How I Built a Python Scraper and WeChat Mini‑Program for Zhihu & Weibo Hot Lists

Two months ago I wrote a short article about crawling Zhihu and Weibo hot lists; the conclusion was that obtaining data is only the first step, and processing it adds real value.

My plan was to turn the scraped data into an API and develop a WeChat mini‑program to display the hot‑list information.

After a fragmented development process, I now have a prototype consisting of two basic pages: a Zhihu hot‑list display and a Weibo hot‑list display.

The current roadmap includes removing raw links, making each item clickable to view details, and refining the UI based on WeChat mini‑program design guidelines.

Technical steps I followed:

Define the target functionality; the scraper is the first step to obtain data for the mini‑program.

Expose the scraped data via a RESTful API built with Django and Django REST framework.

Deploy the API to a server so it can be accessed remotely.

Configure a domain name, obtain an ICP license, and install an HTTPS certificate to satisfy WeChat’s requirement for secure requests.

Develop the WeChat mini‑program pages that fetch the API data and render it.

At present the above stages are completed; next I will focus on UI optimization and adding more features. Feedback and suggestions are welcome.