TL;DR

An SDK is a ready-made toolkit (libraries, APIs, docs, and samples) that makes it fast to add and control a chat product inside your app.

Key Points

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An SDK bundles libraries, sample code, documentation, and one or more APIs into a single installable package for a target platform [1][2].

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It is broader than an [[rest-api|API]] alone: an SDK usually wraps an API plus helpers, while a [[rest-api]] is the raw request/response contract underneath [2][3].

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Live-chat vendors ship SDKs for web JavaScript, React Native, iOS (Swift), and Android (Java) so the same chat can run across platforms [4].

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A chat SDK typically exposes methods to open or close the [[chat-launcher]], send a [[chat-message]], set visitor details, and listen for events [4].

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SDKs standardize fiddly work like authentication and message parsing, shortening integration time and cutting cost [3].

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For the simplest web use, a copy-paste [[embed-code]] snippet can replace a full SDK install when you only need the default [[live-chat-widget]].

What an SDK contains

An SDK is an integrated set of building blocks a developer uses to create software for a particular framework, operating system, or platform ^[1]. A typical kit includes libraries of reusable functions, one or more APIs for reaching platform features, documentation and tutorials, and sample code; depending on the target it may also bundle a compiler, debugger, or emulator ^[1]^[2]. The point is to avoid reinventing common plumbing: the SDK provider has already solved authentication, data formats, and error handling so you call a tidy method instead ^[3]. In a live-chat context this means a small library you import, configure with a project or API key, and use to mount a chat surface and react to its events.

SDK vs API vs embed code

These three terms overlap but are not the same. A REST API defines the request/response contract a server exposes; an SDK is a higher-level package that often wraps that API in idiomatic functions plus docs and samples, so you write less boilerplate ^[2]^[3]. An Embed Code snippet sits at the other end: a tiny script tag that boots a prebuilt JavaScript Widget with zero coding. Many products offer all three so teams pick the right altitude. For a marketing site, an embed snippet is enough. For a custom in-app experience or to control the widget programmatically, a JavaScript SDK or REST API gives finer control over the Conversation and Website Visitor context.

Chat SDKs across platforms

Because customers reach you from browsers and native apps, chat vendors publish SDKs for several runtimes from one codebase: web JavaScript, React Native, native iOS, and native Android ^[4]. Beyond rendering the Live Chat Widget, a chat SDK usually lets you toggle the Chat Launcher, push visitor attributes for Visitor Identification, send and receive a Chat Message, and subscribe to events such as new replies or unread counts ^[4]. Eloqra itself is intentionally lightweight: a website owner pastes a small script that boots a Shadow DOM widget, with real-time updates handled by HTTP Polling rather than a heavier native SDK install, which keeps integration to a single snippet for the common web case.

Sources & References

SDK (Software Development Kit) - MDN Web Docs Glossary ↗

Software development kit - Wikipedia ↗

What is an SDK? - Red Hat ↗

Chat SDK for Mobile and Web Apps - Crisp ↗

Last updated: June 25, 2026

Related Terms

REST API

A REST API is a web interface that lets two systems exchange data over HTTP by treating each piece of data as a resource addressed by a URL and acted on with standard methods like GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE. It follows the Representational State Transfer architectural style, which favors stateless, uniform, cacheable interactions between client and server.

Embed Code

An embed code is a short snippet of HTML or JavaScript a website owner pastes into their pages so a third-party tool loads and runs on their site. For Eloqra it is a two-line script snippet that sets a project configuration and loads the chat script, which then injects the live-chat widget.

JavaScript Widget

A JavaScript widget is a self-contained chunk of front-end code, loaded from a single script tag, that injects an interactive UI into any third-party web page. In Eloqra it is the live-chat widget that boots from one snippet and renders the chat launcher and conversation panel directly on a customer's site.

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.

Webhook

A webhook is a user-defined HTTP callback: instead of polling for data, an application registers a URL that a source service calls with an HTTP POST request the moment a specific event happens. [1] In Eloqra, a webhook is how an operator's Telegram reply travels back into the chat widget.

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.

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