Chat API
Kindly Chat is a feature-rich and customizable chat client for the web. New versions packing features and updates are made available continuously. You can read more on supported versions below.
Get the HTML snippet
Start by navigating to your bot in the Kindly platform.
Select Connect from the left-hand menu, then click Kindly Chat - Publish your chatbot.
Under the heading Get HTML code go ahead and copy it by hitting Copy to clipboard. You'll need this code to embed Kindly Chat on your site.
The HTML snippet should look something like this:
A pure build is also available.
Deploying Kindly Chat
Once you have copied the snippet, you're ready to add Kindly Chat to your site. This should be a simple process that involves updating an HTML template. Put the snippet in your HTML template, between the <head> or <body> tags.
If this sounds strange, foreign, or scary, we recommend you contact your website administrator or a developer in your organization for further assistance.
Using Google Tag Manager?
When using Google Tag Manager (GTM), the script needs to be added programmatically. This means the HTML snippet won't work, as GTM won't be able to load its attributes like data-bot-key. When adding a new tag, choose the "custom HTML" option and paste the following snippet into the editor:
One thing worth noting when implementing with GTM, is that the chat bubble can be hidden for some users using an ad blocker extension. Therefore we do recommend implementing the chat bubble directly into the source code, or via a CMS if possible.
Customizing
There are two options available for configuring Kindly Chat appearance and behaviour:
- Override the default settings using options in your site HTML (window.kindlyOptions). This allows for per-page customization. See the section options reference for a list of supported options.
Set default behaviour and appearance
Start by navigating to your bot in the Kindly platform.
From the left-hand menu, open Settings, then go to Kindly Chat.
Configure the bot behaviour and appearance according to your needs.
Override behaviour or appearance per page
Sometimes Kindly Chat needs slightly different behaviour or appearance depending on the page the user is visiting. This can be accomplished by adding options to the original HTML snippet. Use the following HTML snippet for overriding the settings. Remember to replace the part that says 'YOUR-BOT-KEY' with the value from your original HTML snippet.
NOTE: In this example, available options have been commented out. To activate an option, uncomment the line by removing "//" from the start of the line.
Set initial language
If you need to pre-configure which language the bot should use to greet the user, just set window.kindlyOptions.language to a valid language code. See example below.
Valid language codes
The currently supported languages and codes are listed on the language page.
Options reference
Options are passed in with data attributes on the <script> tag or the global window.kindlyOptions.
Property reference
Property, type | Data attribute | Default | Description |
bubbleHidden bool | data-bubble-hidden | false | Hides the bubble initially |
chatbubble.autopopup bool | - | - | Automatically popup chat window |
chatbubble.autopopup_time number | - | - | Milliseconds to wait before popup of chat window |
context object | - | undefined | Initial chat memory / context. |
fullscreenMode bool | - | - | Makes the chat window take up the entire screen |
hideHeader bool | - | - | hides the header component of the chat window |
language string, | data-language | - | Initial bot and interface language |
position.bottom string, | - | 20px | Offset position of the chat icon, relative to bottom of window. |
position.right string, | - | 20px | Offset position of the chat icon, relative to right of window. Keep in mind that elements will keep their place relative to the chat icon, and that elements will always appear to the left. |
shadowDom | data-shadow-dom | false | Render Kindly Chat HTML in a |
styles | data-styles | "" | NB: Use at own risk, we do not guarantee stable class names. CSS injected into Shadow DOM to override styles. |
zIndex number | - | 5000 | Control the z-index of the chat container if it's hidden behind other elements |
bubbleAvatar | | "" | Accepts a single string, which should be the location for the image file. The image will be displayed inside the bubble. |
Event reference
You can attach event listeners for the following events emitted by the kindly chat client.
event | event.detail | Description |
kindly:load | {settings} | Triggered once after Kindly Chat has loaded server side settings. It receives the complete settings object. Functions like openChat and closeChat should be called after this. |
kindly:message | {newMessage, chatLog} | Triggered on every message, including user, agent and system messages. It receives the last message and complete chat log. |
kindly:buttonclick | {button, buttonType, lastMessage, chatLog} | Triggered on every button click. It receives the button details, button type, last message and complete chat log. To prevent running the default actions of that button type, you can call event.preventDefault() on the DOM event in the event listener. |
Examples
Note: Using events instead of callbacks is encouraged and all equivalent callback-style APIs are deprecated.
