Customer verification

By default, VivoChat treats a visitor as anonymous.

If your website has authentication, you can link a dialog to a customer from your own system:

• restore the message history;
• show the operator the customer’s name, phone, and email;
• merge dialogs across devices and sessions.

How it works

1. The website passes the user token

After the user is authenticated, call:

vivo_api.setUserToken(USER_TOKEN);

vivo_api.run({ withIcon: true });

setUserToken() must be called before run().

2. VivoChat requests customer verification

When the chat is first opened, VivoChat sends a POST request of type client_check_token to the customer verification URL.

The URL is configured in the interface:

Settings → Dialogs → Customer verification address

Request example:

{
    "type": "client_check_token",
    "userToken": "USER_TOKEN"
}

3. Your server returns the customer data

The server must:

• verify the token;
• find the customer;
• return clientId;
• if necessary, return the customer’s contact details.

Response example:

{
    "result": "ok",
    "clientId": "customer_123",
    "contactInfo": {
        "name": "John Smith",
        "phone": "+14084987855",
        "email": "[email protected]"
    }
}

4. VivoChat links the customer to the dialogs

After receiving the clientId, VivoChat:

• links the dialog to the customer;
• restores the message history;
• shows the operator the customer’s contact details.

If clientId is missing, the customer is treated as anonymous.

Important

Passing only setUserToken() is not enough to restore the dialog history.

The message history is restored only after a successful response to client_check_token with a correct clientId.

We recommend using a hard-to-guess identifier for clientId to rule out the possibility of spoofing.

When the user logs out of their account, we recommend clearing the token:

vivo_api.setUserToken(null);

If you do not clear the token, the next user on the same browser may gain access to the previous chat session.

Difference between client_check_token, setContactInfo, and chat_accepted

These mechanisms solve different problems, but all of them can pass contact details.

Mechanism	What it is used for
setContactInfo()	Passes the customer’s contact details without verification
client_check_token	Verifies the customer and displays the customer’s contacts and dialog history
chat_accepted	Updates the customer’s contacts after the operator accepts the dialog, passes additional data about the customer

setContactInfo()

setContactInfo() lets you pass the customer’s contact details directly from the browser without verification:

vivo_api.setContactInfo({
    name: 'John Smith',
    email: '[email protected]'
});

/* ... */

vivo_api.run();

The method:

• does not verify the customer;
• does not restore the dialog history;
• does not link dialogs across devices or sessions.

setContactInfo() displays the customer’s data only in the current dialog under the “Contacts” section.

client_check_token

Used for:

• identifying the customer;
• restoring the dialog history;
• initially obtaining the customer’s data.

The contactInfo from client_check_token is displayed in the operator’s main customer card.

Without clientId, the dialog history is not restored.

chat_accepted

The chat_accepted event is triggered after the operator accepts the dialog.

Used for:

• updating the customer’s data;
• passing additional data to the operator;
• keeping information from your CRM or system up to date.

The response can return:

• contactInfo — updates the main customer card;
• customData — displayed in the “Additional” tab.

Example:

{
    "result": "ok",
    "contactInfo": {
        "name": "John Smith",
        "phone": "+14084987855"
    },
    "customData": [
        {
            "title": "Plan",
            "content": "Premium"
        }
    ]
}

Recommended integration scenario

On authentication

vivo_api.setUserToken(USER_TOKEN);

When the chat is opened

• VivoChat calls client_check_token;
• the server returns clientId;
• VivoChat restores the dialog history.

After the operator accepts the dialog

• the server updates the current customer data via chat_accepted;
• additional data is displayed in the “Additional” tab.

When the user logs out of their account

• clear the token: vivo_api.setUserToken(null).