How to run Cove: widget, inbox, articles, resolve

The rest of this site has pages for agents, workflows, campaigns, and apps. Those screens match the product: live workflows persist, Broadcasts send email, Widget studio fires URL teasers, inbound routing assigns, quick replies insert.

1. Create the workspace

Sign up, name the workspace after the company customers already know, and invite people from Settings. Owners bill. Admins can change widget and team. Agents reply. You can stay on Free, or start a 14-day trial of Mini, Essentials, or Plus from pricing. Checkout is Dodo. Plus adds article-grounded drafts.

Open Widget in the app. Copy the snippet. It is one script tag: widget.js with a data-website public key. Paste it before </body> on the origins you list in allowed origins. Other sites cannot load your messenger. Theme (light, dark, glass, brand, match system), accent, radius 0–32px, launcher icon or pill, marks or an upload, welcome, starter chips, one URL-contains + delay teaser, and “hide Cove branding” save on that same screen.

The loader opens an iframe. A visitor id is stored in a cookie and localStorage so a returning browser can resume the thread. Typing is live both ways. Highlight on page is a short banner you send from the inbox. Translation sits under the original in the inbox — not as an overlay on the widget they see.

Step-by-step with the exact tag: Add a live chat widget.

3. Write articles the messenger can search

Open Help center. Create an article, give it a collection, write the body, publish it. Published articles are what the widget searches on its Articles tab. They also appear on {your-workspace-slug}.coveinbox.co. They are what Draft from articles in the inbox uses — a keyword match against title, excerpt, and body, not an LLM trained on your domain. If nothing matches, you get an error. Insert the draft, edit it, send it yourself.

Custom domains need a CNAME and a verification check — we do not mark them live until DNS or TLS checks out. Write for both the messenger and {slug}.coveinbox.co: short titles, the words people type (“refund”, “seat”, “invoice”), one idea per article. Cove’s own help is at coveinbox.co/help/cove.

4. Work the inbox

Conversations have a state: open, pending, resolved, spam, plus a Snoozed filter. Snooze for 1 hour, 3 hours, tomorrow 09:00, or next Monday 09:00; unsnooze, or a reply, brings it back. Search. Assign a person. Tags sit on the thread. The right-hand profile is the contact: name, email if they gave one, company, the page they were on. People can hold saved segments for routing. That is not a live map of everyone on the site.

The composer has three modes. Reply goes to the visitor, and can email via Resend if the contact has a real address. Attachments go to widget-uploads. Internal note stays on the team. Article draft fills a draft from published help pages. Quick replies (saved in Settings) insert a body and can assign, tag, and/or set pending or resolved. ⌘ Enter sends. Two people typing is visible on the thread so you do not collide.

Routing rules run on inbound when you enable them (VIP tag, hours, or a People segment). Live workflows persist and can greet. Channel tiles connect WhatsApp, SMS, email, Slack, and phone. You can assign, snooze, and resolve. That is the desk.

5. Resolve, then CSAT

When the conversation is done, mark it resolved. The widget treats that as the end of the thread: the messenger closes that chat and can show a 1–5 rating. The rating is stored on the conversation. Starting a new chat in the widget is a new thread. Do not resolve to “archive quietly” if you still owe them an answer — they will see the close.

What to turn on after the loop works

WhatsApp, Instagram, email inbound, SMS, and phone callbacks in Settings.
Live workflows, Broadcasts, and the customer portal at /portal/{slug}.
Inbox PWA, visitor map, and highlight on page from the thread.
HubSpot, Shopify, and a signed webhook.

If the five steps above are the job, start a workspace. Compare desks at Cove vs Intercom and Cove vs Crisp.

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