Introduction

LiveChat Customer SDK is a set of tools that helps you build a custom chat widget. Under the hood, it makes use of the LiveChat Customer Chat API. Customer SDK lets you communicate with LiveChat services directly from the browser environment using JavaScript without the need to develop your backend.

Is it for me?

If you need to customize the LiveChat Widget, using LiveChat Customer SDK is one of the options to do this. If you need a fully customizable solution and you feel brave, dive into LiveChat Customer SDK. We provide methods and events for deep integration with the LiveChat environment.

Keep in mind that interacting with this API requires some development skills.

Customer SDK allows you to create frontend apps, so if you're looking for server-side solutions, you should explore the LiveChat Customer Chat API instead. If you want to dive deeper into the LiveChat Platform, you might find the Platform Overview article handy.

Limitations

If a customer is chatting from a custom widget, private messages will not be available for agents.

About LiveChat Customer SDK

We provide an asynchronous API. Most methods return a Promise. You can subscribe to the emitted events with the on and off methods. Not familiar with promises? Read this article to learn more.

We authenticate your sessions with the use of customer-auth package and expose the created auth object to the returned SDK instance. In general, you don't have to worry about it or use the exposed object. If you need to get the authentication token, you can get it through the SDK like this:

customerSDK.auth.getToken().then(token => {
  console.log(token)
})

Questions

If you have any questions, you can start a chat with our 24/7 Support.

How to start

This tutorial is here to help you get started with LiveChat Customer SDK.

Create an application

First, you need to create an application in Developer Console (select the Web app (frontend, e.g. JavaScript) type). Then, you will have to give it the access to the customers:own scope and the correct URI to the Redirect URI whitelist.

Install Customer SDK

You can use the LiveChat Customer SDK in two different ways:

Using npm

npm install --save @livechat/customer-sdk

Import the SDK in your code:

import * as CustomerSDK from '@livechat/customer-sdk'

Or use the node-style require call:

const CustomerSDK = require('@livechat/customer-sdk')

Using a script tag - UMD module hosted on unpkg's CDN

<script src="https://unpkg.com/@livechat/customer-sdk@3.1.2"></script>

If you just want to look around and play with the SDK, check out our sample chat widget implementation.

For the time being you need to register your application in the Developers Console as a "Web app (frontend, eg. JavaScript)" type. Then, you have to pass the configured redirectUri to the init, along with the regular required properties (organizationId and clientId).

Using the API

To use the API you will first need to create an instance using the init function. You will need to provide your organizationId and clientId when creating a Customer SDK instance.

Other optional configuration parameters are also available:

CustomerData:

CustomerAuth:

The init function will return a Customer SDK instance:

const customerSDK = CustomerSDK.init({
  organizationId: ORGANIZATION_ID,
  clientId: CLIENT_ID,
})

With customerSDK, you can attach events:

customerSDK.on('new_event', newEvent => {
  console.log(newEvent)
})

Or execute methods:

const chatId = 'OU0V0P0OWT'
customerSDK
  .sendEvent({
    chatId,
    event: {
      type: 'message',
      text: 'Hi!',
    },
  })
  .then(response => {
    console.log(response)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Key Concepts

The LiveChat system includes four basic types of entities - users, chats, threads, and events.

• Chats consist of threads and threads consist of events.
• Threads are parts of chats.
• Users can add events to chats, which then are automatically added to threads.
• Users can participate in many chats at the same time.

Threads are a vital part of the LiveChat architecture. Grouping events in threads allows us to provide the continuous chat experience (i.e. the Customer always has the option to continue the conversation) while still maintaining smaller, logical chunks of events (e.g. for reporting and caching purposes). Handling operations such as loading archival events from the chat history can be challenging, but you won't have to worry about managing threads most of the time. Customer SDK provides wrappers for common tasks and most methods expect to receive chat IDs. You will only get notified about thread metadata if you explicitly ask for it.

You can read more about key concepts of the LiveChat messaging in the Messaging Overview.

User

Agent

{
  id: 'ed9d4095-45d6-428d-5093-f8ec7f1f81b9',
  type: 'agent',
  name: 'Jane Doe',
  jobTitle: 'Agent',
  avatar: 'https://cdn.livechat-files.com/api/file/avatar.png',
}

Customer

{
  id: 'ed9d0195-45d6-428d-5093-f8ec7f1471b9',
  type: 'customer',
  name: 'Jon Doe',
  avatar: 'https://cdn.livechat-files.com/api/file/avatar.png',
  fields: {
    custom_property: 'BasketValue=10usd',
  }
}

Chat

{
  id: 'OU0V0P0OWT',
  users: [{
    id: 'ed9d4095-45d6-428d-5093-f8ec7f1f81b9',
    // ... more user properties
  }],
  lastSeenTimestamps: {
    'ed9d4095-45d6-428d-5093-f8ec7f1f81b9': 1503062591000, // might be null
  },
  threads: ['OU0V0U3IMN'],
}

