What is a WeChat Official Account's original ID (gh_…)?

Every WeChat Official Account gets an original ID (原始ID) when it is registered: the letters gh_ followed by a hexadecimal string, usually 12 characters, for example gh_7a41c09e2b5d. The owner sees it in the account's settings on mp.weixin.qq.com, listed as 原始ID among the registration details. Readers almost never see it, which is why a list of account names from a media plan cannot be fed straight into monitoring tools: those tools key on the gh_ ID because it is the one identifier that never changes. Names can be edited, WeChat IDs can be set or changed, but the original ID stays with the account for life.

The four account identifiers

Identifier	Looks like	Set by	Changes?	Used for
Original ID (原始ID)	gh_7a41c09e2b5d	WeChat, at registration	No	Monitoring tools, article history, third-party data
WeChat ID (微信号)	brand_news	The owner, optional	Can be set later	Telling people how to find the account
AppID	starts with wx	WeChat, for developers	No	Calling WeChat's official API for your own account
__biz	MzA5NTI3MjIwMA==	WeChat	No	Web links to articles and the profile page; see what __biz is

Two cautions. A gh_ ID is not proof of an Official Account: mini programs have original IDs in the same gh_ form, and WeChat's own docs ask for a mini program's gh_ ID when a web page links into one. And the AppID is a credential for your own account, not a way to look up anyone else's.

How the API takes it and returns it

• Official Account search turns a name or keyword into accounts, each with id (the gh_ ID), username (the WeChat ID, when set) and name. It is charged per account returned.
• Official Account article history takes the gh_ ID, or the WeChat ID, as id and lists published articles newest first. It does not take __biz.
• Article detail returns author.id, the gh_ ID of the account behind any article link.

Task	Calls	Cost
A name to its gh_ ID	1	$0.058 per account returned, at most $0.58
One article link to its account's gh_ ID	1	$0.02
The latest 10 articles of a gh_ ID	1	$0.02

Example

curl -G "https://api.okdata.online/v1/wechat_mp/accounts/articles/list" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OKDATA_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode 'id=gh_7a41c09e2b5d' \
  --data-urlencode 'fields=id,title,published_at,url'

Limits

• An account that went through WeChat's account migration (账号迁移) has a new original ID afterwards. If article history for a stored gh_ ID suddenly goes quiet, search the name again.
• Search can return lookalike accounts for a common name. Check name before you store an ID.
• Turning a list of names into gh_ IDs, or reading them from an article's page source for free, is covered in finding an account's biz or original ID; a full export in exporting an account's articles.