Using the Chat Widget JavaScript API

The Chat Widget JavaScript API extends the standard Text widget through the global LiveChatWidget object available on your page.

Before you start

The API is available through the global LiveChatWidget object initialized by the widget installation code. If the widget isn’t installed on your website, copy the code from website settings or use the snippet below. Replace <ORGANIZATION_ID> with your organization ID.

Text widget code

<!-- Start of Text (www.text.com) code -->
<script>
  window.__lc = window.__lc || {};
  window.__lc.organizationId = "<ORGANIZATION_ID>";
  window.__lc.integration_name = "manual_onboarding";
  window.__lc.product_name = "text";
  (function (n, t, c) {
    function i(n) {
      return e._h ? e._h.apply(null, n) : e._q.push(n);
    }
    var e = {
      _q: [],
      _h: null,
      _v: "2.0",
      on: function () {
        i(["on", c.call(arguments)]);
      },
      once: function () {
        i(["once", c.call(arguments)]);
      },
      off: function () {
        i(["off", c.call(arguments)]);
      },
      get: function () {
        if (!e._h)
          throw new Error(
            "[LiveChatWidget] You can't use getters before load.",
          );
        return i(["get", c.call(arguments)]);
      },
      call: function () {
        i(["call", c.call(arguments)]);
      },
      init: function () {
        var n = t.createElement("script");
        ((n.async = !0),
          (n.type = "text/javascript"),
          (n.src = "https://cdn.livechatinc.com/tracking.js"),
          t.head.appendChild(n));
      },
    };
    (!n.__lc.asyncInit && e.init(), (n.LiveChatWidget = n.LiveChatWidget || e));
  })(window, document, [].slice);
</script>
<noscript
  ><a
    href="https://www.text.com/chat-with-ai-agent/<ORGANIZATION_ID>/"
    rel="nofollow"
    >Chat with AI agent</a
  >, powered by
  <a href="https://www.text.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank"
    >Text</a
  ></noscript
>
<!-- End of Text code -->

API functions

The LiveChatWidget object provides five functions:

on registers a callback for an event.
once registers a callback for one occurrence of an event, then removes it.
off removes a callback registered with on.
call invokes a method or setter.
get retrieves data from the widget.

Pass the method name and its data to the appropriate function:

LiveChatWidget.function("method", "data");

For example, use the following call to set the customer’s name to John Doe:

LiveChatWidget.call("set_customer_name", "John Doe");

Asynchronous initialization

By default, the widget loads when the installation code runs. To load it after an interaction or another event in your website, set window.__lc.asyncInit to true before the rest of the installation code.

<script>
  window.__lc = window.__lc || {};
  window.__lc.organizationId = "<ORGANIZATION_ID>";
  window.__lc.asyncInit = true;

  /* rest of the standard snippet code */
</script>

The installation code still creates the LiveChatWidget object, but it doesn’t load the widget resources or trigger the ready callback. Call LiveChatWidget.init() when you want to load the widget:

LiveChatWidget.init();

The reference separates the API by how you interact with the widget.

Area	Description
Interactions	Control the widget and trigger actions.
Ecommerce	Send order data to the sales tracker.
Getters	Read widget state and the customer or chat data available on the page.
Setters	Pass customer and session data from your website to the widget.
Callbacks	React to changes and events in the widget.

If you need to	Use
Add the standard widget to a React, Vue, or Angular project	Chat Widget Adapters
Build a customer chat interface without using the standard widget	Customer Chat API

For a broader comparison, see Chat Widget APIs.

Overview

Reference

Examples and tools

Using the Chat Widget JavaScript API

Before you start

API functions

Asynchronous initialization

Chat Widget methods

​Before you start

​API functions

​Asynchronous initialization

​Chat Widget methods

​Related APIs

Before you start

API functions

Asynchronous initialization

Chat Widget methods

Related APIs