Event

{
  type: 'message',
  text: 'hi!',
    author: 'ed9d4095-45d6-428d-5093-f8ec7f1f81b9', // assigned by server
  id: 'OU0V0U3IMN_1', // assigned by server
    timestamp: 1503062591000, // assigned by server
    customId: '814.3316641404942', // optional
    thread: 'OU0V4R0OXP',
  properties: {},
}

Threads

{
  id: 'OU0V0U3IMN',
  active: true,
  order: 3,
  users: ['ed9d4095-45d6-428d-5093-f8ec7f1f81b9'],
  lastSeenTimestamps: {
    'ed9d4095-45d6-428d-5093-f8ec7f1f81b9': 1503062591000, // might be null
  },
  events: [ /* events */ ],
}

Methods

acceptGreeting

You can use this method to inform that a Customer has seen a greeting. Based on that, the Reports section displays only the greetings seen by Customers instead of all the sent greetings. If a Customer started a chat from a greeting but you didn't execute acceptGreeting method, the greeting counts as seen in Reports anyway.

As arguments to this method you should use uniqueId & greetingId received in the incoming_greeting or connected event.

customerSDK
  .acceptGreeting({
    greetingId: 7,
    uniqueId: 'Q10X0W041P',
  })
  .then(response => {
    console.log(response)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

Errors

• GREETING_NOT_FOUND - a given uniqueId couldn't be found on the server

cancelGreeting

Cancels a greeting (an invitation to the chat). For example, Customers could cancel greetings by clicking close icon on the displayed greeting.

customerSDK
  .cancelGreeting({
    uniqueId: 'Q10X0W041P',
  })
  .then(response => {
    console.log(response)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

Errors

• GREETING_NOT_FOUND - given uniqueId could not be found on the server

cancelRate

Cancels rate-related thread properties.

customerSDK
  .cancelRate({
    chatId: 'ON0X0R0L67',
    properties: ['score', 'comment'],
  })
  .then(response => {
    console.log(response)
  })
  .catch(() => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Errors

• MISSING_CHAT_THREAD - the targeted chat is empty and has no threads.

connect

Starts the connection process to our servers. It is needed when:

• The autoConnect: false argument has been passed to the init method.

const customerSDK = CustomerSDK.init({
  organizationId: ORGANIZATION_ID,
  clientId: CLIENT_ID,
  autoConnect: false,
})

/* later in the code... */

customerSDK.connect()

• You get disconnected for a reason that suspends reconnection attempts (e.g. inactivity_timeout).

customerSDK.on('disconnected', ({ reason }) => {
  if (reason === 'inactivity_timeout') {
    customerSDK.connect()
  }
})

deactivateChat

customerSDK
  .deactivateChat({ id: 'ON0X0R0L67' })
  .then(response => {
    console.log(response)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

Returned value:

deleteChatProperties

Deletes given chat properties.

customerSDK
  .deleteChatProperties({
    id: 'ON0X0R0L67',
    properties: {
      property_namespace: ['sample'],
    },
  })
  .then(response => {
    console.log(response)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

Returned value:

deleteEventProperties

Deletes given event properties.

customerSDK
  .deleteEventProperties({
    chatId: 'ON0X0R0L67',
    threadId: 'OS0C0W0Z1B',
    eventId: 'Q50W0A0P0Y',
    properties: {
      property_namespace: ['sample'],
    },
  })
  .then(response => {
    console.log(response)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

Returned value:

deleteThreadProperties

Deletes given chat thread properties.

customerSDK
  .deleteThreadProperties({
    chatId: 'ON0X0R0L67',
    threadId: 'OS0C0W0Z1B',
    properties: {
      property_namespace: ['sample'],
    },
  })
  .then(response => {
    console.log(response)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

Returned value:

destroy

Clears any stored resources, removes all listeners, and disconnects from the network. After using this method, you won't be able to use the destroyed Customer SDK instance.

customerSDK.destroy()

disconnect

Disconnects from the server.

customerSDK.disconnect()

getChat

Returns the chat data about the requested chat ID together with a single thread's data. If the method is called with the threadId parameter, then this particular thread is being returned. If no threadId is given, the latest thread is automatically returned.

customerSDK
  .getChat({
    chatId: 'ON0X0R0L67',
  })
  .then(chat => {
    const { id, access, users, properties, thread } = chat
    console.log({ id, access, users, properties, thread })
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

Returned value:

getChatHistory

Helps loading in historical thread events.

First, call getChatHistory to access the history object of a particular chat. The returned history object has only one method, next, which gives you a Promise with a { done, value } object.

• done - indicates if there is anything more to load
• value - an object with an array of threads, each containing an array of its events

Then, you can keep calling history.next() multiple times to load previous historical events. They're going to be grouped into threads and might require merging with already loaded events. This is useful for implementing an infinite scroll or otherwise showing your Customer's archival chats. Keep in mind, though, that you generally shouldn't call next while the history is loading - we queue those requests, so the previous one must resolve before we proceed with the next one.

