages are received and ignored.

Once verified, the badge reads Connected and the panel shows lifetime message and user counts. Test connection appears only after the channel is connected; while it is pending your only choices are to finish the configuration or disconnect.

How replies behave

There are two WeChat-specific behaviours worth knowing before you launch.

Only text is read. Images, voice messages, locations, and menu taps are discarded silently — the customer gets no reply at all, not even a note that the chatbot reads text only. This is different from most other channels, where a non-text message earns a short explanatory reply. If your customers habitually send voice notes, set expectations in your Official Account's greeting.

Answers arrive in several short messages. Replies are delivered as customer-service messages, which are limited to a small size, so Agentency splits an answer into noticeably more pieces than on WhatsApp or Telegram. A long answer can be five or six messages. Keeping answers short is worth doing here — see Write instructions.

Incoming text is trimmed after about 2,000 characters. Each answer spends message credits at your chatbot's live model rate (1X = one credit; see Message credits). A paused chatbot stays completely silent.

Limits and plan notes

WeChat needs a plan with integrations, messaging enabled for this deployment, an Active chatbot, and a free slot under the connected-app cap on the Connected channels card. See Messaging channels availability.

Both values are stored encrypted and never shown again; to change them, reconnect. Agentency keeps its API permission fresh in the background, so you do not need to re-enter anything periodically. Disconnecting stops replies immediately and clears the stored values, but leaves the server configuration in your Official Account admin — disable it there if you are finished.

WeChat's own account rules decide which message capabilities your Official Account has, and those differ by account type and by whether the account is verified. That is set with WeChat, not here.

Common problems

It stays on Pending verification.

The server configuration was saved but never enabled, or the verify token does not match. Copy the token from the drawer again — a new one is generated each time you connect — paste it, save, and press enable. The drawer stops watching after about five minutes; reload the page to pick up a late change.

Connect is rejected even though the App ID and App secret are right.

Two things cause this. The App secret may have been regenerated in the admin, which invalidates the old one — copy the current value. Failing that, WeChat can refuse to grant API access when the calling server is not on the Official Account's allowed-address list; if you use that list, you will need the address to allow from us, so contact support.

Verified, but customers get no answers.

Confirm the chatbot is Active and has trained knowledge — see Chatbot readiness. Then check that your testers are typing text rather than sending voice notes or images, which are ignored on this channel.

Answers are cut into many small messages.

Expected on WeChat. Shorten your answers with a length instruction if it bothers you.

The customer's name is missing in Conversations.

WeChat does not hand over a display name with the message, so threads are identified by the WeChat user rather than by a person's name. See Customer profile for what is stored.