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Stream

Stream Chat adds conversations, message history and controls for who can participate inside your app.

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What belongs in a private support conversation?

Start with one customer and the staff member helping them. Stream calls the conversation a channel. Your app checks who signed in, then its server gives that person a chat token that identifies them to Stream. Choose a channel type and permissions that allow only the intended people to open it or post.

Membership alone does not make every channel private. Stream documents channel types where nonmembers can read. Choose a member-only read rule for a conversation about a customer’s order.

Can someone keep the conversation and turn push off?

Yes. Stream supports push preferences for channel members. A setting for one conversation can override the person’s general preference. For mobile push, connect a supported push provider and register the devices that should receive alerts. Stream’s API does not provide browser web push.

An alert is a prompt to open the chat. Keep the saved reply available in the conversation even when a member has disabled push.

How can you check a support reply on paper?

Use fictional accounts for a customer, a support agent and an unrelated customer. Keep the app and sending providers disconnected.

  1. Mark who may enter
    Give the agent and first customer access. Try the same conversation with the unrelated account in your sketch. Mark the reply and history inaccessible.
  2. Keep the reply when push is off
    The first customer turns off push for this conversation. Mark no push expected and the saved reply available when that customer returns.
  3. Write down separate results
    Record the reply’s saved state, device receipt and reading in separate boxes. The paper exercise does not establish whether a push will appear.

How do you size Chat and plan for a move?

Stream’s Build plan lists 1,000 monthly active chat users and 100 concurrent connections. An active user connects to chat during the month. Concurrent connections count clients connected at the same moment, so one person can contribute more than one connection.

The Start example for 10,000 monthly active users and 500 concurrent connections lists US$399 per month billed annually or US$499 billed monthly. Stream lists data export on Start. Check the channel and user export for the history and attachments you need, and keep your app’s user mapping and access rules.