# What is __biz in a WeChat article link?

__biz is the part of a WeChat Official Account (公众号) article's long link that names the account, written in Base64. DataXAPI's article endpoints take the whole long link; __biz is not the gh_ original ID the account endpoints take. DataXAPI reads WeChat Official Accounts with 8 endpoints, from $0.0200 a call; a failed call is not charged.

## What it is and where you see it

An article's long link looks like `https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=<Base64>&mid=<digits>&idx=1&sn=<32 hex characters>` (placeholders, not a real article). `__biz` names the account; `mid`, `idx` and `sn` name the article within it.

We found no official description of it. As public open-source tools describe it, it is the Base64 of a number that stands for the account, and one such project converts it to and from the account's ID used in WeChat's own back end.

## What DataXAPI does with it

`wechat_mp.articles.get`, `wechat_mp.articles.comments.list` and `wechat_mp.articles.metrics` take the long link as `url`; the first two also take the short `/s/` link. An article's `id` in the answer is the article's `__biz`, `mid` and `idx` joined by `_`: it says which article it is, but an article is fetched by its `url`, not by this `id`.

`wechat_mp.accounts.get` and `wechat_mp.accounts.articles.list` take the account's original ID, starting with `gh_`. A `__biz` given there is refused before anything is charged; an article's `author.id` from `wechat_mp.articles.get` is the original ID to use.

## Endpoints

- [WeChat Official Account article detail](https://dataxapi.com/apis/wechat_mp/articles/get/) ($0.0200 / a call): Get one WeChat Official Account article by its link: title, text, time published, the account's name and IDs.
- [WeChat Official Account article stats](https://dataxapi.com/apis/wechat_mp/articles/metrics/) ($0.0200 / a call): Get the current counts of a WeChat Official Account article by its long link: reads, likes, recommends, shares, saves, comments.
- [WeChat Official Account article comments](https://dataxapi.com/apis/wechat_mp/articles/comments/list/) ($0.0200 / a call): Get a page of the featured comments on a WeChat Official Account article by its link: text, commenter, likes, reply count, time posted, IP location.
- [WeChat Official Account articles](https://dataxapi.com/apis/wechat_mp/accounts/articles/list/) ($0.0200 / a call): Get a page of the articles a WeChat Official Account published, newest first: title, digest, link, time published.

## How-to guides

- [How to list a WeChat Official Account's past articles](https://dataxapi.com/guides/wechat-official-account-articles/)

## Sources

What this page says of other services is from their own pages and documents, read on 2026-10-29. Prices and features change: check the source before you decide.

- [wechat_articles_spider (open-source project): converting __biz](https://github.com/wnma3mz/wechat_articles_spider/blob/master/wechatarticles/utils.py#L206-L211)
- [wechat_articles_spider (open-source project): __biz described](https://github.com/wnma3mz/wechat_articles_spider/blob/master/wechatarticles/utils.py#L157-L158)

## More about WeChat Official Accounts

- [WeChat Official Accounts API](https://dataxapi.com/apis/wechat_mp/)
- [Is there an API for WeChat Official Account articles?](https://dataxapi.com/answers/is-there-an-api-for-wechat-official-account-articles/)
- [How do I get WeChat Channels data?](https://dataxapi.com/answers/how-to-get-wechat-channels-data/)
- [What do mid, idx and sn mean in a WeChat article link?](https://dataxapi.com/answers/wechat-article-link-mid-idx-sn/)
- [What is a WeChat Official Account's original ID (gh_)?](https://dataxapi.com/answers/wechat-official-account-original-id/)
- [What is a WeChat Channels account ID (…@finder), and what is an export ID?](https://dataxapi.com/answers/wechat-channels-finder-id/)
- [How to get WeChat Official Account article reads and likes](https://dataxapi.com/guides/wechat-article-reads-and-likes/)
- [How to get WeChat Channels video comments](https://dataxapi.com/guides/wechat-channels-video-comments/)
- [How to list a WeChat Channels account's videos](https://dataxapi.com/guides/wechat-channels-user-videos/)
- [How to get WeChat Search results by keyword](https://dataxapi.com/guides/wechat-search-posts/)

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Catalog revision 5c3194deef3264cc. [HTML version](https://dataxapi.com/answers/wechat-official-account-biz/)