Strings & Localisation

Every user-facing string is overridable via strings in your config. Any key you omit falls back to the built-in default. This is also how you localise the widget into another language.

You can use {{botName}} in emptyMessage and {{count}} in newMessages for interpolation.

Example

setConfig({
  apiUrl,
  accountNumber,
  userEmail,
  strings: {
    botName: 'Support',
    emptyCta: 'Start a conversation',
    emptyMessage: 'Send a message below and {{botName}} will get back to you.',
    placeholder: 'Type your message…',
    loadingMessages: 'Loading messages…',
    ariaLabels: {
      openChat: 'Open chat',
      close: 'Close',
      closeConfirmDialog: 'Confirm end chat',
      closeConfirmDismiss: 'Keep chatting',
    },
    emojiPickerList: [
      ['😀', 'Grinning face'],
      ['👍', 'Thumbs up'],
      // …
    ],
  },
});

Default values (strings)

Key	Default	Description
botName	Support Assistant	Display name shown in the panel header and interpolated into emptyMessage via {{botName}}. This is the single name used for the support side — the widget does not distinguish between an AI bot and a human agent (all inbound messages share the same bubble style).
emptyCta	Start a conversation	Empty-state title, shown (in bold, under the chat icon) before any messages exist.
emptyMessage	Send a message below and {{botName}} will get back to you.	Empty-state description under the title. Supports {{botName}}.
loadingMessages	Loading messages...	Shown in the message area while the first page of messages is loading.
loadMessagesError	Couldn't load messages.	Shown when loading messages fails (network/API error). Paired with the retry button.
closeConversationDialogTitle	End this chat?	Title of the confirmation dialog shown when the user ends an active conversation.
closeConversationDialogBody	You can start a new conversation later.	Body text under the confirmation dialog title.
closeConversationCancel	Keep chatting	Secondary dialog button — dismisses the dialog without ending the conversation.
closeConversationConfirmButton	End chat	Primary dialog button — confirms ending the chat on the server.
closingConversation	Ending chat…	Overlay text shown over the message list while the close request is in flight.
closeConversationError	Couldn't end the chat. Try again.	Shown when the server could not close the conversation. Includes a retry action.
newMessage	1 new message	Floating "jump to latest" CTA shown when there is exactly 1 unread message and the user has scrolled up.
newMessages	{{count}} new messages	Same floating CTA when there are multiple unread messages. Use {{count}} for the number.
placeholder	Type your message...	Placeholder text inside the message input field.
retry	Try again	Label for retry buttons used by the load-error and close-error states.
sendFailed	Message couldn't be sent. Try again.	Shown when sending a message fails; auto-dismisses after sendErrorDismissMs.

Default values (strings.ariaLabels)

These are screen-reader-only labels — they are not rendered visually, but they describe interactive controls for assistive technology. Keep them meaningful when localising.

Key	Default	Description
chatPanel	Live Chat	aria-label for the chat panel dialog (role="dialog") when open.
close	Close Live Chat	aria-label for the header close (X) button.
closeConfirmDialog	Confirm end chat	role="dialog" label for the in-panel end-chat confirmation.
closeConfirmDismiss	Keep chatting	Label for the backdrop control that dismisses the confirmation without ending the chat.
messageHistory	Message history	aria-label for the scrollable messages region (role="log").
minimize	Minimize Live Chat	aria-label for the minimize button.
openChat	Open Live Chat	aria-label for the floating trigger button.
openEmojiPicker	Insert emoji	aria-label for the emoji picker button.
scrollToBottom	Scroll to bottom	aria-label for the scroll-to-bottom button (shown when scrolled up with no unread messages).
send	Send Message	aria-label for the send button.
typeMessage	Type your message	aria-label for the message input field.

Emoji picker

strings.emojiPickerList is an array of [emoji, description] pairs. The built-in default contains 49 entries. Provide your own list to override it entirely.

Date & time formatting

Message timestamps are formatted with the browser locale by default. Set locale in your config to a BCP 47 tag (e.g. en-GB, fr-FR) to control this independently of the strings above.