Custom channels

Custom channels are part of Cliedesk Pro. A custom channel connects another system to Cliedesk: another chat tool, an SMS app, a review site or a bot. The other system sends the customer’s messages to Cliedesk. Agents answer in the inbox as usual, and Cliedesk sends their replies back to the other system. People with the Manage channels permission (Cliedesk Admins and Owners) set them up in Settings → Channels → Custom channels.

Messages from a custom channel become normal conversations. Rules, SLAs, routing and triage work on them as on email and chat. Each custom channel also gets a row in Settings → Channels → Channel matrix, where you choose its product, queue and type.

Add a custom channel

1. Select Add custom channel.
2. Enter a Name. The Slug is filled in from the name. You can change it: use lowercase letters, digits and hyphens.
3. Enter the Webhook URL. Cliedesk sends agent replies to this address. It must be a public https:// address. Addresses inside your own network are refused.
4. Under The channel supports, choose what the other system can do: Attachments, Typing indicator and Rich cards and buttons. Without Rich cards and buttons, cards and buttons are sent as text. Without Attachments, files are sent as links in the text, and files from the customer are not downloaded.
5. Leave Trust the email and phone this channel sends off unless the other system checks them. When it is off, a customer from this channel is not joined to an existing contact with the same email or phone, so nobody can write into a known customer’s history by sending their email.
6. Set Events per minute (600 by default). More events in one minute are refused until the next minute.
7. Select Save.

Cliedesk shows the Signing secret once. Copy it with Copy and give it to the person who sets up the other system. Then select I have saved it. The secret is not shown again.

The list shows the event URL of each channel. The other system sends its events to this address. Select the copy button next to it to copy it.

Check that it works

• Select Send test. Cliedesk sends a signed test event to the webhook URL and tells you if the other system answered.
• Select Recent events to see the last events the other system sent: their type, status and any error. Events with a wrong signature show as rejected. Select Replay on a failed event to process it again.
• Under Replies sent you see each reply Cliedesk sent, with the answer of the other system and the number of tries.

When the other system does not answer, Cliedesk tries again for 24 hours. If every try fails, the reply shows as failed in the conversation.

Make a new secret

Select New secret. Cliedesk shows the new secret once. The old secret keeps working for 24 hours, so you have time to change it in the other system.

Turn off or delete a channel

• Turn off stops new events and replies. The channel’s conversations stay. Select Turn on to start again.
• Delete removes the channel, its event log and its secret. Its conversations stay in Cliedesk.

Without an active Cliedesk Pro licence, Cliedesk does not accept events from custom channels and does not send replies to them.

For developers: the event format, signatures and sample code are in the developer guide (docs/dev/custom-channels.md).