OpenAI Is Becoming an Operating System: The WeChat Mini Program Blueprint
The ecosystem: agents as mini programs, chat as the home screen, business incentives, and uncompetable stickiness
ChatGPT Is Building a WeChat-Style Mini Program Ecosystem
When OpenAI rolled out its “app-within-app” model and the new Apps SDK in early October, a lightbulb went off for me: this looks a lot like WeChat’s Mini Programs.
To be super clear: I’m not saying OpenAI and WeChat share the same business model. I’m using WeChat as a mental model. In my head, ChatGPT is the surface where intent lives; OpenAI’s agents/apps are the Mini Programs—lightweight, in-flow capabilities the surface can discover, invoke, and compose.
Think about when you open up Chrome or Safari, and you can access the whole internet on your laptop/ edge. WeChat is like that browser entry point for you. It’s not just a social media tool. My point is that OpenAI could be the operating system for the future, and you will access the world of AI agents through OpenAI.
We will start by explaining how WeChat became an operating system, essentially with its payment functionality as a foundational infrastructure and its rollout of mini programs. Then, we dissect the business strategy for Tencent and the incentives for third-party app developers to develop a mini program and onboard onto WeChat. We then explain what OpenAI recently revealed, and then the most exciting bit- tie it all together, and showcase how WeChat’s Mini Program may serve as a roadmap for OpenAI’s future as a “super agent” commander.
Quick Refresher on WeChat (for friends outside China)
If you haven’t lived in China or used WeChat, it’s easy to think of it as “WhatsApp with stickers.” But it’s much more than that.
WeChat has roughly ~1.4B monthly active users today, according to its latest earnings filings. Tencent doesn’t publish a DAU/MAU ratio, but it is estimated by analysts that over ~1.2 billion are DAUs. What matters for this piece is that ~90% of those users are Mini Program users, which tells you how sticky the platform already is. And in fact, it is said to have grown by “teens %” YoY in 25Q2.
Key takeaway here is scale and stickiness - we’ll come back to this later.
WeChat as “OS,” Payments As the Flywheel
WeChat, as you know, is not just a messenger application. In reality, it behaves like an operating surface, more browser/OS than chat app. And the payments rail is the secret sauce. And this isn’t just me saying this. Even as early as 2023, a16z Partner Connie Chan (my girl crush, omg) was saying this.
And the beauty of WeChat is that it has built a sophisticated payment rail that allows businesses to build on top of it. How this all got started was that WeChat launched a red envelope function that allowed users to send (Cantonese lai see/Mandarin hongbao) during CNY or special occasions as a token of good luck.
It all started as a game, but then the red envelope set off a flywheel, prompting people to think about using the balance they’d accumulated from collecting red envelopes to withdraw it from their bank accounts. Soon after that, the idea evolved into using the collected money for goods and services, and that is how the payment ecosystem was built up.
This is vital to the future of mini program proliferation because it means the transaction element was already in place when mini programs were introduced. Today, hundreds of millions of transactions occur through mini-programs each year.
Eventually, payments became the flywheel. Key theme here: irreplaceable and convenient underlying infrastructure foundation.
Mini Programs - the enabler of businesses
What most of you may know is that WeChat is a “super app” that lets you do all sorts of things within it. But how does that work? It’s because of the Mini Programs.
Mini Programs launched on Jan 9, 2017, led by WeChat’s founding product head, the OG Allen Zhang (Zhang Xiaolong), as a WeChat team initiative. They run inside WeChat, and do not require a separate download, nor do they require an additional layer of verification to be plugged right into WeChat Pay, login, search, QR, and notifications. They’re runtime-specific to WeChat, not portable as standalone iOS/Android apps. (Nico Han just did a handy WeChat Mini Program primer for AI Proem readers if you want a quick tour.)
When Zhang was creating Mini Programs, most people didn’t get it (duh, visionaries are so cool). What he said was that “Mini Programs are a kind of app that doesn’t require downloading to be used, and they will realize the dream that apps can be accessible everywhere. Users can scan (search) to open the app and use it anywhere, anytime, without needing to download it. “
And soon after, outside China, a comparable product was launched called Android Instant Apps, but WeChat’s identity + payments + distribution made the format go mainstream in a way Google never quite did.
