Set up Live Chat

Live Chat brings customer conversations into Releaseo so your team can read the thread, reply, share internal notes, and hand work to another teammate. You can also offer RIO answers and guided Conversation Flows. These are separate settings: installing the widget alone does not enable chat.

Before you start

Choose the correct application in the dashboard. You need access to its Live Chat settings and a plan that includes Live Chat. The application must be active and the chat service available. If a control is locked, ask an administrator for the permission named beside it; permission to read conversations does not grant permission to change settings or reply.

1. Allow the websites where customers chat

Open Settings → Live chat → Customer access. Add each website that embeds the widget, turn on Allow customer chat sessions, and save.

Enter the website origin: scheme and hostname, plus a port when needed. For example, https://app.example.com and https://www.example.com are different origins. A path such as /account is not another origin. Use the exact origin shown by the browser rather than a wildcard or a URL containing a page path. Local development depends on the environment’s loopback policy.

Removing an allowed website affects customer access from that website. Check your production and staging origins before changing this list.

2. Create a support team

In the Teams tab, create a team, add the teammates who answer customers, choose the applications it covers, and enable Available for routing. A team must cover this application to be available for its routing settings.

Choose a name that describes the people doing the work, such as Customer Care. Creating a team does not promise a response time or establish business hours.

3. Turn on conversations and select the default team

Under Conversations & routing, enable Enable conversations for this application, select the Default support team, and save. New conversations can arrive unassigned if no default team is selected. A paused or unlinked default team also needs attention; choose an available replacement.

The setup checklist covers allowed websites, a support team, and conversations. Read any notice above it as well: a complete checklist can still be blocked by the plan, application status, or service availability.

4. Make chat available in the widget

Follow Installation to install and initialize the Releaseo SDK with the publish key for this application and environment. In the widget settings, enable the Chat tab. A Home action of type Live chat can also provide an entry point.

For a custom button, use the copy-ready example in Settings → Live chat → Installation. It starts a support session and opens the widget from a customer action after the SDK is ready:

releaseo.on('ready', () => {
  document.querySelector('#chat-with-us')?.addEventListener('click', async () => {
    try {
      await releaseo.startSupportSession();
      await releaseo.open();
    } catch {
      // Show a retry message beside your chat button.
    }
  });
});

This example assumes releaseo is your initialized SDK facade. Use the installation examples for your chosen CDN, npm, React, or Vue integration.

Guest and signed-in customers

A guest session lets a visitor start without a verified customer account. To recognize an authenticated customer securely, your own backend authenticates the account and signs a fresh, short-lived, single-use identity proof. Your browser passes that proof to startSupportSession({ identityProof }).

Use the server-only proof example in the Installation tab for the selected application. Keep server keys and signing material on your server. An email address or an ordinary SDK identify() call does not authenticate a chat customer. Avoid caching identity-proof responses.

On logout or account switching, call forgetSupportSession(). If it reports pending, clear customer-facing chat UI, retry when connectivity returns, and wait for confirmed or no_session before another account starts a session.

Verify the complete conversation

1. Open a permitted website in a visitor browser and open Chat.
2. Start a conversation and send a distinctive test message without personal data.
3. Open Live chat in the dashboard and find it under the correct application.
4. Check its team and assignee, then send a reply.
5. Confirm that the visitor receives the reply in the same thread.
6. Add an internal note and confirm that the visitor cannot see it.

An editor preview checks presentation; this visitor-to-agent test checks your actual installation and routing. Test guest and verified-customer sessions separately if you offer both.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	What to check
Customers cannot start chat	Customer access, the exact allowed origin, conversations enabled, application status, plan, and the service notice.
Chat works on only one website	Add every required origin, including a different subdomain or port.
Chat is missing from navigation	Enable the widget’s Chat tab and confirm the application and publish key.
New chats are unassigned	Select an available default team linked to the application.
A settings save conflicts	Reload the saved settings, review your edits, and save again; another editor may have changed them.
A verified customer cannot connect	Check the application, environment, origin, expiry and one-use proof; obtain a fresh proof from your server.

Continue with working live conversations, RIO in Live Chat, or Conversation Flows.