--- title: Support Chats slug: support-chats description: Monitor visitor support conversations, reply from the admin, hand off to AI, and resolve chats. productSlug: cedros productLabel: Cedros sectionKey: support sectionLabel: Support --- # Support Chats The Support Chats section is your live inbox for visitor conversations. Every time someone opens the chat bubble on your site, the conversation lands here — whether the AI assistant is answering, the visitor is waiting for a person, or a teammate is already replying. From here you can monitor what's happening, jump in to reply yourself, hand a chat back to AI, or mark it resolved. ## What's on this page ### Header At the top you'll see the section title **Support Chats** and a short description. On the right is one button: - **Configure** — Opens the support chat settings page where you decide whether the chat appears on your site, who answers (AI, your team, or both), and what visitors see. See [Support Chat Settings](support-chat-settings.md). ### Status counts A row of four count tiles, one per status: - **Waiting** — Conversations where the visitor is waiting for a person to reply. These are the ones to watch most closely. - **With AI** — Conversations the AI assistant is currently handling on its own. - **Human active** — Conversations where someone from your team has taken over and is replying. - **Resolved** — Conversations that have been closed out. Each number reflects every conversation in your inbox — not just the ones currently filtered or searched. ### Toolbar Above the inbox you'll find: - **Search** — Type any part of a visitor name, email, subject, page URL, or message text to filter the list. - **Filter dropdown** — Narrow the list by status: All statuses, Waiting for human, With AI, Human active, or Resolved. ### Two-pane layout The main view is split into two columns: #### Conversation list (left) One row per conversation, newest first. Each row shows: - **Visitor name** — The name the visitor gave, or **Anonymous visitor** if they didn't share one. - **Time** — When the most recent message arrived (just the time if it's today, otherwise the date). - **Subject** — A short summary of what the chat is about. - **Message preview** — The most recent message in the thread. - **Status badge** — With AI, Waiting, Human active, or Resolved. Click any row to load that conversation on the right. #### Conversation detail (right) After data loads, the first conversation matching the current filters is selected automatically. The pane reads **No support chat selected** only when no conversation is available for the current data or filter state. A selected conversation loads with five parts: **1. Header.** Subject, visitor name, and a clickable email link (if the visitor shared one). The status badge sits to the right. **2. Details strip.** Four fields: - **Assigned to** — The teammate currently handling it, or **Cedros Assistant** if AI is in charge. - **Priority** — Normal, High, or Urgent. Click to change. - **Started** — How long ago the conversation began (hover for the exact timestamp). - **Where** — The page on your site the visitor was on when they opened the chat. **3. Messages area.** The full back-and-forth between the visitor, AI, and your team. Each message shows the author, the message text, and when it was sent. A brand-new chat with nothing said yet reads **No messages captured yet.** If you scroll up while new messages arrive, a **X new messages ↓** button appears so you can jump back to the bottom. If the visitor left a star rating after the chat, you'll see it as a strip at the bottom of the messages. **4. Action buttons.** Three buttons sit below the messages: - **Take over from AI** — Stops AI from replying and assigns the chat to you. Use this when AI is heading the wrong direction or the visitor explicitly asks for a person. - **Hand back to AI** — Returns the chat to the AI assistant. Useful when you've answered the immediate question and the rest can run on autopilot. - **Mark as resolved** — Closes the chat out. Resolved chats stop accepting replies until someone reopens them by taking over again. **5. Reply form.** A text area labeled **Reply as a person**. Type your message and click **Send reply** — visitors see it as coming from your team. The hint under the form tells you whether you can reply right now and, if not, why (resolved chat, or no write access). ## Common things you can do here ### Catch the visitors waiting for help Set the filter to **Waiting for human** at the top of the list. Every conversation in this list is someone the AI couldn't answer (or didn't try to) and is now waiting on a person. Open them in order of priority — Urgent first. ### Find a specific chat Type into the **Search** box. It matches against the visitor's name, email, the chat subject, the page they were on, and every message in the thread. ### Jump into a chat the AI is botching 1. Open the chat from the list. 2. Click **Take over from AI**. The status flips to **Human active** and AI stops sending replies. 3. Type into the reply box and click **Send reply**. ### Hand a chat back to AI once you're done After replying, click **Hand back to AI**. AI will continue answering follow-up questions from the visitor while you move on. ### Close out a finished chat Click **Mark as resolved**. The chat moves to the **Resolved** filter. You can always reopen it by taking over again. ### Flag something urgent Click the **Priority** dropdown in the details strip and pick **High** or **Urgent**. The priority shows up next to the chat in your inbox and helps your team see what to grab first. ### Email a visitor outside the chat If the visitor shared an email, click their email address at the top of the conversation. It opens a new email in your default mail app, pre-filled with their address. ## Tips - **The inbox updates live.** New messages and new conversations appear automatically — you don't need to refresh. - **Lost connection?** If the live connection drops, you'll see a **Connection lost** banner. Conversations keep loading from the server while you wait; click **Try now** to force a reconnect. - **Anonymous visitors** are shown that way in bold italic. Once they share their name or email through the chat, the display updates. - **Hover any "Started X ago"** value to see the exact date and time the chat began. - **Permissions matter.** Replying, taking over, handing back, resolving, and changing priority all require the support chat write permission. Without it, the buttons disable and a "Read-only" banner appears at the top. Ask an admin if you need access. ## Troubleshooting - **The inbox is empty?** That's normal if nobody has opened your site's chat bubble yet. Once visitors start chatting, conversations land here. If you don't see the chat bubble on your site at all, check **Configure** — chat may be turned off. - **"Connection lost" stays on screen?** The live feed is having trouble. Click **Try now** to retry. If it keeps failing, refresh the page or check your network. - **Reply button is disabled?** Either the chat is resolved (click **Take over from AI** to reopen it) or you don't have write access — ask an admin. - **Take over from AI is greyed out?** The chat is already assigned to a person, or it's resolved. Look at the **Assigned to** field in the details strip. - **Can't find a chat you know exists?** Check the **Filter** dropdown — it might be set to a status that excludes it. Set it to **All statuses** to see everything. - **No chat bubble on your site?** Open [Support Chat Settings](support-chat-settings.md) and make sure **Show on your site** is set to **On**.