Overview Chatwoot’s omnichannel inbox provides a unified interface to manage customer conversations across all your communication channels. View and respond to messages from website chat, email, social media, and messaging apps - all in one place.
All channels feed into a single unified inbox, allowing agents to manage conversations seamlessly regardless of the source channel.
Supported Channels Chatwoot supports a wide range of communication channels:
Website Web Widget for live chat on your website
Email Connect your email inboxes via IMAP/SMTP
Facebook Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct
WhatsApp WhatsApp Business API and Twilio integration
Twitter Twitter direct messages and mentions
SMS SMS via Twilio and other providers
Telegram Telegram bot integration
TikTok TikTok business messaging
Channel Configuration Creating an Inbox Each channel requires an inbox configuration:
# Create an inbox with channel inbox = account. inboxes . create! ( name: "Customer Support" , channel: web_widget_channel, enable_auto_assignment: true , greeting_enabled: true , greeting_message: "Hi! How can we help you today?" )
Inbox Settings
Automatically assign incoming conversations to available agents based on assignment rules. inbox. update! ( enable_auto_assignment: true , auto_assignment_config: { max_assignment_limit: 10 } )
Configure business hours to show out-of-office messages when agents are unavailable. inbox. update! ( working_hours_enabled: true , out_of_office_message: "We're currently closed. We'll respond when we're back." , timezone: "America/New_York" )
Enable customer satisfaction surveys after conversation resolution. inbox. update! ( csat_survey_enabled: true )
Collect visitor email addresses during conversations. inbox. update! ( enable_email_collect: true )
Channel-Specific Features Embed a chat widget on your website:
< script > ( function ( d , t ) { var BASE_URL = "https://app.chatwoot.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_website_token' , baseUrl: BASE_URL }) } })( document , "script" ); </ script >
Email Channel Connect email inboxes for support:
email_channel = Channel :: Email . create! ( account: account, email: "[email protected] " , imap_enabled: true , imap_address: "imap.gmail.com" , imap_port: 993 , imap_email: "[email protected] " , imap_password: "app_password" , smtp_enabled: true , smtp_address: "smtp.gmail.com" , smtp_port: 587 )
WhatsApp Integrate WhatsApp Business API:
whatsapp_channel = Channel :: Whatsapp . create! ( account: account, phone_number: "+1234567890" , provider: "whatsapp_cloud" , provider_config: { api_key: "your_api_key" , phone_number_id: "your_phone_number_id" } )
Inbox Management Adding Team Members Assign agents to specific inboxes:
# Add multiple members to an inbox inbox. add_members ([agent1. id , agent2. id , agent3. id ]) # Remove members inbox. remove_members ([agent1. id ]) # Get assignable agents assignable_agents = inbox. assignable_agents
Channel Callbacks Some channels require webhook URLs for callbacks:
# Get callback webhook URL for the channel callback_url = inbox. callback_webhook_url # => "https://app.chatwoot.com/webhooks/whatsapp/+1234567890"
Best Practices Message Timing : Some channels have messaging window restrictions (e.g., WhatsApp allows replies within 24 hours of customer message).
Use allow_messages_after_resolved to control whether agents can send messages after a conversation is resolved.
Sender Name Configuration Control how agent names appear in messages:
# Friendly: "John from Acme Corp" inbox. update! ( sender_name_type: :friendly ) # Professional: "Acme Corp Support" inbox. update! ( sender_name_type: :professional )
Lock to Single Conversation Prevent multiple conversations from the same contact:
inbox. update! ( lock_to_single_conversation: true )
API Reference Check Channel Type inbox. web_widget? # => true/false inbox. email? # => true/false inbox. whatsapp? # => true/false inbox. facebook? # => true/false inbox. twitter? # => true/false inbox. telegram? # => true/false inbox. sms? # => true/false
Inbox Type inbox. inbox_type # => "Website", "Email", "WhatsApp", etc. inbox. channel_type # => "Channel::WebWidget", "Channel::Email", etc.
Conversations Learn about managing conversations
Teams Organize agents into teams
Automation Automate inbox workflows
Reports Analyze channel performance