The structure such as our history object is called an async iterator.

let wholeChatHistoryLoaded = false

const history = customerSDK.getChatHistory({ chatId: 'OU0V0P0OWT' })

history.next().then(result => {
  if (result.done) {
    wholeChatHistoryLoaded = true
  }

  const { threads } = result.value

  const events = threads
    .map(thread => thread.events || [])
    .reduce((acc, current) => acc.concat(current), [])

  console.log(events)
})

Parameters:

getCustomer

Returns the info about the Customer requesting it.

customerSDK
  .getCustomer()
  .then(customer => {
    console.log(customer)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Returned value:

getForm

Allows you to fetch a form template for a given group and form type.

customerSDK
  .getForm({
    groupId: 0,
    type: 'prechat',
  })
  .then(response => {
    if (response.enabled) {
      // prechat form is enabled for this group in the configurator
      console.log(response.form)
    }
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

Returned value:

getPredictedAgent

customerSDK
  .getPredictedAgent({
    groupId: 0,
  })
  .then(agent => {
    console.log(agent)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

Returned value:

Errors

• GROUP_OFFLINE - the requested group is offline, and it was not possible to return a predicted Agent for it.
• GROUP_UNAVAILABLE - thrown when manual routing is enabled for the group and a predicted Agent is requested for it. If you call startChat or resumeChat accordingly, you'll end up in the queue.

getUrlInfo

It returns the info on a given URL.

customerSDK
  .getUrlInfo({ url: 'https://www.livechat.com' })
  .then(urlDetails => {
    if (urlDetails.title) {
      console.log(`The title of requested URL is: ${urlDetails.title}`)
    }
    if (urlDetails.description) {
      console.log(
        `The description of requested URL is: ${urlDetails.description}`,
      )
    }
    if (urlDetails.imageUrl) {
      console.log(
        `The preview image of requested URL is available under: ${urlDetails.imageUrl}`,
      )
      if (urlDetails.imageWidth && urlDetails.imageHeight) {
        console.log(`Its width is: ${urlDetails.imageWidth}`)
        console.log(`Its height is: ${urlDetails.imageHeight}`)
      }
    }
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

Returned value:

off

Unsubscribes from emitted events, which are described here.

on

Subscribes to emitted events, which are described here.

once

Subscribes to emitted events, which are described here. Unsubscribes immediately after the callback gets called.

listChats

It returns summaries of the chats a Customer participated in.

customerSDK
  .listChats({
    pageId: 'MTU5MTEwMTUxNDM5NTk5OTpkZXNj',
    limit: 10,
  })
  .then(({ chatsSummary, totalChats }) => {
    console.log(chatsSummary)
    console.log(totalChats)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

Returned value:

listGroupStatuses

Returns availability statuses of the requested groups.

customerSDK
  .listGroupStatuses({
    groupIds: [3, 10],
  })
  .then(statusMap => {
    console.log(`Status of the group 3: ${statusMap[3]}`)
    console.log(`Status of the group 10: ${statusMap[10]}`)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

Returned value:

listThreads

Returns a list of thread objects together with the previous and next page ID cursors that can be used to load more threads. If you want to load consecutive events, consider using getChatHistory.

customerSDK
  .listThreads({
    chatId: 'ON0X0R0L67',
  })
  .then(response => {
    console.log(response.threads)
    console.log(response.previousPageId)
    console.log(response.nextPageId)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

Returned value:

markEventsAsSeen

Marks events as seen by the current Customer up to the given date.

customerSDK
  .markEventsAsSeen({
    chatId: 'ON0X0R0L67',
    seenUpTo: '2017-10-12T15:19:21.010200Z',
  })
  .then(response => {
    console.log(response)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

Returned value:

rateChat

Sends chat rating and a comment for the most recent chat thread.

customerSDK
  .rateChat({
    chatId: 'ON0X0R0L67',
    rating: {
      score: 1,
      comment: 'Agent helped me a lot!',
    },
  })
  .then(() => {
    console.log('Rating has been set')
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

Returned value:

Errors

• MISSING_CHAT_THREAD - the targeted chat cannot be rated because it has no threads.

resumeChat

Resumes an archived chat.

customerSDK
  .resumeChat({
    chat: {
      id: 'OU0V0P0OWT',
      thread: {
        events: [],
      },
    },
  })
  .then(chat => {
    console.log(chat)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

Errors

• CHAT_ALREADY_ACTIVE - the chat is already active and you can't activate it again.
• GROUPS_OFFLINE - a group in the targeted chat is offline. It can happen for licenses without continuous chats enabled.

sendEvent

Sends a provided object as an event with a specified type.

const event = {
  type: 'message',
  // ... other properties specific for the event's type
}

customerSDK
  .sendEvent({
    chatId: 'ON0X0R0L67',
    event,
  })
  .then(event => {
    console.log(event)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

sendRichMessagePostback

Sends information to the server about a user's interaction with a rich message button.

