How to Build a WeChat Mini Program: Three Things to Understand First

Before anything else, anyone building a WeChat mini program needs to understand how mini programs are actually made. Different platforms run on different mechanisms, so the first decision is which platform you are building for, and only then does the question of its review process and its code model become concrete. So how is one built?

One: the builder you use

There are free tools that let you assemble a mini program without writing code, and they range from adequate for something simple to capable of something fairly involved. Which one suits you depends on the requirement. If your needs are unusual, pick the tool that matches them rather than the one with the most features.

Finding one is not hard. A search for mini program builders returns plenty, and a number of them are free to download and use.

Two: how the platform works

You can assemble a mini program yourself, and there are many platforms that will host and connect it. Before connecting to one, understand its mechanism. Once your mini program is built, it still has to go through that platform’s review before it can be published, and the review rules differ from platform to platform. A build that sails through one may be rejected by another.

Three: how hard the platform is to operate

Not every platform is equally usable. Some of the newer builders are considerably harder to operate than people expect, particularly once you move past the template. Choose on your own requirements and your own capacity to run the thing, not on a demo.

The short version

None of these three is complicated, and all three are cheaper to settle before you start than after. The common mistake is choosing a builder first because it was the one in the search results, and discovering the platform’s review rules, or its operating difficulty, only at the point where the work is nearly done.

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