Introduction to Chatwoot
Chatwoot is the modern, open-source, and self-hosted customer support platform designed to help businesses deliver exceptional customer support experiences. Built for scale and flexibility, Chatwoot gives you full control over your customer data while providing powerful tools to manage conversations across channels.Chatwoot is an open-source alternative to Intercom, Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, and other commercial customer support platforms.
What is Chatwoot?
Chatwoot centralizes all your customer conversations into one powerful platform, enabling support teams to:- Manage customer conversations across multiple channels from a unified inbox
- Collaborate with team members using internal notes and mentions
- Automate repetitive tasks with rules and AI-powered assistance
- Track performance with detailed reports and analytics
- Build self-service help centers to reduce support load
Key Capabilities
Omnichannel Support Desk
Chatwoot centralizes all customer conversations into one powerful inbox, no matter where your customers reach out from. It supports:- Website Live Chat - Embed a customizable chat widget on your website
- Email - Connect your support email and handle messages seamlessly
- Social Media - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter integration
- Messaging Apps - WhatsApp, Telegram, Line support
- SMS - Twilio SMS integration for text message support
- API Channel - Build custom integrations with the API channel
Web Widget
Add live chat to your website with a customizable widget
Email Integration
Connect your support email address for seamless inbox management
Social Channels
Engage customers on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
WhatsApp & SMS
Support customers via WhatsApp and text messages
AI-Powered Support with Captain
Supercharge your support with Captain, Chatwoot’s AI agent. Captain helps:- Automate responses to common queries
- Suggest labels and categorization
- Transcribe audio messages
- Provide intelligent suggestions to support agents
- Reduce agent workload by handling routine questions automatically
Learn More About Captain
Discover how Captain can transform your support operations
Collaboration & Productivity
Empower your team with tools designed for efficient collaboration:- Private Notes - Add internal notes with @mentions for team discussions
- Labels - Organize and categorize conversations for better tracking
- Canned Responses - Save time with pre-written responses for common questions
- Auto-Assignment - Automatically route conversations based on agent availability
- Teams - Organize agents into teams for better workflow management
- Keyboard Shortcuts - Navigate faster with command bar and shortcuts
- Custom Views & Filters - Create personalized views for inbox organization
- Business Hours - Set working hours and auto-responders
Customer Data Management
Build comprehensive customer profiles:- Contact Management - Store customer profiles with interaction history
- Custom Attributes - Add custom fields to store additional data
- Contact Segments - Create targeted segments for personalized communication
- Pre-Chat Forms - Collect information before conversations start
- Campaigns - Proactively engage customers with targeted messages
Help Center Portal
Enable customer self-service:- Publish help articles, FAQs, and guides
- Organize content with categories and sections
- Multi-language support for global audiences
- SEO-friendly article URLs
- Reduce repetitive queries by empowering customers to find answers
Reports & Analytics
Measure performance and gain insights:- Live View - Monitor ongoing conversations in real-time
- Conversation Reports - Track conversation volume and trends
- Agent Reports - Measure individual agent performance
- CSAT Reports - Monitor customer satisfaction scores
- Inbox, Label, and Team Reports - Get operational visibility
- Downloadable Reports - Export data for offline analysis
Integrations
Extend Chatwoot with powerful integrations:- Slack - Manage conversations directly from Slack
- Dialogflow - Add chatbot automation capabilities
- Shopify - View and manage customer orders within Chatwoot
- Google Translate - Translate customer messages in real-time
- Linear - Create and manage tickets seamlessly
- Dashboard Apps - Embed internal tools within Chatwoot
- Webhooks - Build custom integrations with webhook events
Who is Chatwoot For?
Startups
Launch customer support without expensive enterprise tools. Scale as you grow.
SaaS Companies
Provide multi-channel support for your software products with self-hosted control.
E-commerce
Support online shoppers across website chat, social media, and messaging apps.
Enterprises
Self-host for complete data control and customize for your specific needs.
Why Choose Chatwoot?
Open Source
Full access to source code with MIT license. Transparent and community-driven.
Self-Hosted
Complete control over your data. Deploy on your infrastructure.
Cost-Effective
No per-agent pricing. Scale your team without increasing costs.
Customizable
Modify and extend the platform to match your workflows.
Privacy-Focused
Keep customer data secure on your own servers.
Active Community
Join thousands of users and contributors worldwide.
Architecture Overview
Chatwoot is built with modern technologies:- Backend: Ruby on Rails with PostgreSQL database
- Frontend: Vue.js 3 with Composition API and Tailwind CSS
- Real-time: WebSocket support via Action Cable
- Cache: Redis for caching and background jobs
- Storage: Active Storage for file attachments
Chatwoot follows a modular architecture that separates channels (integrations), inboxes (conversation containers), and conversations (customer interactions).
Getting Started
Ready to start using Chatwoot? Here are your options:Quick Start Guide
Follow our step-by-step guide to set up your first inbox
Explore Features
Learn about all the powerful features available
Self-Hosted Deployment
Deploy Chatwoot on your own infrastructure
Join Community
Get help and connect with other users on Discord
Open Source & Community
Chatwoot is released under the MIT License and maintained by a vibrant community of contributors worldwide. The project is actively developed with regular updates and improvements.View on GitHub
Star the project, contribute code, or report issues
Version: Chatwoot v4.11.1 | License: MIT | Platform: Ruby on Rails + Vue.js