customerSDK
  .sendRichMessagePostback({
    chatId: 'ON0X0R0L67',
    threadId: 'OS0C0W0Z1B',
    eventId: 'OS0C0W0Z1B01',
    postback: {
      id: 'OS0C0W0Z1B01002',
      toggled: true,
    },
  })
  .then(() => {
    console.log('success')
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

setCustomerSessionFields

Sends the request to set customer's session fields. They are available for the duration of the session.

customerSDK.setCustomerSessionFields({
  sessionFields: {
    foo: 'bar',
    test: 'qwerty',
  },
})

Parameters:

setSneakPeek

You can use it to update the sneak peek in the Agent App. It is sent to the server only if the target chat is active. This method doesn't return a promise.

customerSDK.setSneakPeek({
  chatId: 'ON0X0R0L67',
  sneakPeekText: 'what is the price for your ',
})

Parameters:

startChat

Starts a new chat. For one Customer, you can only start one chat. In order to activate a previously started chat, use resumeChat.

customerSDK
  .startChat({
    chat: {
      thread: {
        events: [],
      },
    },
  })
  .then(chat => {
    console.log(chat)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

Errors

• CHAT_LIMIT_REACHED - the maximum limit of chats per Customer has been reached, and it's not possible to start a new one. You should activate one of the existing chats. The limit is 1.
• GROUPS_OFFLINE - a group in the target chat is offline. It can happen for licenses, which don't allow Customers to chat during their unavailability.

updateChatProperties

const properties = {
  property_namespace: {
    sample: 'property',
  },
}
customerSDK
  .updateChatProperties({ id: 'ON0X0R0L67', properties })
  .then(response => {
    console.log(response)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

updateCustomer

Updates the specified Customer properties and fields.

const properties = {
  name: 'John Doe',
  email: 'john.doe@example.com',
  sessionFields: {
    custom_property: 'BasketValue=10usd',
    any_key_is_ok: 'sample custom field',
  },
}
customerSDK.updateCustomer(properties)

Parameters:

Errors

• CUSTOMER_SESSION_FIELDS_LIMIT_REACHED - total amount of session fields would have been exceeded after requested update

updateCustomerPage

Updates information about the Customer page using the provided page object.

const page = {
  url: 'https://platform.text.com/',
  title: 'LiveChat for Developers',
}
customerSDK.updateCustomerPage(page)

Parameters:

updateEventProperties

Updates given properties of an event.

const properties = {
  property_namespace: {
    sample: 'property',
  },
}
customerSDK
  .updateEventProperties({
    chatId: 'ON0X0R0L67',
    threadId: 'OS0C0W0Z1B',
    eventId: 'Q50W0A0P0Y',
    properties,
  })
  .then(response => {
    console.log(response)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

updateThreadProperties

const properties = {
  property_namespace: {
    sample: 'property',
  },
}
customerSDK
  .updateThreadProperties({
    chatId: 'ON0X0R0L67',
    threadId: 'OS0C0W0Z1B',
    properties,
  })
  .then(response => {
    console.log(response)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

uploadFile

Returns both a promise and a cancel. You can use cancel to abort a file upload. It also lets you pass the onProgress callback function. Keep in mind that the maximum accepted file size is 10 MB.

It returns a URL that expires after 24 hours unless the URL is used in sendEvent

const { promise, cancel } = customerSDK.uploadFile({
  file,
  onProgress: progress => console.log(`upload progress: ${progress}`),
})

document.getElementById('cancel-upload').onclick = () => {
  cancel()
}

promise
  .then(response => {
    console.log(response.url)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Parameters:

onProgress parameters:

Returned value:

In React Native, instead of passing a blob you need to pass an object of such a shape:

const file = {
  uri: uriFromCameraRoll,
  type: 'image/jpeg', // optional
  name: 'photo.jpg', // optional
}

Events

You can listen for emitted events by subscribing to them using the on method with your custom callback. For example, your function can be executed every time a message is received.

Availability updated

Informs about a changed availability status.

customerSDK.on('availability_updated', ({ availability }) => {
  console.log('availability_updated', availability)
})

Payload:

Chat deactivated

Informs that thread has been closed.

customerSDK.on('chat_deactivated', payload => {
  const { chatId } = payload
  console.log('chat_deactivated', { chatId })
})

Payload:

Chat properties deleted

Informs about deleted chat properties.

customerSDK.on('chat_properties_deleted', payload => {
  const { chatId, properties } = payload
  console.log('chat_properties_deleted', { chatId, properties })
})

Payload:

Chat properties updated

Informs about updated chat properties.

customerSDK.on('chat_properties_updated', payload => {
  const { chatId, properties } = payload
  console.log('chat_properties_updated', { chatId, properties })
})

Payload:

Chat transferred

Informs that a chat was transferred to a different group or an Agent.

customerSDK.on('chat_transferred', payload => {
  const { chatId, threadId, transferredTo } = payload
  console.log('chat_transferred', {
    chatId,
    threadId,
    transferredTo,
  })
})

Payload:

Connected

Informs that the connection has been established.

customerSDK.on('connected', payload => {
  const { customer, availability, greeting } = payload
  console.log('connected', { customer, availability, greeting })
})

Payload:

Greeting:

Connection recovered

Informs that Customer SDK has recovered from an "unstable" connection state. It's always preceded by the "connection_unstable" event.

customerSDK.on('connection_recovered', () => {
  console.log('connection_recovered')
})

This event doesn't carry any additional payload.

