> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.custral.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Chat & Widget

> Embeddable widget for live chat with hand-off to a human.

The Chat Widget is a JavaScript snippet you drop on any website. Visitors can start a conversation; messages stream into Custral's shared inbox in real time. Once a human takes over, the visitor and the agent share a single Conversation that can also receive email or SMS replies.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Install the widget" icon="code" href="/comms/chat/widget-install">
    Add the script tag, pass identification, and configure appearance.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Routing" icon="route" href="/comms/chat/routing">
    Decide which team or user picks up an inbound chat.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## How it works

* The widget is a small JavaScript snippet that connects to Custral in real time.
* When a new visitor starts a chat, Custral opens a Conversation on a chat channel.
* Messages flow through the same Conversation model used by email and SMS, so threads stay coherent across channels.

## Identifying a known visitor

If you already know who the visitor is (a signed-in user, or a customer in your CRM), you can pass their name and email when the widget loads. Custral matches them to an existing record by email and links the Conversation automatically.


## Related topics

- [Widget](/dev/webhooks/events/widget.md)
- [Install the widget](/comms/chat/widget-install.md)
- [Widget visitor identity](/dev/api-reference/widget-identity.md)
- [widget.visitor.identified](/dev/webhooks/events/widget-visitor-identified.md)
- [Visitors](/comms/chat/visitors.md)