Conversation starters#

Starters are the suggested prompts chatters see on the empty state of a fresh conversation. They're one of the highest-leverage things your team can configure: most chatters will click a starter instead of typing.

Starters are configured once per agent and apply to all three surfaces: Hosted Chat, Widget, and Bar.

Where to configure them#

Open the agent in the dashboard and go to Setup → Starters. The list applies everywhere the agent is reachable.

Each starter is one short prompt, up to 255 characters. Keep it under about 60. There is no hard limit on how many, but past about 5 the UI gets cluttered.

Writing good starters#

The starters that work best:

• Sound like questions a real customer would ask.
• Match topics your sources actually cover.
• Lead the chatter toward where the agent can help, away from where it can't.

Examples for a SaaS support bot:

How do I reset my password?
Where do I find my invoices?
What's included in the Pro plan?
Can I connect Chatvia to Slack?

Examples for a docs-site bot:

How do I install the SDK?
What headers does the API expect?
Show me a curl example
What's the rate limit?

Generating starters#

Click Generate with AI to get suggestions from the agent's knowledge. Choose how many you want (1 to 10), then pick which ones to add. The button shows only once the agent has sources.

Editing#

Type a starter in the list, add more with Add starter, and remove one with its remove button. Each starter can also have an icon. Click Save under the section to apply your changes.

Starters are translated like the texts in Info. Click a language's flag at the top of the section to check or edit its translation.

Bubbles vs. starters#

Chat Bubbles and starters look similar but behave differently:

• Chat Bubbles: short prompts shown next to the widget launcher. They exist only on the Chat Widget, and you set them in Setup → Chat Bubbles on the Chat Widget tab.
• Starters: the same idea, but a higher-impact variant used on the chat empty state across all surfaces.

In practice your team sets the same content in both for consistency.