WeChat

OpenClaw connects to WeChat through Tencent's external @tencent-weixin/openclaw-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.
• openclaw-weixin is the OpenClaw channel id.
• @tencent-weixin/openclaw-weixin is the npm package.

Use openclaw-weixin in CLI commands and config paths.

How it works

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

1. openclaw plugins install installs @tencent-weixin/openclaw-weixin.
2. The Gateway discovers the plugin manifest and loads the plugin entrypoint.
3. The plugin registers channel id openclaw-weixin.
4. openclaw channels login --channel openclaw-weixin starts QR login.
5. The plugin stores account credentials under the OpenClaw 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 OpenClaw agent, and sent back through the plugin outbound path.

That separation matters: OpenClaw 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/openclaw-weixin-cli install

Manual install:

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

Restart the Gateway after install:

openclaw gateway restart

Login

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

openclaw channels login --channel openclaw-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:

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

Access control

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

Approve new senders:

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

For the full access-control model, see Pairing.

Compatibility

The plugin checks the host OpenClaw version at startup.

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

openclaw plugins install @tencent-weixin/openclaw-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 OpenClaw'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 OpenClaw 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:

openclaw plugins list
openclaw channels status --probe
openclaw --version

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

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

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

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

Temporary disable:

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

Related docs

• Channel overview: Chat Channels
• Pairing: Pairing
• Channel routing: Channel Routing
• Plugin architecture: Plugin Architecture
• Channel plugin SDK: Channel Plugin SDK
• External package: @tencent-weixin/openclaw-weixin