TL;DR

A chat message is one text entry in a live-chat thread; in Eloqra it carries a direction and author and is relayed between the website widget and the operator's Telegram.

Key Points

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Each message is the atomic unit of a [[conversation]]: it records who sent it (Visitor or Operator) and which way it flowed (In from the site, Out to the site).

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A visitor message is typed into the [[live-chat-widget]], stored, then forwarded to the project owner over [[telegram-integration]]; the operator's reply travels back through a [[webhook]].

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Eloqra moves messages with [[http-polling]] (~4-5s) rather than a [[websocket]], so new messages appear on a short, predictable interval [1].

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On the first message Eloqra captures visitor context for the [[website-visitor]] record: page URL, device, and [[ip-geolocation]] (country/region/city).

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Live chat is synchronous messaging, so an unanswered message stalls the thread until the other side replies [4]; Eloqra leans on Telegram to keep operators reachable.

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A series of messages with their timestamps and authors forms the [[chat-transcript]] that operators read back later.

What a chat message is

In customer support, a chat message is one text-based entry in a real-time exchange between a customer and an agent ^[2]. Live chat is a synchronous channel, meaning both sides are generally present and messages are answered in the moment rather than hours later ^[4]. In Eloqra every message is persisted against a single Conversation and tagged with a direction (In for visitor-to-site, Out for site-to-visitor) and an author (Visitor or Support Operator). Conversations carry an Open or Closed status plus unread counters, so a fresh inbound message bumps the unread count until an operator opens the thread. This message-level model is what lets Eloqra render the Live Chat Widget history, drive Typing Indicator hints, and assemble a readable Chat Transcript.

How a message travels in Eloqra

When a Website Visitor sends a message, the Live Chat Widget POSTs it to Eloqra, which stores it and forwards it to the project owner on Telegram ^[3]. The operator replies straight from Telegram using reply-to-message, or from a Telegram Mini App inbox; that reply returns to Eloqra through a Telegram Webhook and is written back as an Out message. The widget itself does not hold a live socket open: it uses HTTP Polling, requesting /messages every few seconds and pinging /typing, so the visitor sees the reply on the next poll ^[1]. The first operator to answer is recorded as the assigned agent under Eloqra's simple first-responder Conversation Assignment model.

Context attached to messages

A chat message in Eloqra is rarely just text. On the very first message of a session, Eloqra snapshots the visitor's context onto the Website Visitor record: page URL and hostname, user agent, parsed device (type, browser, OS), and IP Geolocation down to city. Any UTM Parameters present on the visit are tracked too, which helps tie a chat back to a campaign. An optional Pre-Chat Form can capture name and email before the first message, and a configurable Welcome Message can seed the thread. Together this turns each message into something operators can triage with full context, even though Eloqra deliberately omits heavier features like tags, canned replies, or routing.

Sources & References

Live chat support: benefits & best practices (Zendesk) ↗

What is Live Chat Support? (NiCE Glossary) ↗

Telegram Bot API Reference ↗

Asynchronous vs. Synchronous Messaging (Quiq) ↗

Last updated: June 25, 2026

Related Terms

Conversation

A conversation is the threaded exchange of messages between a single website visitor and a project's operators, grouped as one unit with a status and unread counters. In Eloqra it is the container that holds every message, the visitor's captured context, and the assigned operator.

Live Chat Widget

A live chat widget is the embeddable, in-browser chat interface a website loads from a small script so visitors can message a business in real time without leaving the page. In Eloqra it is a floating launcher and chat panel that boots from a single <script> tag and renders inside a Shadow DOM.

Chat Transcript

A chat transcript is the complete, timestamped written record of a live-chat conversation between a website visitor and a support operator or chatbot. It captures every message in sequence, usually alongside metadata about the session, and can be archived, exported, or emailed for later reference.

Telegram Integration

Telegram Integration is the mechanism by which Eloqra routes every website chat into the project owner's Telegram, forwarding visitor messages to a Telegram bot and flowing operator replies back to the widget. It turns Telegram into the operator inbox, so there is no separate agent console to keep open.

HTTP Polling

HTTP polling is a real-time technique where the client repeatedly sends HTTP requests on a fixed interval to ask the server whether new data is available, instead of holding a persistent connection. Eloqra's chat widget uses short polling roughly every 4-5 seconds to fetch new messages and typing state.

Typing Indicator

A typing indicator is a real-time visual cue, usually an animated three-dot ellipsis, that tells one side of a chat that the other side is actively composing a message [3]. In Eloqra it works both ways: the visitor sees an operator is typing, and the operator sees the visitor is typing.

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