Connection unstable

Informs that Customer SDK has detected that connection quality is poor. It doesn't mean that it has disconnected from the server just yet.

customerSDK.on('connection_unstable', () => {
  console.log('connection_unstable')
})

This event doesn't carry any additional payload.

Customer ID

Informs about the ID of the Customer.

customerSDK.on('customer_id', id => {
  console.log('customer id is', id)
})

Payload:

Customer page updated

The Customer moved to another page, for example by following a link on your website.

customerSDK.on('customer_page_updated', payload => {
  const { url, title, openedAt } = payload
  console.log('customer_page_updated', { url, title, openedAt })
})

Payload:

Customer updated

Informs that Customer's data was updated. Each property in payload is available only if it was updated.

customerSDK.on('customer_updated', customer => {
  if (customer.name) {
    console.log(`Name got updated to: ${customer.name}`)
  }
  if (customer.email) {
    console.log(`Email got updated to: ${customer.email}`)
  }
  if (customer.avatar) {
    console.log(`Avatar got updated to: ${customer.avatar}`)
  }
  if (customer.fields) {
    console.log(`Fields got updated:`)
    console.log(customer.fields)
  }
})

Payload:

Disconnected

Informs that SDK has disconnected from the server. The event provides the disconnection reason.

customerSDK.on('disconnected', payload => {
  const { reason } = payload
  console.log('disconnected', { reason })
})

Payload:

Event properties deleted

Informs about the event properties that were deleted.

customerSDK.on('event_properties_deleted', payload => {
  const { chatId, threadId, eventId, properties } = payload
  console.log('event_properties_deleted', {
    chatId,
    threadId,
    eventId,
    properties,
  })
})

Payload:

Event properties updated

Informs about the event properties that were updated.

customerSDK.on('event_properties_updated', payload => {
  const { chatId, threadId, eventId, properties } = payload
  console.log('event_properties_updated', {
    chatId,
    threadId,
    eventId,
    properties,
  })
})

Payload:

Event updated

Informs that an event was updated.

customerSDK.on('event_updated', payload => {
  const { chatId, threadId, event } = payload
  console.log('event_updated', { chatId, threadId, event })
})

Payload:

Events marked as seen

Informs that the events were seen by the particular user.

customerSDK.on('events_marked_as_seen', payload => {
  const { chatId, userId, seenUpTo } = payload
  console.log('events_marked_as_seen', { chatId, userId, seenUpTo })
})

Payload:

Greeting accepted

Informs about a greeting accepted by the Customer.

customerSDK.on('greeting_accepted', payload => {
  console.log('greeting_accepted', payload.uniqueId)
})

Payload:

Greeting canceled

Informs about a greeting canceled by the Customer. It is also emitted when a new greeting automatically cancels the currently displayed one.

customerSDK.on('greeting_canceled', payload => {
  console.log('greeting_canceled', payload.uniqueId)
})

Payload:

Incoming chat

Informs about a newly started chat thread. The payload contains the chat data structure and an object describing the new thread. If the chat was started with some initial events, they will be included in the thread object.

customerSDK.on('incoming_chat', payload => {
  const { chat } = payload
  const { id, access, users, properties, thread } = chat
  console.log('incoming_chat', { id, access, users, properties, thread })
})

Payload:

Incoming event

Informs about an incoming event sent to a chat. You should distinguish received events by their types.

customerSDK.on('incoming_event', payload => {
  const { chat, event } = payload
  switch (event.type) {
    case 'message':
      console.log('new message - ', event.text)
      break
    default:
      break
  }
})

Payload:

Incoming greeting

Informs about an incoming greeting.

customerSDK.on('incoming_greeting', payload => {
  const { text, agent } = payload
  const { name } = agent
  console.log(`Received a greeting with "${text}" text content from ${name}.`)
})

Payload:

Incoming rich message postback

Informs about an incoming rich message postback.

customerSDK.on('incoming_rich_message_postback', payload => {
  const { chatId, threadId, eventId, userId, postback } = payload
  console.log('incoming_rich_message_postback', {
    chatId,
    threadId,
    eventId,
    userId,
    postback,
  })
})

Payload:

Incoming typing indicator

Informs that one of the chat users is currently typing a message. The message hasn't been sent yet. The push payload contains the typing indicator object.

