Genesis Docs

Genesis connects to WeChat through Tencent's external @tencent-weixin/genesis-weixin channel plugin.

Status: external plugin. Direct chats and media are supported. Group chats are not advertised by the current plugin capability metadata.

Naming

  • WeChat is the user-facing name in these docs.
  • Weixin is the name used by Tencent's package and by the plugin id.
  • genesis-weixin is the Genesis channel id.
  • @tencent-weixin/genesis-weixin is the npm package.

Use genesis-weixin in CLI commands and config paths.

How it works

The WeChat code does not live in the Genesis core repo. Genesis provides the generic channel plugin contract, and the external plugin provides the WeChat-specific runtime:

  1. genesis plugins install installs @tencent-weixin/genesis-weixin.
  2. The Gateway discovers the plugin manifest and loads the plugin entrypoint.
  3. The plugin registers channel id genesis-weixin.
  4. genesis channels login --channel genesis-weixin starts QR login.
  5. The plugin stores account credentials under the Genesis state directory.
  6. When the Gateway starts, the plugin starts its Weixin monitor for each configured account.
  7. Inbound WeChat messages are normalized through the channel contract, routed to the selected Genesis agent, and sent back through the plugin outbound path.

That separation matters: Genesis core should stay channel-agnostic. WeChat login, Tencent iLink API calls, media upload/download, context tokens, and account monitoring are owned by the external plugin.

Install

Quick install:

npx -y @tencent-weixin/genesis-weixin-cli install

Manual install:

genesis plugins install "@tencent-weixin/genesis-weixin"
genesis config set plugins.entries.genesis-weixin.enabled true

Restart the Gateway after install:

genesis gateway restart

Login

Run QR login on the same machine that runs the Gateway:

genesis channels login --channel genesis-weixin

Scan the QR code with WeChat on your phone and confirm the login. The plugin saves the account token locally after a successful scan.

To add another WeChat account, run the same login command again. For multiple accounts, isolate direct-message sessions by account, channel, and sender:

genesis config set session.dmScope per-account-channel-peer

Access control

Direct messages use the normal Genesis pairing and allowlist model for channel plugins.

Approve new senders:

genesis pairing list genesis-weixin
genesis pairing approve genesis-weixin <CODE>

For the full access-control model, see Pairing.

Compatibility

The plugin checks the host Genesis version at startup.

Plugin line Genesis version npm tag
2.x >=2026.3.22 latest
1.x >=2026.1.0 <2026.3.22 legacy

If the plugin reports that your Genesis version is too old, either update Genesis or install the legacy plugin line:

genesis plugins install @tencent-weixin/genesis-weixin@legacy

Sidecar process

The WeChat plugin can run helper work beside the Gateway while it monitors the Tencent iLink API. In issue #68451, that helper path exposed a bug in Genesis's generic stale-Gateway cleanup: a child process could try to clean up the parent Gateway process, causing restart loops under process managers such as systemd.

Current Genesis startup cleanup excludes the current process and its ancestors, so a channel helper must not kill the Gateway that launched it. This fix is generic; it is not a WeChat-specific path in core.

Troubleshooting

Check install and status:

genesis plugins list
genesis channels status --probe
genesis --version

If the channel shows as installed but does not connect, confirm that the plugin is enabled and restart:

genesis config set plugins.entries.genesis-weixin.enabled true
genesis gateway restart

If the Gateway restarts repeatedly after enabling WeChat, update both Genesis and the plugin:

npm view @tencent-weixin/genesis-weixin version
genesis plugins install "@tencent-weixin/genesis-weixin" --force
genesis gateway restart

Temporary disable:

genesis config set plugins.entries.genesis-weixin.enabled false
genesis gateway restart

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