Use Pre-Chat to Gather Visitor Information and Set Context for the Agent

Use pre-chat forms in to collect information from visitors and customize their pre-chat experience.

The legacy chat product is scheduled for retirement on February 14, 2026, and is in maintenance mode until then. During this phase, you can continue to use chat, but we no longer recommend that you implement new chat channels. To avoid service interruptions to your customers, migrate to Messaging for In-App and Web before that date. Messaging offers many of the chat features that you love plus asynchronous conversations that can be picked back up at any time. Learn about chat retirement in Help.

Important

A pre-chat form can gather information, such as a customer’s name, email address, and reason for contacting customer support. This information can help direct chat requests more efficiently and reduce the time agents spend collecting the information themselves. You can also use this information to customize the customer’s experience while they chat with the agent, such as including their first name in the chat window.

You can create a Visualforce page to host your pre-chat form, or you can develop the form on your own. The information in this guide focuses on using Visualforce.

Find and Create Records Automatically with the Pre-Chat APIs

Use the Pre-Chat API to search for or create customer records automatically when a customer completes a pre-chat form.
Access Chat Details with the Pre-Chat APIs

Use the Pre-Chat API to access custom details from the Deployment API and incorporate them into pre-chat.