Integrating DeepSeek API with a WeChat Public Account: Step‑by‑Step Tutorial

Recent releases of DeepSeek provide an extremely low‑cost API that is almost fully compatible with the OpenAI SDK, simplifying deployment. This guide explains how to connect DeepSeek to a personal WeChat public account from scratch.

1. Basic Principles & Risks – The tutorial uses a GitHub open‑source project to forward messages received by the public account to a cloud server, where the DeepSeek model generates replies. Users are warned about potential misconfiguration of the WeChat admin interface and possible cloud‑server or API usage fees.

2. Obtain DeepSeek API Key – Register on the DeepSeek developer platform (https://platform.deepseek.com/), create an API key on the API keys page, and copy it for later use.

3. Gather WeChat Public Platform Information – In the WeChat console, enable developer mode, copy the AppID , AppSecret , generate an AESKey , and note the Token .

4. Create a Free Alibaba Cloud ECS Instance – Register at https://www.aliyun.com/, claim the free ECS trial (Hong Kong region, 2 CPU + 2 GiB, Ubuntu 22.04), open port 80 in the security group, and obtain the public IP address.

5. Project Code Configuration

5.1 Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/zhayujie/chatgpt-on-wechat.git

5.2 Install Dependencies

pip3 install -r ./chatgpt-on-wechat/requirements.txt

pip3 install -r ./chatgpt-on-wechat/requirements-optional.txt

5.3 Edit the Configuration File

Create config.json with the following template (replace placeholder values with the keys obtained above):

{
  "channel_type": "wechatmp",
  "model": "deepseek-chat",
  "open_ai_api_key": "YOUR_DEEPSEEK_API_KEY",
  "open_ai_api_base": "https://api.deepseek.com/v1",
  "wechatmp_app_id": "YOUR_APPID",
  "wechatmp_app_secret": "YOUR_APPSECRET",
  "wechatmp_aes_key": "YOUR_AESKEY",
  "wechatmp_token": "YOUR_TOKEN",
  "wechatmp_port": 80,
  "conversation_max_tokens": 3000,
  "expires_in_seconds": 3600,
  "character_desc": "You are an AI assistant based on a large language model.",
  "temperature": 0.8,
  "subscribe_msg": "Thank you for following! The public account is now connected to DeepSeek.",
  "use_linkai": false
}

5.4 Run the Application

sudo python3 app.py

For unattended operation, use:

(cd chatgpt-on-wechat && nohup python3 app.py &) ; tail -f ./chatgpt-on-wechat/nohup.out

6. Configure the WeChat Public Platform – Set the server URL to http://YOUR_SERVER_IP/wx , and use the same Token and AESKey from the configuration file. Choose “compatible mode” for encryption, submit, and enable the server.

After these steps the WeChat public account will be able to converse with users via the DeepSeek model.