customerSDK.on('incoming_typing_indicator', payload => {
  if (payload.typingIndicator.isTyping) {
    console.log(
      `user with ${payload.typingIndicator.authorId} id is writing something in ${payload.chatId}`,
    )
  } else {
    console.log(
      `user with ${payload.typingIndicator.authorId} id stopped writing in ${payload.chatId}`,
    )
  }
})

Payload:

Queue position updated

Informs that the queue position has been updated.

customerSDK.on('queue_position_updated', payload => {
  console.log(payload.chatId)
  console.log(payload.threadId)
  console.log(payload.queue.position)
  console.log(payload.queue.waitTime)
})

Payload:

Thread properties deleted

Informs about deleted thread properties.

customerSDK.on('thread_properties_deleted', payload => {
  const { chatId, threadId, properties } = payload
  console.log('thread_properties_deleted', { chatId, threadId, properties })
})

Payload:

Thread properties updated

Informs about updated thread properties.

customerSDK.on('thread_properties_updated', payload => {
  const { chatId, threadId, properties } = payload
  console.log('thread_properties_updated', { chatId, threadId, properties })
})

Payload:

User added to chat

Informs that a user was added to a chat.

customerSDK.on('user_added_to_chat', payload => {
  const { chatId, user, present } = payload
  console.log('user_added_to_chat', { chatId, user, present })
})

Payload:

User data

Contains the information about the User data.

customerSDK.on('user_data', user => {
  console.log(user)
})

Customer user type:

Agent user type:

User removed from chat

Informs that a user was removed from a chat.

customerSDK.on('user_removed_from_chat', payload => {
  const { chatId, userId } = payload
  console.log('user_removed_from_chat', { chatId, userId })
})

Payload:

Disconnection reasons

Most of the disconnection reasons can be treated as errors. Because of that, you can find their detailed descriptions in this section.

customerSDK.on('disconnected', ({ reason }) => {
  switch (reason) {
    case 'access_token_expired':
      // handle particular disconnection reasons
      break
    // ...
    default:
  }
})

Access token expired

Access token lifetime has elapsed. Customer SDK fetches a new token and reconnects to the server on its own. This is emitted to the user for informational purposes, so for example a reconnection bar can be displayed.

Connection lost

Disconnected because of the poor connection quality. Customer SDK will try to reconnect on its own.

Customer banned

The Customer has been banned.

This internally destroys the current instance of Customer SDK, so it won't be possible to reuse it.

Customer temporarily blocked

The Customer tried reconnecting too many times after the "too_many_connections" error had occurred.

This internally destroys the current instance of Customer SDK, so it won't be possible to reuse it.

Identity mismatch

The identity of the Customer has changed between reconnects. This might happen if cookies can't be persisted in the browser.

This internally destroys the current instance of Customer SDK, so it won't be possible to reuse it.

Inactivity timeout

The Customer didn't chat or change the page in the past 30 minutes. Customer SDK won't try to reconnect on its own after receiving this error. You should implement a reconnect login on your own. Preferably you should only try to reconnect when you detect a clear intention of chatting from your user.

Internal error

Internal error. Customer SDK reconnects on its own.

License expired

The license with the specified ID has expired. You should make sure that there are no unpaid invoices for it.

License not found

The license with the specified ID doesn't exist. You should check the options passed in to Customer SDK and make sure that the license parameter is correct.

This internally destroys the current instance of Customer SDK, so it won't be possible to reuse it.

Misdirected connection

You have connected to a server in the wrong region. Customer SDK reconnects to the correct region on its own, but to avoid this problem altogether, you should provide the correct region parameter when initializing the SDK. This is emitted to the user for informational purposes, so for example a reconnection bar can be displayed.

Too many connections

The Customer has reached the maximum number of connections. You should avoid opening too many concurrent connections for the same Customer.

This internally destroys the current instance of Customer SDK, so it won't be possible to reuse it.

Too many unauthorized connections

The maximum number of unauthorized connections has been reached. This error can only be received immediately after you try to connect to our servers when there are too many pending (unauthorized) connections. Once you get authorized, you stay that way and the Customer SDK reconnects on its own.

Unsupported version

Connecting to an unsupported version of the Customer Chat API. You should upgrade your Customer SDK version.

This internally destroys the current instance of Customer SDK, so it won't be possible to reuse it.

Users limit reached

The maximum number of Customers connected at the same time has been reached. This can only be received immediately after we try to connect to our servers, because once you get authorized, you stay that way. The limit is different for each plan, and you can check the exact values on our pricing page.

This internally disconnects from the current instance of the Customer SDK. After that, the manual connect() call will be required, preferably linked to the user's action rather than automated.

Errors

This is the list of standard error codes. You can receive them for all available methods which perform API calls. It means the errors can occur for methods returning Promises. Because we wrap API calls with Promise interface, the errors are available on the thrown Error objects under the code property. They can be caught using a regular Promise catch method.

There are also some per-method error codes, which are not described below. They are mentioned under corresponding methods instead.

Connection lost

All in-flight requests fail with this one when the network connection gets lost.

Customer banned

The Customer has been banned.

