Reechdesk
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Chat

Real-time chat with agent presence, offline messaging, and email integration.

How It Works

Reechdesk chat is built on Pusher for real-time WebSocket communication. Here's the flow:

Visitor opens widget → checks agent presence
Agents online → real-time chat begins
No agents → visitor leaves message → offline email sent
Agent replies → email notification to visitor

Agent Presence

Agents are tracked in real-time using Redis-based presence with a 30-second TTL. The widget shows:

  • Green dot + agent count — when agents are online
  • Agent avatars — who's available to chat
  • "Leave a message" — when no agents are online

Agents must send a heartbeat every 15 seconds to stay "online".

Offline Flow

When no agents are online:

  1. Visitor sends a message
  2. Widget shows bot acknowledgment after 800ms
  3. If visitor provided email, an offline response email is sent
  4. Email includes a "Continue in Chat" link with session resume URL
  5. When an agent replies, visitor receives an email notification

Email Integration

Two-way email integration:

  • Agent reply → Email — when an agent sends a chat message, the visitor receives an email with the message content and a "Continue in Chat" button
  • Email reply → Chat — when a visitor replies to the email, their response appears as a chat message in the inbox

Test the flow

Open your app in an incognito window (as a visitor) and in your normal browser (as an agent). Send messages back and forth to see the real-time chat in action.