So when MiniPrograms were launched, we saw that it perfectly connected the moving parts: payment, Official Accounts (公众号, and Channels (视频号), and created an ecosystem that seamlessly connected three elements: social, discovery, and payment. This ecosystem was able to then onboard MNC brands, SMEs, personal brands, and more, because this meant that they were able to lean into the whole WeChat ecosystem while being able to have full control of their mini application’s interface, user experience, transaction, and customer service.
And a reminder again, that is all without asking you to install anything.
Only a year after its launch, despite initial skepticism, usage exploded. By then, it was said that there were ~580,000 Mini Programs live and ~170M DAU engaging with them (a huge awareness boost came from the viral “Jump Jump” mini-game late 2017).
And within 22 months of its launch, the ecosystem had passed 1 million Mini Programs with third-party trackers pegging ~200M active users at that point.
Now, for those who are familiar with Chinese super apps, you may say, payments and mini programs are not unique to WeChat. Alipay, the OG digital payment app, soon adopted the gamification element of money transfer as well and launched its own version of red envelopes.
Then the concept of “apps-within-apps” was adopted by Alipay as well, which now also offers embedded applications that let users order food and rides, scan for physical bike rentals, and charge batteries.
In many ways, both WeChat and Alipay now function like an operating system; it’s often a matter of preference in using a Tencent-camp product vs. an Alibaba-camp product (which is what prompted the whole antimonopoly internet crackdown in the first place).
The key difference is that WeChat has the crucial network and social element that makes it more powerful for businesses onboarded.
The Business Strategy
So, if you are like me, you’re probably asking: “what is the incentive for Meituan or JD to launch a miniprogram?”
Well, to start, a hugeeee advantage is what I mentioned earlier, the social element.
, an absolute expert in China social media marketing, explained to me that when Mini Programs were first launched, “they were a bit of a flop.”Allen Zhang wanted mini programs to be a tool, not something that would addict you (like many Western apps), so they need to be very value-driven, she added.
Although it’s not for every kind of business, for the F&B sector, it is an excellent use of it. You order through the mini program and collect loyalty points and more, without having to download or open a separate browser on your phone. It also works well for luxury brands that want to provide VIP services or do a special pop-up, and you need to scan the Mini Program to enter the pop-up and become part of their membership loyalty program.
And it seemed like there was an internal company vibe shift. Plotnick said, “Since the launch, it feels like WeChat has begun this evolution towards a much more utility-focused platform rather than ‘social media’ as we lump it.”
And businesses noticed and began incorporating Mini Programs into their business strategies. By 2019, transaction volume within Mini Programs became proof, as GMV (Gross Merchandise Value - Sales) hit RMB ~800 billion and annual transactions exceeded $400B USD by 2021 (YoY up ~70%).
Adoption went from experimental to inevitable in under two years. And once people understood the strength of the ecosystem, brands followed the GMV.
It eventually enabled many businesses. The most famous case is probably Pinduoduo, which used WeChat distribution and social mechanics early on, before it grew into a giant on its own app. The initial goal was to tap WeChat’s large user base and leverage its social features to drive traffic and sales through group buying. The business has since spun off into its own platform and is now a ~ $ 182 billion business listed on NASDAQ.
Business Incentives and Monetization
The lesson: distribution + payments + low friction can incubate real businesses.
But beyond that, it was these key factors that made it a no-brainer for businesses to launch Mini Programs:
1) Additional entry point for businesses: Mini Program adds an additional entry point to their businesses (which takes a lot of work to convince someone to download), which potentially means more users. But how that’s calculated towards their MAU depends on the independent company disclosure rules
2) Native transaction: In terms of monetization, Tencent does not take a cut of the transaction because the transaction is still done within the business’s platform. But you’ll see below how Tencent makes $ from additional transactions.
