Chatwoot is an open-source program that gathers the conversations of several channels (website chat, e-mail, WhatsApp) into one inbox and lets several people answer, with assignment, labels and internal notes. It is the answer to the problem the WhatsApp Business app does not solve: “who is replying to this customer?”. It is not a Interweb product: it is a third-party project that you install on a VPS with root access, and the upkeep is yours.
What it solves
| Problem with the phone app |
With Chatwoot |
| One person, one phone |
Each agent signs in with their own user, in a browser. |
| Nobody knows who replied |
The conversation has an owner, and the history shows who said what. |
| Notes live on paper |
Internal notes the customer does not see, and labels per conversation. |
| The same replies typed by hand |
Saved replies (“canned responses”, in the documentation) you call up in a moment. |
| Each channel in a different app |
Website chat, e-mail and WhatsApp in the same list. |
What you need
According to the project’s documentation, Chatwoot runs in Docker containers and needs a PostgreSQL database and a Redis, which the Docker Compose install already brings. It is heavier than a small tool like n8n: check the current requirements in the project’s documentation before choosing the VPS plan (the VPS plans).
The installation, in outline
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Get the installation files from Chatwoot’s official documentation (the Docker Compose file and the variables file), not from a random tutorial.
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Fill in the variables. The ones that matter are the public address (the documentation calls it FRONTEND_URL), the application’s secret key, the database and Redis passwords, and the SMTP details for e-mail notifications. Keep them in a vault: environment variables and secrets.
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Prepare the database and start it with the commands the documentation gives for your version.
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Put HTTPS on a domain of yours in front of Chatwoot: Nginx as a reverse proxy. Meta only sends webhooks to addresses with valid HTTPS.
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Create the administrator account, the agents and a WhatsApp inbox. According to the documentation, Chatwoot connects to Meta’s Cloud API; some people also use a bridge such as Evolution API, which is an unofficial connection with the usual risks (the risk and the rules).
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On an unmanaged VPS, Chatwoot is yours. The installation, updates, backups and security are down to you; Interweb support does not install or repair third-party programs. The line is drawn in how far our support goes and in the Support Policy.
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Personal data. A Chatwoot keeps customers’ conversations, names and phone numbers: it is a personal-data store, with what that implies for security, access and retention (consent for messages). Give each person their own account and remove it when they leave.
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Need a VPS with root for Chatwoot? Have a look at the plans.
See VPS servers
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