Group not found

Can be received in response to any request that accepts a group somewhere in its payload.

Internal

Internal error.

Pending requests limit reached

This is a rate-limiting error. You have sent out too many requests in a too short time period without waiting for them to resolve.

Request timeout

The request has timed out.

Service unavailable

The backend service is under heavy traffic and it had to restrict creation of a new resource.

Validation

Wrong format of request, for example a string sent in the place of a number.

Recipes

Chat transcript feature

To implement Chat transcript, you need to set the transcript_email thread property in the routing namespace. The value of this property should be set to the email address of the requester.

customerSDK
  .updateThreadProperties({
    chatId: 'ON0X0R0L67',
    threadId: 'OS0C0W0Z1B',
    properties: {
      routing: {
        transcript_email: 'john.doe@example.com',
      },
    },
  })
  .then(response => {
    console.log(response)
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error)
  })

Hard limit error handling

In order to handle hard limit error properly, you can listen for this specific disconnect reason and then react accordingly. In our case, we are showing simple information that our agents are not available at the moment.

customerSDK.on('disconnected', ({ reason }) => {
  if (reason === 'users_limit_reached') {
    console.log('Our agents are not available at the moment')
  }
})

Changelog

[v4.0.2] - 2023-11-02

Added

• Extend init function types with page and referrer.

[v4.0.1] - 2023-09-19

Added

• Additional types and constants for better development experience.

Changed

Switched to using Customer API 3.5:

• Drop support for the licenseId parameter in the init method. It has been replaced by the organizationId.

Removed

• sendTicketForm method. As of June 1 2023 LiveChat tickets are handled by HelpDesk

[v3.1.2] - 2023-02-28

Fixed

• Fixed situations when a value for urlDetails.imageUrl available in the getUrlInfo method could sometimes return a URL with a duplicated protocol (like "https://https://...")

[v3.1.0] - 2021-10-7

Added

• New optional config property identityProvider, which allows for specifying own custom access token handlers.
• Handle new event type 'form' representing the optional custom forms sent from the server.

[v3.0.0] - 2021-05-25

Fixed

• Chat structures can now have thread set to null since it's possible for threads to be removed
• Prevented additional connections to be created in the case when SDK gets destroyed in the middle of the login flow

Changed

• Switched to using Customer API 3.3:
  • activateChat method has been renamed to resumeChat.
  • In the deactivateChat method, the chat_id parameter was renamed to id.
  • In the updateChatProperties method, the chat_id parameter was renamed to id.
  • In the deleteChatProperties method, the chat_id parameter was renamed to id.
  • In the getPredictedAgent method, agent properties are grouped in agent property and additional queue parameter is returned.
  • In the customer_page_updated event the timestamp property has been replaced with openedAt.
  • In the customer_updated event customer data is no longer grouped in the customer object but rather all properties are returned at the top level.
• The communication with the server is done now using WebSocket endpoint, without the SockJS overhead.
• Users limit handling changed from destroying the instance to disconnecting.

Added

• active parameter to the startChat & resumeChat methods. It defaults to true but can be used to create threads that are immediately inactive.
• Greetings can now have a subtype property.
• Support for alternative_text image property in:
  • image attachments
  • rich greetings
  • rich messages
• cancel button type in rich messages.
• Support for the events of type "custom"

[v2.0.4] - 2020-10-28

Added

• Updated documentation.

[v2.0.3] - 2020-08-31

Fixed

• Fixed API compatibility issues that could cause misalignment in data shape.

[v2.0.2] - 2020-08-21

Fixed

• Updated the @livechat/file-upload dependency to resolve compatibility issues.

[v2.0.1] - 2020-06-24

Fixed

• rateChat and cancelRate methods are updating properties of the correct thread now.

[v2.0.0] - 2020-06-22

Changed

• The iterator returned from getChatHistory no longer returns users. User data needs to be obtained independently, for example by using the getChat method.
• listChats no longer accepts offset parameter. Instead, it now accepts pageId to which you can provide a value of previousPageId or nextPageId returned from the other listChats calls.
• Chat objects returned from listChats no longer have the lastThreadOrder property, but they received a new lastThreadCreatedAt property instead.
• The threads objects no longer have the order property, but they received a new createdAt property instead.
• The eventsSeenUpToMap is no longer available on the thread object, it has been moved to chat objects.
• The payload of the chat_transferred event was changed. It now always has the reason property. It contains the queue property if the chat has been transferred and queued immediately. requesterId is available when reason is equal to "manual".

Removed

• The access_set event has been removed. chat_transferred event covers for its use cases.
• The getChatThreads and the getChatThreadsSummary methods have been removed. Newly introduced listThreads can be used instead.

Added

• The listThreads and getChat methods have been added.
• The thread objects gained back userIds property.
• The thread objects got previousThreadId and nextThreadId properties.
• The sendTicketForm methods accepts a new timeZone parameter which influences how times are formatted in a generated ticket.
• Queue objects got a new queuedAt property. This doesn't apply to the information returned in queue_position_updated event.

