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Handle live chats in the Inbox

How live chat conversations show up for agents and how to work them alongside the AI.

Published 6/24/2026Updated 9/9/2026
Live Chat Widget
Handle live chats in the Inbox

How live chat conversations show up for agents and how to work them alongside the AI.

Same unified Inbox as every other channelMessages stream in real time

Live chat conversations land in the same unified Inbox as every other channel, so your team works them with the tools they already know.

Live chats in the queue

  • ·One ticket per conversation — tagged with the widget channel it came from, so you know which site or environment it started on.
  • ·Real time — a visitor's new message appears instantly, and your reply shows up in their chat the moment you send it. No refresh needed.

Visitor context

Open a chat and the sidebar shows who you're talking to:

✦Identified visitorsTheir name, email and — when available — their customer profile, past tickets and orders.
?Anonymous visitorsWhatever the pre-chat form collected, plus their device and approximate location.

Working alongside the AI

If the live-chat AI is on, a conversation it has taken over is marked AI in the assignee column and on the ticket — a clear signal so two agents don't both jump on the same chat.

AI takes overticket marked AI in the assignee column
→
You step inreply, or assign the ticket to yourself
→
Control is yoursthe AI stops auto-answering and the AI marker clears

See Automate replies with the AI agent.

Internal notes

i

Loop in a teammate without the visitor seeing it. Use internal notes — see Internal notes and team collaboration.

Closing and ratings

When you close a live chat, the visitor is prompted to rate it. Those ratings and comments roll up into the channel's statistics (see Measure your widget).

Chats, handled like any ticket

Real-time replies, full visitor context and a clean handoff with the AI — all in the Inbox.

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Handle live chats in the Inbox | Lunadesk Help Center · Lunadesk