MiniMax Code adds Mini Apps: an agent's work gets a live page it can call, not another chat to dig through
Synopsis
MiniMax launched Mini App in its MiniMax Code desktop app: a long-running application with a frontend and a Node.js backend that installs as a plugin. Previously each agent task advanced inside its own conversation, so resuming one meant digging through chats for context, and an HTML dashboard showed only the data from the moment it was generated. A Mini App keeps data fetching, result saving and tool access on a live page that it and the agent can call, while the host manages ports, credentials and publishing.
Interpretation
An agent's work becomes a persistent page rather than a one-off chat artifact: a Mini App has a frontend and a backend, installs as a plugin, and appears in the conversation sidebar or pops out into its own window. Previously each task moved forward in its own conversation, and picking one back up meant digging through a pile of conversations for context and remembering what it was for; asking the agent for an HTML dashboard pulled information into one place, but the page only showed data from the moment it was generated, and updating it, pushing a task forward or saving results required returning to the chat and explaining everything again. MiniMax states that work between people and AI is never handed off just once, sometimes needing a human's revisions and sometimes the AI's help, and that the goal is to keep the agent's work on a page that stays live.
The agent builds the app from a one-sentence request: /miniapp-creator first runs a read-only query against each data source to confirm it can get real data, then writes the page and backend, publishes the app, opens it, and checks the result with screenshots in the built-in browser. Agent plugins change the agent, while Mini Apps build applications on top of it; system-level concerns such as ports, the agent and the data directory belong to the host, MiniMax Code, and what the tool looks like is up to the user telling the agent. Several of the first official Mini Apps were built this way by colleagues outside the engineering team, including a stock dashboard that brings stock information from Knowledge Planet, Jinmen Finance and Tencent Docs into one dashboard, and CadQuery Viewer, which marks positions on a 3D model and sends them back to the conversation for the agent to change.
The runtime bundles a Node backend with a persistent data directory, hosted MCP, the Agent API, Host Connectors and in-page tool approvals, alongside official Mini Apps in the plugin marketplace and the open-source MiniMax-Code-MiniApps repository. Account credentials are held by the host and neither plugins nor pages can access them; connectors and agent permissions must be declared in the manifest before use; a Mini App's server port is open only to its own pages and the agent. When a page wants to pass something to the agent, the content goes into the input box first so it can be reviewed and edited before sending, and Mini App code runs on the user's machine as the user, so only packages from trusted sources should be installed.
Perspective
Mini Apps are available now in local sessions of the MiniMax Code desktop app on macOS and Windows; ready-made apps can be installed from the plugin marketplace, or a user can describe what is needed in chat and have the agent build one on the spot. The stated starting path is to download MiniMax Code and follow the quickstart to build a first Mini App with /miniapp-creator.
MiniMax treats Mini App code as running on the user's machine as the user, so only packages from trusted sources should be installed; for a runtime capability Mini Apps do not yet have, the stated route is to comment on the pinned capability wishlist in the community repository.