[v2.0.0-beta.2] - 2020-04-02

Changed

• Renamed methods:
  • closeThread to deactivateChat
  • deleteChatThreadProperties to deleteThreadProperties
  • getChatsSummary to listChats
  • getGroupsStatus to listGroupStatuses
  • getUrlDetails to getUrlInfo
  • updateChatThreadProperties to updateThreadProperties
• Renamed events:
  • chat_thread_properties_deleted to thread_properties_deleted
  • chat_thread_properties_updated to thread_properties_updated
  • chat_user_added to user_added_to_chat
  • chat_user_removed to user_removed_from_chat
  • thread_closed to chat_deactivated
• chat_transferred event doesn't contain type and ids properties anymore. Instead transferredTo property is available. It has optional agentIds and groupIds properties

Added

• customer data available in the connected callback
• statistics property available on the Customer object returned from the getCustomer method

[v2.0.0-beta.1] - 2020-03-13

Fixed

• Updated the @livechat/customer-auth dependency, which has been previously published with broken dist files.

[v2.0.0-beta.0] - 2020-03-12

Changed

• Most methods have been changed to accept parameters by name instead of by position. We found this pattern to be easier to read and maintain in the long run. As an example, a call that previously might have looked like this: customerSDK.updateChatProperties('ON0X0R0L67', properties) will now look like this: customerSDK.updateChatProperties({ chatId: 'ON0X0R0L67', properties }). All methods and their respective parameters are described in the documentation.

• All data structures have been adjusted: Previously properties like chat or thread could hold a primitive value (usually a string) because they actually contained IDs. This has been confusing and all such properties have been renamed to have an Id suffix now. For example: chat was renamed to chatId, and thread was renamed to threadId.

• updateCustomer method now returns a Promise. Additionally, customer data is not sent automatically in the login request. If you still need to send customer data during the login request, you will need to provide a customerDataProvider in the configuration passed in the init call. This provider will be called before sending any login request.

• connected event no longer contains any chat information. You should use getChatsSummary and getChatHistory appropriately to fetch it.

• getChatHistory now returns an array of threads instead of an array of events.

• sendEvent can no longer activate an existing chat. You should use the activateChat method for that purpose.

• new_event event has been renamed to incoming_event.

• customer_updated doesn't provide the whole Customer object anymore. You will only receive the data that has actually been changed.

• Chat summary & incoming chat objects used to contain an array of user IDs. This has been changed to align with the API and you can now expect complete user objects in those objects.

• getPredictedAgent method requires a group argument now.

• updateLastSeenTimestamp method has been changed to markEventsAsSeen.

• sendPostback method has been changed to sendRichMessagePostback.

Removed

• reconnected event got removed. You should just use a single connected handler for both initial connection and reconnets.

• thread_summary event got removed.

• sendMessage method has been removed. You can just use sendEvent to send any of the supported types of events.

• user_is_typing and user_stopped_typing events have been removed. You can use incoming_typing_indicator to receive those informations - it comes with a isTyping property.

• user_joined_chat and user_left_chat events have been renamed to chat_user_added and chat_user_removed respectively.

• sendFile method has been removed. You should use the new uploadFile method instead.

• Events of type "annotation" don't exist anymore. They were only used for rating events and now those are automatically added to a chat upon rating in a form of system events.

Added

• incoming_typing_indicator event replaced user_is_typing and user_stopped_typing events.

• optional queue property has been added on thread objects.

• chat_user_added and chat_user_removed events replaced user_joined_chat and user_left_chat events respectively.

• getForm and sendTicketForm have been added.

• deleteChatProperties, deleteChatThreadProperties and deleteEventProperties methods have been added with accompanying chat_properties_deleted, chat_thread_properties_deleted and event_properties_deleted events.

• acceptGreeting and cancelGreeting have been added with accompanying incoming_greeting, greeting_accepted and greeting_canceled events.

• getCustomer method has been added.

• setCustomerSessionFields method has been added.

• cancelRate method has been added.

• getGroupsStatus method has been added.

• uploadFile method has been added. It replaces sendFile and doesn't add an event of type "file" to a chat but rather returns a URL which you can then use to send a "file" event using the sendEvent method.

• queue_position_updated event has been added.

• availability_changed event has been added.

• event_updated event has been added.

• access_set event has been added.

• chat_transferred event has been added.

• connection_recovered and connection_unstable have been added.

• All possible errors and disconnection reasons have been documented.

• SDK automatically reconnects to the correct region, but it's advised to pass the correct region of your license explicitly to the init function. dal is the default.

• Users of type "agent" got a jobTitle property.

• Events of type "file" got a name property.

• New types of rich message buttons have been added and some of them have additional properties. Buttons of type "webview" come with a webviewHeight and buttons of type "url" come with a target.

• connected event payload has a new availability property.

• You can send custom system message events using sendEvent.

[v2.0.0-alpha.0] - 2018-08-17

Initial alpha release.