Callback reference (deprecated)
Property and callback signature | Description |
onLoad: () => {} | Deprecated: use kindly:load event listener instead. onLoad is called once after Kindly Chat has loaded server side settings. Functions like openChat and closeChat should be called inside this callback |
onMessage: (newMessage, chatLog) => {} | Deprecated: use kindly:message event listener instead. onMessage is called on every message, including user, agent and system messages. It receives the last message and complete chat log |
buttonHandlers: {[BUTTON_TYPE]: (event, button, lastMessage, chatLog) => {}} | Deprecated: use kindly:buttonclick event listener instead. Each type of button takes a callback and buttonHandlers[BUTTON_TYPE] is called on click for that BUTTON_TYPE. It receives the DOM event, button definition, last message and complete chat log. Valid BUTTON_TYPE's are quick_reply, takeover_request, link, email, phone, dialogue_trigger, privacy_export, privacy_delete. If you return true from a button handler the default actions of that button type are not run (similar to event.preventDefault()). |
getAuthToken: (chatId) => {} | getAuthToken is called once the chat is started to authenticate the user. It must return a signed JWT token. |
Nudge callbacks
Callback used along with nudges. Read more about them here.
Function | Supported nudge types | Description |
onNudgeDismiss: () => { ... }, | All | onNudgeDismiss is triggered whenever a nudge is closed. |
onNudgeFormSubmit: (e, values) => { ... }, | Form nudge | onNudgeFormSubmit is triggered whenever a form nudge is submitted. It contains the submit event along with the input value. |
onNudgeProductClick: (e, product) => { ... }, | Product nudge | onNudgeProductClick is triggered when a specific product on a product nudge is clicked. However, it is only triggered if linkUrl is not sent as a property in the items array |
Function reference
Available methods on window.kindlyChat
Function | Description |
showBubble() | Shows the bubble icon, which affects bubbleHidden |
hideBubble() | Hides the bubble icon, which affects bubbleHidden |
openChat() | Opens the chat window |
closeChat() | Closes the chat window |
showNudge({ nudgeLayout }) | Trigger selected dialogue in chat, using ID or slug. options is an optional object. It may include languageCode to specify language and openChat to open the chat window. |
showCustomNudge({ content }) | Trigger selected dialogue in chat, using ID or slug. options is an optional object. It may include languageCode to specify language and openChat to open the chat window. |
triggerDialogue("[DIALOGUE_ID]", options) | Trigger selected dialogue in chat, using ID or slug. options is an optional object. It may include languageCode to specify language and openChat to open the chat window. |
identifyUser(identity) | Add a user identity to the current chat session. Read more about the . |
setNewContext({"key": "value"}) | Populate the context of the bot. The context can e.g be used in webhooks or by bot builders. |
Nudge functions
The following functions are usable independent of the nudge type you want to use them with. Read more about nudges here.
Function | Description |
showNudge({ slug: 'string', nudgeLayout: object }); | showNudge is used to trigger a specific nudge, either from the platform or from a given layout. |
closeNudge(); | closeNudge will close any active nudge. If there is no one open, the function won't do anything. |
Authentication
Kindly supports authenticating your users. When your users are authenticated, it's easier to identify them in the Kindly Inbox and you can create more personalized and powerful webhook integrations.
To set this up you need to do a few things:
- Add a callback to Kindly Chat initialization code.
- Create a private/public key pair.
After the initial implementation and setup, you are able to:
- See user details in the Kindly Inbox.
- Identify users in webhooks (via the forwarded JWT).
Read more about authenticating your users in the full Kindly Chat authentication guide.
Supported versions
Major versions are released on a six month cycle and there will be no breaking changes outside of a major release.
We provide support for the latest two major versions.
We follow semantic versioning when naming versions of Kindly Chat.
Pure build
We also provide a special JavaScript build that does not pollute the global scope (window) to prevent possible conflicts with existing code. The script tag is almost identical to the main build, except the URL ends in -pure.js:
The side effect of this is that it does not add polyfills to support older browsers. This means you need to add the necessary polyfills to your own browser environment, to maintain support. This can be done using polyfill.io. The current polyfills we use in the main build, to allow Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) users to be happy, are:
