Service Cloud Chat Developer Guide

About This Guide
Prerequisites
API Versions
Customize Deployments with the Deployment APIs
Create Deployments
Log Deployment Activity with the Deployment APIs
Customize Your Chat Window with the Deployment APIs
Customize Chat Buttons with the Deployment APIs
showWhenOnline
showWhenOffline
addButtonEventHandler
startChat
startChatWithWindow
Corresponding Calls for Chat Buttons
Find and Create Records Automatically with the Deployment APIs
Customize Automated Chat Invitations with the Deployment APIs
Deployment API Code Sample
Use Pre-Chat to Gather Visitor Information and Set Context for the Agent
Implement a Custom Chat Window Using Visualforce
Use Post-Chat to Wrap Up the Chat Interaction with Your Customer
Set Up Direct-to-Agent Chat Routing with the Deployment APIs
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Customize Chat Buttons with the Deployment APIs

Customize your chat buttons and set how chats start for your customers.

The legacy chat product is scheduled for retirement on February 14, 2026, and is in maintenance mode until then. During this phase, you can continue to use chat, but we no longer recommend that you implement new chat channels. To avoid service interruptions to your customers, migrate to Messaging for In-App and Web before that date. Messaging offers many of the chat features that you love plus asynchronous conversations that can be picked back up at any time. Learn about chat retirement in Help.

Important

Each chat button includes code that you place on your website to let customers start a chat. Chat automatically handles the button's availability based on your agents’ availability and your org's settings. It also handles starting the chat request from the button.

Use the following deployment methods to customize your chat buttons and starting chats. You can add any of these methods as additional scripts within the code that’s automatically generated when you create a deployment.