WeChat Mini Program: From Installing the Tools to Sending a Friend a QR Code
Your mini program runs on your computer — so how do you get it onto your phone? How do you send it to a friend to scan?
This article starts with installing the tools and walks all the way to "a friend scans it and it opens." You don't write a line of code.
📚 Table of Contents
- 1. Install WeChat DevTools First
- 2. Create a Project and Get It Running
- 3. Getting It Onto Your Phone: Just This One Button
- 4. To Let a Friend Scan It, Register a Formal Account First
- 5. Fill In the AppID, Upload, Set as a Trial Build
- 6. A Trial Build Is Enough For a While
1. Install WeChat DevTools First
It's made by WeChat officially. Your mini program ultimately runs, previews, and uploads inside it.
Search "WeChat DevTools," go to the official download page, pick the stable version, click Next all the way through, and scan to log in when it's installed. It looks like this once you're in.
2. Create a Project and Get It Running
Open the WeChat DevTools you just installed. After scanning to log in, click +.
Then fill in these three:
- Project name: anything you'll recognize
- Directory: paste the address from the previous step
- AppID: don't panic about the red text — click "Test Account" and you can continue; you'll apply for the formal one later
For backend service, choose "Don't use cloud services" first. When you're done, click Create, then "Trust and run," and the tool starts building on its own.
If all goes well, once it finishes building you'll see your mini program inside the tool — simulator on the left, code on the right.
3. Getting It Onto Your Phone: Just This One Button
A mini program that runs smoothly in the desktop simulator often has misaligned layouts and unresponsive buttons on a phone. Screen sizes differ, and touch is a different thing from a mouse.
To get it onto your phone, click one button: Preview.
Click Preview and the tool generates a QR code. Scan it with WeChat on your phone and your mini program opens there — nothing to install, and it's not something you're sending to anyone else. It's just you looking at what it looks like first.
One thing you only discover after getting it onto a phone: during development some validations in the tool are switched off, but on a trial build they still apply — so "fine on the computer, a pile of problems on the phone" really does happen.
At this point, you have: a mini program that opens on your own phone.
4. To Let a Friend Scan It, Register a Formal Account First
If you want other people to scan it, you need a formal AppID first.
Open the WeChat Official Accounts Platform and go through the registration flow. There are several account types — official accounts, mini programs, mini games are all there. Pick the mini program one.
One warning about the email: I casually used my usual email at first and it didn't work — an email that has already registered a mini program or official account can't be reused. Just switch to an email that can receive mail and hasn't registered a WeChat mini program before.
Then click "Activate email" on the right and it sends a verification code to your inbox. Enter the code and set your password, and registration is done. For the entity type, choose individual — ID verification plus a WeChat scan, and it costs nothing.
Finally, go into the backend and find the AppID under "Development Management." It's a string starting with wx — copy it out.
The AppID is this mini program's ID number. A test account can run too, but only after switching to a formal AppID can other people scan it.
5. Fill In the AppID, Upload, Set as a Trial Build
Once you have the AppID, just send this line to your workbuddy:
Change the AppID in the project to my AppID: the string starting with wxThen go back to WeChat DevTools and click Upload in the top right.
It asks for a version number and a note. Write 0.0.1 the first time, and any note you'll understand later.
After uploading, go to the Version Management page on the WeChat Official Accounts Platform and you'll see the version you just uploaded.
Click the down arrow and there's a "Trial build" option. Click it and it gives you a trial-build QR code.
(I've already clicked it on my end, so mine shows "Cancel trial.")
On a phone it looks like this:
Now you can send it to a friend to scan. They scan it and it works — no app store listing, no review process.
6. A Trial Build Is Enough For a While
First, one thing that's easy to mix up: uploading is not publishing. A successful upload only means the development version reached the backend; it isn't formally published. Your mini program can't be searched for right now — only people with the code can get in.
But for a lot of people, this is enough. Using it yourself, letting a few friends try it — a trial build covers that. It typically lasts seven days; when it expires, upload a new version and generate a new code. No need to go through a listing process.
At this point, you've built a real mini program.
Previous: How This Mini Program Was Built
This article covers what happens after it's built. The full process before that — including the PDF table pitfall along the way — is in the previous article:
👉 I Built a PDF/Word/PPT to Markdown WeChat Mini Program with WorkBuddy