3) Social sharing amplifies purchasing desire: The ease of use and ease of sharing for the business is actually a huge value add for businesses. Launching a Mini Program lets you share the item link in WeChat Moments, individual chats, and even group chats with a single click. Its social element and commercial activity are more organically embedded in the user’s purchasing behavior. (the strength over Alipay)
4) Ecosystem: and lastly, it leans on the WeChat ecosystem, where embedding transaction links directly into Channels or Official Accounts all make it more seamless.
Meanwhile, for Tencent, it’s not a bad deal either. There are some less visible commercial activities happening. Let’s break down how Tencent makes money from Mini Programs in plain terms.
Advertising Revenue: Mini Programs and Mini Games can run banner, pop-up, and rewarded-video ads, and Tencent shares that revenue with developers (the split varies by format—roughly 50% for ordinary programs and up to about 70% for certain creative games under set thresholds).
Transaction Fees: Payment transactions run through WeChat Pay, and thus Tencent collects merchant processing fees (often cited around 0.6% domestically, with rates that vary by sector and cross-border use). The scale behind those fees is significant—industry trackers estimate Mini Programs handled over $400B of transactions in 2021 (about RMB 2.7T across roughly 3.7 million Mini Programs), firmly putting GMV in the “hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars” range and creating a flywheel where payments and ads reinforce each other.
Ad-stack Integration: Mini Programs are plugged into WeChat’s broader ad stack integration. Moments, Video Accounts, Search, and Official Accounts can be streamlined, so brands can buy across the surface and drive users straight into a Mini Program to convert.
Product Ethos
Another reason WeChat Mini Programs took off is their design. We’ve written before that the super apps in China often also meant UI/UX feels “messy” and that feel has bled into some AI apps, even, such as ByteDance’s Doubao, but not so much in DeepSeek or Kimi.
Just as Apple’s designer Jony Ive has said that product design should be about making things that work perfectly and are intuitive to use, emphasizing that “There is beauty when something works and it works intuitively.
Allen Zhang is just in this camp, and luckily, Tencent gave him the time and autonomy to embrace this philosophy rather than pushing him toward quick monetization with WeChat and later Mini Programs.
He famously said, “When you see friends, you dont wave around transactional sheets or ask to borrow money immediately; you make small talk, you bond, you build trust, and when emergencies arise, your friends will help you.” That’s the relationship WeChat should have with the users. In a way, taking a stab at those ad pop-ups and sponsored content forced onto your feesd.
It is reflected in the products’ design. When you open up WeChat, you’re not bombarded with advertisements, and you are only receiving direct messages from contacts you’ve accepted. When you use Mini Programs, you’re able to seamlessly go between your chat, payment function, moments (feed), and the application. You can also slide the mini program application to the side and access it more easily later with a single click.
And he always goes back to the core principle: focus on the user experience. That is core to WeChat’s operating system. Because WeChat isn’t trying to extract every dollar from users, the user experience is elegant and seamless. It is communications, payment, entertainment, and now an operating system, and that is something sometimes overlooked in the US, and it goes beyond the idea of just a “super app.”
The user-first, low-friction, less-aggressive monetization philosophy is also exemplified in Mini Programs. There is no pop-up ad assault, there are clean transitions between chat ↔ pay ↔ Moments ↔ Mini Programs, and one-tap return to the mini app you slid aside earlier.
Does any of this product design ethos remind you of the sleek ChatGPT interface? The not-in-your-face kind of $ strategy? I mean, you can choose to pay 200 bucks for premium service, or you can use the free model at this point. But what it is is, it’s not IN YOUR FACE.
Key takeaway here: Super agents?
What did OpenAI Ship?
So now, let’s go back to what OpenAI’s in-app strategy is.
OpenAI’s “app-within-app” push turns ChatGPT into a place where developers can build in-chat apps that show real UI, think forms, tables, and visualizations right inside the conversation.
Those apps can call external APIs, chain multi-step tasks, read and write the files you share, and keep state across a session. Permissions work like a modern mobile OS: the model asks for clear scopes such as “connect to your calendar,” “read this sheet”, and you grant or deny.
