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

# Chat Settings

> Fine-tune the Live Inbox — auto-clear history, notification sounds, real-time delivery, stop-bot keywords, and auto-lead creation.

All chat-related settings live under **Settings** in the sidebar. This page covers the settings that affect day-to-day inbox behaviour.

## Auto-clear chat history

**Settings → Auto-clear Chat History**

Xobito keeps every message forever by default. If you need to trim old conversations for storage or compliance, enable auto-clear.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Turn on auto-clear">
    Toggle **Enable auto-clear**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick a retention period">
    Enter how many days of history to keep. Any value from **1 to 365 days** is accepted — pick whatever matches your storage or compliance policy.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    A scheduled job deletes messages older than the retention window.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  Deleted messages cannot be recovered. If you need long-term archives, export your campaigns to CSV first, or set a longer retention period. (Chat conversations themselves are not exportable.)
</Warning>

<Note>
  Auto-clear only removes **message content**. Contact records, campaign history, and aggregated metrics are never deleted by this setting.
</Note>

### Run cleanup now

Don't want to wait for the scheduled job? Click **Run cleanup now** on the Auto-clear page. Xobito immediately deletes messages older than your retention window and shows a summary of how many messages and empty conversations were removed.

<Note>
  The on-demand cleanup uses the same retention value you've configured above — make sure it's set before clicking the button.
</Note>

## Notification sounds

**Settings → Notification Sound**

Xobito has a single on/off toggle that controls whether a sound plays when a new chat message arrives.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the setting">
    Sidebar → **Settings → Notification Sound**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Toggle the sound">
    Turn **Enable chat notification sound** on or off.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    The setting applies to the Live Inbox from the next page load.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  The notification sound is controlled by a single workspace-level toggle. Xobito does not currently support:

  * Picking a sound from a library
  * Per-conversation mute
  * Per-agent overrides
  * Separate controls for desktop vs. mobile

  If you need to silence alerts for a short period, turn the toggle off and back on when you're ready.
</Note>

## Real-time (Pusher) settings

**Settings → Pusher**

Xobito's Live Inbox uses **Pusher** (a managed real-time service) to deliver new-message updates instantly. In most cases you don't need to touch anything — the default keys ship with your Xobito account.

<Note>
  Advanced: if your workspace has its own Pusher account (for example, for higher concurrent connection limits), paste your **App ID**, **Key**, **Secret**, and **Cluster** here. Save, and the inbox will use your keys.
</Note>

<Warning>
  Don't change these settings unless you know what you're doing. Wrong credentials will cause the inbox to fall back to slower polling — new messages will still arrive, but with a delay.
</Warning>

### Testing real-time delivery

After saving Pusher settings, open the inbox in two browser windows side by side. Send a message from one; it should appear in the other within 1–2 seconds. If it doesn't, re-check your Pusher credentials.

## Stop-bot keywords

**Settings → Stop-Bot**

When a customer is chatting with a bot (a [Bot Flow](/automations/bot-flows), [Message Bot](/automations/message-bots), or [Template Bot](/automations/template-bots)) and they want to reach a human, they type a **stop-bot keyword**. Xobito then:

1. Halts the bot for this conversation.
2. Leaves the conversation in the shared inbox for an agent to pick up.
3. Notifies the assigned / on-call agents.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Add your keyword list">
    **No keywords ship by default** — the list starts empty. Add every word or phrase your customers might use, for example: `stop`, `human`, `agent`, `support`, `help me`.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add synonyms and typos">
    Include common variations — "talk to person", "real human", "speak to someone". The match is case-insensitive.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set 'Restart bots after' (optional)">
    Enter a number of **minutes** in the **Restart bots after** field. Once the bot is halted by a keyword, it resumes automatic replies after this many minutes of agent inactivity. Leave blank to keep the bot halted until an agent manually re-enables it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    Rules apply to every new conversation going forward.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  If you support multiple languages, add keywords in each language (e.g. "agente", "humano" for Spanish). The keyword list has no per-language limit.
</Tip>

## Auto-lead creation

**Settings → WhatsApp Auto-lead**

When an unknown number messages your WhatsApp business for the first time, Xobito can automatically create a contact (a "lead") for them. This is on by default — most businesses want a record of every conversation.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Toggle auto-lead">
    Enable or disable the feature. When off, first-time inbound messages still show up in the shared inbox, but no contact record is created until you manually add one.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Default group / status / source">
    Set what gets auto-attached to new leads, for example:

    * Source: `WhatsApp`
    * Group: `New Leads` (optional)

    This makes it easy to segment campaigns later based on where contacts came from.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Default status">
    Pick a starting status, like `New Lead` or `Unqualified`. You can change it per contact later.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    From now on, every fresh inbound conversation creates a fully-populated contact automatically.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Snippet file="callout-session-window.mdx" />

### When to turn auto-lead OFF

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="You only want curated contacts">
    Some businesses want contacts in Xobito only after a purchase or qualification step — not every random inbound message. Turn off auto-lead in that case.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="You're running heavy bot-only campaigns">
    If 99% of inbound traffic is a bot handling FAQs and you don't want those stored as leads, disable auto-lead and add contacts manually via API after qualification.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="You have strict consent rules">
    If your compliance team wants explicit opt-in before a contact exists, keep auto-lead off and capture opt-in separately (web form, bot flow with explicit confirmation).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Other chat-related settings

| Setting            | Where                                              | What it does                                                                                                                                                    |
| ------------------ | -------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Support Agent**  | Settings → Support Agent                           | Single toggle (`Only agents can chat`) that controls whether non-agents can reply in the inbox — see [Assign agents](/chat/assign-agents) for the full picture. |
| **Canned replies** | [AI → Canned Replies](/ai-features/canned-replies) | Snippets for frequent answers                                                                                                                                   |

## Next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Live Inbox overview" icon="comments" href="/chat/overview">
    Back to the main chat page.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Assign agents" icon="user-tag" href="/chat/assign-agents">
    Routing conversations to the right teammate.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>