Captain Live Chat

Captain Live Chat is a powerful, fully self-hosted live chat plugin for WordPress. Unlike cloud-based services such as Tawk.to, Zendesk, or Crisp, Captain Live Chat keeps every message in your own WordPress database. No monthly subscription, no external calls, no data leaving your server.

Whether you run a small business site, a support-heavy SaaS product, or an agency managing chat for multiple clients, Captain Live Chat gives you a lightweight, self-hosted inbox that works out of the box on any host.

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💬 A Real Chat Widget, Not a Contact Form

A floating chat bubble on the front end opens into a real-time conversation: pre-chat form, quick-reply chips, typing indicators, read receipts, and a dedicated offline lead-capture screen (with configurable name/email fields) when no agent is online.

📥 Facebook Messenger–Style Agent Inbox

A modern, React-based dashboard with a thread list and chat panel side by side. Agents switch themselves online or offline from their Profile, stay online while any WordPress admin tab is open (also in the background), and go away automatically a couple of minutes after closing the admin. A short “Get your live chat ready” checklist helps new users send their first test message. Reopening a closed conversation – by the visitor or an agent – leaves a permanent, timestamped marker in the transcript, not just a temporary notice.

🔔 Notifications That Actually Reach Agents

A live red badge next to the plugin’s menu item shows how many visitors are waiting, on every admin screen. Sound, browser push, in-app notifications (ticket reassignment, @mentions), and rate-limited email alerts make sure a new visitor message doesn’t sit unseen. A separate “Unanswered message reminder” re-emails agents if a conversation still hasn’t been answered after a configurable delay – including messages left through the offline lead-capture form.

👥 Role & User-Based Agent Permissions

Decide exactly who can act as a chat agent – by WordPress role (e.g. all Editors) or by picking individual users, regardless of role. Every agent’s own Team Access row is protected from accidental self-lockout – you can’t remove your own access or restrict your own page/action permissions, even by mistake.

📊 Built-in Analytics & History

Track chat volume, response times, and agent performance from the dashboard, with full conversation history. Optional data retention erases old closed conversations automatically.

⚡ Lightweight & Shared-Hosting Friendly

Real-time-feeling updates via AJAX polling (not WebSockets), so it works on shared hosting exactly as well as on managed WordPress hosting.

Perfect for:

• Small businesses that want live chat without a monthly subscription
• Support teams who need conversation history and analytics in their own database
• Agencies managing chat for multiple client sites
• Any WordPress site that wants visitor data to stay on their own server

Key Features

• 💬 Floating Chat Widget : Pre-chat form, quick-reply chips, typing indicator, read receipts, and a dedicated offline lead-capture screen
• 📥 Agent Inbox : Messenger-style thread list and chat panel, real-time polling, visitor info panel (browser, device, live current URL)
• 👥 Role & User Permissions : Grant agent access by WordPress role or by individual user, with self-lockout protection built in
• 🔔 Notifications : Live unread badge in the admin menu, sound, browser push, in-app @mentions/reassignment alerts, and rate-limited email for new and unanswered messages
• 🟢 Online Status & Auto-Away : Online/offline switch in Profile, presence that stays live across every admin page and background tab, automatic away after the admin is closed
• 📴 Offline Experience : A configurable lead-capture screen (welcome message, optional name/email fields, custom button text) shown when no agent is online
• 🔁 Persistent Conversation Timeline : Closed/reopened events are saved permanently in the transcript – in the widget and the Inbox – not just a temporary on-screen notice
• 📊 Analytics & History : Chat volume, response times, agent performance, and full conversation history (CSV and transcript export with Pro)
• 💡 Canned Replies : Quick, reusable responses for agents
• 🎨 Widget Designer : 4-step wizard – appearance, content (welcome screen, chat view and offline experience as tabs), widget settings, and display rules, all with a live preview
• 🎯 Display Rules : Show or hide the chat per device (Desktop, Tablet, Mobile), per page type, or on specific pages, posts and products. One switch turns the whole widget off, and it never shows inside page builder editors
• 🗑️ Data Retention : Optionally erase closed conversations automatically after a number of days you choose
• 🔒 Self-Hosted : All conversations stay in your own WordPress database – no external calls
• ⚡ Lightweight : AJAX polling instead of WebSockets – works on any shared host

YouTube Tutorials

• Captain Live Chat – Plugin Overview : See the whole plugin in action – the chat widget on your site, the agent Inbox, notifications, Widget Settings with display rules, canned responses, analytics and history.

🌟 Our Products

🥇 Captain Feed for YouTube : Display customizable YouTube feeds for channels, playlists, Shorts, search results, and individual videos.

🥇 Captain Funnel : Automate WhatsApp messages for WooCommerce orders and form submissions using the official WhatsApp Cloud API by Meta.

🥇 Captain Advance Filter : Create powerful filters for WordPress with advanced filtering options, flexible layouts, and easy customization.

🥇 Captain Widgets Kit : Extend your WordPress website with a collection of powerful Elementor widgets and elements.

🥇 Captain Social Review : Display reviews and testimonials from multiple platforms with beautiful layouts and easy customization.

Source Code

The admin dashboard is a React application built with @wordpress/scripts (npm + webpack). The published build/index.js and build/index.css are the compiled output of the human-readable source (JSX/SCSS), which is publicly available at:

https://github.com/devangvachheta/captain-live-chat

To rebuild from source:

1. Clone the repository above (it includes the src/ folder and package.json).
2. Run npm install to install dependencies.
3. Run npm run build to produce a fresh build/index.js and build/index.css from the src/ source.
4. For active development with automatic rebuilds, use npm run start instead.

Usage

After activation:

1. Set up agents – Under Settings, allow specific WordPress roles or individual users as chat agents.
2. Customize the widget – Use the Widget Settings wizard to set accent color, welcome screen, chat view, and the offline lead-capture experience.
3. Go online – Turn on the Online Status switch on your Profile page so visitors see an active agent. You stay online while WordPress admin is open.
4. Reply in real time – New visitor messages appear in the Inbox within a few seconds via polling.
5. Review performance – Check the Analytics tab for chat volume, response times, and history.

External Services

Captain Live Chat makes no external network calls of any kind. Every feature (widget, inbox, notifications, analytics, canned replies) runs entirely on your own WordPress database, and no visitor or site data is sent to any third-party server.