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Native Chat Channel Configuration

Native chat is a first-class channel in the dashboard: an embeddable widget that visitors open on your site and that lands in the same omnichannel inbox as every other channel. This guide covers the operator side of the widget — the per-tenant configuration you manage under Settings → Channels → Native Chat. For the code side (embedding via the Web SDK), see the OrbitChat constructor in the Web SDK reference.

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The install → configure loop

Two pieces have to agree for the widget to work: the snippet on your site, and the saved configuration for your tenant.
  1. Embed the snippet. The Install snippet tab shows two forms of the embed — a single <script> tag you paste into <head> (or just before </body>) on every page where the widget should appear, and a dynamic JS loader for sites whose content-security policy forbids third-party script tags but permits inline scripts. Both carry your widget ID so the widget runtime knows which tenant it belongs to. The Web SDK OrbitChat module does the same mount programmatically.
  2. Configure in the console. Open Settings → Channels → Native Chat and work the tabs: Branding, Business hours, Pre-chat form, Sign-up forms, Agent trust, and Privacy & GDPR. Every change is saved against your tenant and applies to the widget on the next page load of your site.
  3. Enable the channel. The header of the page exposes an Enable widget / Disable widget toggle. A disabled widget does not render for visitors regardless of what is configured.
Constructor options passed to OrbitChat in code (for example a position or a greeting) are fallback defaults. When you configure the same fields in the console, the console values win — so your webmaster’s embedded defaults are overridden by whatever your operators set in the dashboard.

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What each console field controls

The page is organized into tabs. This is what each one actually changes at widget runtime.

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Install snippet

Read-only view of the two embed forms (HTML tag and dynamic JS), plus your widget identifiers: the widget ID, API base, and widget bundle URL. Copy from here for your site, then verify with the checklist below.

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Branding

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Business hours

A per-day open/close schedule plus a timezone in IANA form (for example America/Los_Angeles). A day toggled off is treated as closed. When the schedule is left disabled or empty, the widget is always-on and never shows the away message. When enabled, visitors who open the widget outside the schedule see the away message configured in Branding.

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Pre-chat form

The routing and qualification fields a visitor fills before a conversation can start — such as name, email, and reason. Use them to route to the right queue or to pre-qualify before a human or AI agent picks up.

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Sign-up forms

No-code list-growth popups, flyouts, inline embeds, and exit-intent teasers, with A/B variants and a per-field mapping of collected answers onto contact properties, plus a consent block.

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Agent trust

Tenant-owned trust policy for third-party AI agents (Web Bot Auth / RFC 9421): which Signature-Agent / JWKS directories you trust, and whether a verified request from one is allowed, denied, or rate-capped. Only enable directories you deliberately operate with.

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Privacy & GDPR

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Role gates

  • Owners and admins can read and write every field on this page. The page refuses to render for other roles.
  • Everyone in the tenant can view the install snippet so a webmaster who is not an admin can still copy the embedded tags; the mutate-only controls stay gated to owner/admin.
Changes are tenant-scoped: they apply to your tenant’s widget configuration only, and every save is recorded in the audit trail so a branded-color or consent-copy change is attributable.

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Where widget traffic lands

Every conversation the widget opens is routed into the Inbox as a web_chat conversation, alongside your SMS, email, and voice interactions. Operators work it from the same views they already use. The settings page links directly to the web-chat inbox filter from its Open native-chat inbox action. For inbox setup, assignment, and routing rules, see the Inbox setup guide.

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Verify the wiring

Use this checklist on a staging site before you let the widget onto production traffic:
  1. Embed the snippet from Install snippet on a staging page.
  2. Open the page and confirm the launcher renders in the position you configured (bottom-right by default).
  3. Open the widget and check the header shows your agent display name, avatar, and greeting.
  4. If you enabled business hours, open the page outside the schedule and confirm the away message appears.
  5. If you enabled GDPR consent, confirm the consent prompt appears before the first message and that declining it leaves the widget closed.
  6. Send a test message from the widget and confirm it appears in Inbox filtered to the web_chat channel.
  7. Confirm the origin you embedded on is in the privacy allowlist (or that “Allow any origin” is intentionally on).

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Troubleshooting