What you will build
Customers stay in their Voiceflow conversation while your team replies from LiveChat. Your service translates the platform’s conversation operations and events into the live agent handoff system.
This is a developer implementation guide, not a native connector. The API approach has been reviewed against provider documentation; a live account test is required before rollout.
Before you begin
You need LiveChat API authorization for customer chat and webhook configuration, plus an available agent, an HTTPS service, and access to Custom Handoff in Voiceflow. Start with the shared connection starter. Choose one test customer and one support destination.
LiveChat distinguishes chats, threads and events. One Voiceflow handoff should map to one deliberate active support interaction, not every historical thread for that customer.
Implement the connection
Prepare the support workspace
Configure a customer-side integration and event subscriptions. Keep customer authorization separate from agent API credentials.
Confirm a teammate can receive and answer a manually created test conversation before adding Voiceflow.
Implement conversation creation
Start a customer chat using the Customer Chat API. Store both chat and thread identifiers from its response.
Use the starter’s create(request, connectionId) hook. Persist the provider ID and connection ID together. Forward relevant context as an initial summary or supported private note; never inject internal metadata into customer-visible replies.
Forward customer messages
Send customer events to the active chat/thread. Use the customer API for customer messages; the Agent Chat API represents the other actor.
Implement the starter’s message(providerConversationId, message) hook. Deduplicate the Voiceflow message id. For the first test, support text and explicitly reject unsupported files rather than acknowledging and dropping them.
Receive human replies
Receive messaging webhooks or RTM events. Relay agent text events only, exclude customer echoes, and map deactivation/end events to your chosen closure policy.
After provider authentication succeeds, look up the mapped connection ID and send a normalized message.received event to the starter’s authenticated /events route. Include a stable provider event ID, timestamp and human display name. Do not manufacture an agent.joined event merely because a conversation was created.
Implement closure
Use the supported chat deactivation operation. Decide whether a new thread represents a new handoff and test that mapping explicitly.
Implement the end(providerConversationId) hook. Deliver conversation.ended for provider-initiated closure. Make both paths idempotent so a reflected closure cannot trigger an endless loop.
Connect and test in Voiceflow
Configure your service in Settings → Integrations → Custom Handoff, then follow Set up live agent handoff. Set Queue ID only when your service has a documented mapping. Publish to a test environment and use the actual customer channel.
Provider mapping
The documented v3.6 Web API uses https://api.livechatinc.com/v3.6/customer/action/. A minimal start_chat body is {}; retain both chat_id and thread_id from the response. Authenticate with a customer access token and your organization context. The token must represent the intended customer; an agent token is not interchangeable.
Verify a complete handoff
Run this acceptance sequence with a teammate in LiveChat:
- Escalate and confirm exactly one conversation appears in the intended inbox.
- Check the customer identity and escalation context.
- Send “customer test 1” from Voiceflow and “human test 1” from the support inbox. Both must arrive once.
- Add a private note; it must not reach the customer.
- Replay the same customer-message ID and provider event ID; neither should duplicate a message.
- Close from the support inbox and verify the configured return-to-AI path.
- Repeat with invalid credentials and an unavailable provider; verify the fallback.
If messages disappear, inspect the provider delivery log, the ID mapping and Voiceflow callback response in that order. A successful create call alone does not establish that the connection works.
Reference and next steps
Provider setup/API documentation · Provider messages/events documentation
Connection API · Event contract · Troubleshooting
Before production, replace in-memory state with durable storage, implement the provider’s retry/refresh rules, and test attachment and routing support only if your deployment needs them.