Distribution happens inside ChatGPT on web and mobile, with discovery via search, categories, and recommendations; on the enterprise side, admins can rein things in with allowlists. [Hello?!]
This shifts ChatGPT from “clever chatbot” to operating layer - essentially an operating system. So when you’re booking a flight, reconciling a ledger, or whatever other tasks you’ve asked the machine to do, it can all live in a single, continuous thread where the agent actually does the work. And that’s how STICKINESS IS CREATED.
This is also why its first platform attempt with plugins had to go. The first platform attempt was brittle because of prompt-heavy logic, inconsistent renderers, and a discovery surface that felt like rummaging through a junk drawer.
GPTs improved control, but you still had to prompt your way through business logic—basically building a backend out of vibes. Apps are the reset. It means less prompt alchemy, more deterministic tool-calling, and a much easier experience (fewer clicks and typing - God, we humans can be so lazy), and does this remind you of the user experience of WeChat? Seamless, easy to use, and user experience first.
And lastly, much like what we’ve been talking about until now with WeChat. OpenAI also wants to own the interface, and with it, distribution - the whole ecosystem you conduct your activities in.
When you own the entry point, you set discovery, monetization, and then the end activity - you own the whole experience. While some are saying this is the App Store playbook. I think it’s more than that. It’s actually the relationship between WeChat and Mini Programs.
As for the social element, maybe Soras-like products are the future - even though I honestly did not enjoy the product. Seems like the target user group is middle-aged finance bros - because my husband wouldn’t stop annoying me with videos of him scoring a three-point field goal or him riding a dragon flying on the moon.
Anyway… Let’s now hone in on the mental model and summarize the key points below.
How This Mental Model Predicts OpenAI’s Future Strategy
ChatGPT is becoming a “super-agent” entry point, a default front door on web, phone, or desktop that captures what you want (by text, voice, or even vision) and routes that intent to the right agent or app built on OpenAI’s stack.
Like WeChat’s single login that seamlessly covers Pay, Mini Programs, and content, a verified ChatGPT identity can become a similar trust layer for businesses and users as OpenAI fleshes out inbound and outbound payments and distribution.
Mini Programs live inside WeChat’s own runtime and use platform APIs. OpenAI’s version is an agent runtime inside ChatGPT, where third parties expose tools and actions that the agent can call so multi-step tasks feel native.
And just as WeChat’s AI search can take you from a query straight into a Mini Program, it can hover on your screen in the corner while you go back to your chat. OpenAI’s flow aims to take you from intent straight to the right tool, and you can do whatever you want in the background. At the same time, the agent carries on with the job.
The “Super Agent Commander”
Taking this all to the next level.
I used to think model APIs are pure commodities. In reality, stickiness creeps in at the workflow level. Sure, you can swap the model for a single step, but building evals and re-verifying outcomes across many steps takes time and money. As more of those steps live inside a single surface (ChatGPT) and its agent runtime, the switching cost rises—very similar to how distribution + payments + identity made switching away from WeChat costly for merchants and devs.
Just as WeChat created an irreplaceable, easy-to-use foundation and ecosystem, OpenAI could be building a similar flywheel for its future strategy.
Think about China’s Android world: because Google Play wasn’t available, you had a maze of third-party app stores. Unlike Apple’s App Store, those Android stores often differed in what they carried, and even which version you got. Mini Programs cut through that fragmentation. Developers ship once into WeChat’s runtime, iterate fast without juggling multiple store uploads, and users get the same, up-to-date experience everywhere.
Now, OpenAI, given its lead in user adoption, will likely do the same for everyone. Instead of jumping between various LLM interfaces, it will be easier for users to go straight to the default platform to access the tools they need unless a need is incredibly niche or expertise-specific (which also explains why many LLM companies are doubling down on industry-vertical builds—but that’s another discussion).
This analysis of OpenAI as an OS is astut. As a cyclist, I've often thought how many disparate apps could be better unified.
Thank you. Very informative. Why is openai the only one to see this? Won't everyone jump in? Seems that this may be the catalyst to determine who wins or loses. Great stuff!