Tencent has announced the closure of Yuanqi, a platform designed for creating and distributing AI agents without requiring coding. According to a notice dated October 8, the service will cease functioning on November 9, 2026, and the company did not provide additional reasons for this decision, citing business process adjustments.
The shutdown process will be phased. Starting October 29, users will no longer be able to create new agents or obtain API keys, but existing agents will continue to operate until the specified service termination date. On November 9, Tencent will completely disable access to applications, data read and write operations, API calls, and the developer console. Yuanqi agent pages will stop displaying, and agents published via Yuanqi to other channels, including official WeChat Accounts, Service Accounts, and WeChat Customer Support, will cease responding to users.
Tencent strongly recommends that users promptly export their data and migrate. Until November 9, the platform's export tool allows for local saving of agent configurations, workflows, and conversation logs. After this date, a transition period will begin, lasting until January 9, 2027. During this time, users will be able to log into the data export console to upload backups, even if the rest of the platform is closed. Starting January 9, Tencent plans to delete all user data, except for logs and records required by law.
The Yuanqi platform was introduced at the Tencent Cloud Generative AI Summit on May 17, 2024, as a comprehensive solution for agent development and distribution. Its main advantage was its low barrier to entry: users could create agents using prompts, plugins, workflows, and AI assistance without resorting to coding. They could utilize pre-integrated plugins and knowledge bases from the Tencent ecosystem, browse the agent store, and publish ready-made agents in Tencent channels such as QQ, WeChat Customer Support, Tencent Cloud, and Search.
The closure of Yuanqi eliminates one of the avenues Tencent offered small businesses and content creators to integrate chatbots into WeChat accounts. Operators who relied on such bots for customer inquiries now have about four weeks to recreate them elsewhere before message responses stop coming through.
Furthermore, this occurs as Tencent's agent focus shifts towards products developed internally by the company, such as the WorkBuddy office agent and a series of vertical agents integrated into proprietary applications. Tencent has not yet announced whether any subsequent service will replace Yuanqi's distribution function.