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Chatwoot - Customer Support Platform

Chatwoot is an open source customer engagement platform. It centralizes all your communication channels (web chat, WhatsApp, email, social media) in a single inbox.

What is it for?​

  • Live chat - Chat widget for your website
  • Unified inbox - All messages from all channels in one place
  • Multichannel - WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Email, Telegram
  • Support team - Assign conversations to agents, use predefined responses

Open Source Alternative to​

  • Intercom
  • Zendesk Chat
  • Freshdesk
  • Crisp
  • Drift
  • LiveChat
  • Tidio

Why choose Chatwoot over SaaS alternatives?​

FeatureChatwootSaaS Alternatives
CostFixed monthly pricePer user/usage
DataOn your serverOn external servers
LimitsNo limitsPlan-based limits
Customization100% customizableLimited
CodeOpen sourceProprietary

Use case examples​

  • E-commerce - Real-time customer service
  • SaaS - Technical support via chat
  • Agencies - Manage clients from multiple companies
  • Services - Answer inquiries from potential customers
  • IT Support - Tickets and issue tracking

Minimum requirements​

ResourceMinimumRecommended
CPU2 vCPU4 vCPU
RAM2 GB4 GB
Storage25 GB50 GB

Initial setup​

When deploying Chatwoot, you configure:

  • Admin email - Your email for the administrator account
  • Password - Access password

Getting started​

1. Access Chatwoot​

After deployment, click "Open App" and log in with your credentials.

2. Set up your first inbox​

An inbox is a communication channel. For the web chat widget:

  1. Go to Settings > Inboxes
  2. Click Add Inbox
  3. Select Website
  4. Configure the widget name and color
  5. Copy the JavaScript code it gives you

3. Install the widget on your site​

Paste the code before </body> on your site:

<script>
  (function(d,t) {
    var BASE_URL="https://yourapp.deployalo.com";
    var g=d.createElement(t),s=d.getElementsByTagName(t)[0];
    g.src=BASE_URL+"/packs/js/sdk.js";
    g.defer = true;
    g.async = true;
    s.parentNode.insertBefore(g,s);
    g.onload=function(){
      window.chatwootSDK.run({
        websiteToken: 'YOUR_TOKEN_HERE',
        baseUrl: BASE_URL
      })
    }
  })(document,"script");
</script>

4. Test the chat​

  1. Visit your website
  2. You'll see the chat button in the corner
  3. Send a test message
  4. The message will appear in your Chatwoot inbox

Available channels​

Website (Chat Widget)​

The chat widget that appears on your site.

Email​

Connect email accounts to receive and respond from Chatwoot:

  1. Go to Settings > Inboxes > Add Inbox > Email
  2. Configure IMAP and SMTP

WhatsApp​

Connect WhatsApp Business API:

  1. Go to Settings > Inboxes > Add Inbox > WhatsApp
  2. Configure your WhatsApp Business number
  3. Requires Meta Business account

Facebook & Instagram​

Connect your Facebook and Instagram pages:

  1. Go to Settings > Inboxes > Add Inbox > Facebook
  2. Connect with your Facebook account
  3. Select the pages to connect

Telegram​

Connect a Telegram bot:

  1. Create a bot with @BotFather on Telegram
  2. Go to Settings > Inboxes > Add Inbox > Telegram
  3. Enter your bot token

Key features​

Canned Responses​

Create saved responses for frequently asked questions:

  1. Go to Settings > Canned Responses
  2. Click Add Canned Response
  3. Define a shortcode (e.g., /greeting)
  4. In the chat, type the shortcode to insert the response

Labels​

Organize conversations with labels:

  1. Go to Settings > Labels
  2. Create labels like "Urgent", "Sale", "Support"
  3. Apply labels to conversations from the inbox

Teams​

Organize agents into teams:

  1. Go to Settings > Teams
  2. Create teams (e.g., "Sales", "Technical Support")
  3. Assign agents to each team
  4. Conversations can be assigned to teams

Automations​

Create automatic rules:

  1. Go to Settings > Automations
  2. Create rules like "If message contains 'price', assign label 'Sale'"

Agents and permissions​

Adding agents​

  1. Go to Settings > Agents
  2. Click Add Agent
  3. Enter email and name
  4. The agent will receive an invitation by email

Roles​

  • Administrator - Full control
  • Agent - Can respond to assigned conversations

Additional resources​

Troubleshooting​

The widget doesn't appear​

  1. Verify the JavaScript code is properly installed
  2. Check the browser console for errors
  3. Make sure the websiteToken is correct

I'm not receiving notifications​

  1. Go to Settings > Account Settings > Notifications
  2. Enable email or push notifications

Messages are not being sent​

Check the Chatwoot logs:

docker logs chatwoot_app --tail=50