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Install Guide

Alternative Installation Methods​

Requirements​

If you are running a WordPress site, Live Helper Chat is very likely to work seamlessly.

  • Download the latest version as a zip or tgz archive.
  • Alternatively, download a version with dependencies included from the releases page. Look for the newest file named *.**v-with-dependencies.tgz.
  • PHP version 8.2 or higher is required. For older PHP versions, you will have to install composer dependencies manually.
  • MySQL 5.7 or MariaDB 10.2.3 or higher with json_ functions support.
  • Apache or Nginx web server.
  • For the Laravel version, see livehelperchat_laravel.
# Optional but Recommended
php-phpiredis
php-imap
php-pecl-redis4
php-pecl-igbinary
php-geos
php-fpm
php-opcache

# Required
php-json
php-cli
php-gd
php-xml
php-common
php-pdo
php-pecl-zip
php-mysqlnd
php-mbstring
php
php-bcmath

Composer Dependencies​

These steps are not required if you downloaded a version with dependencies included.

If you are using a version with mail support (version 3.30v or newer), run the following command from the lhc_web folder:

composer.phar install

If you encounter an issue such as an incompatible PHP version, try removing the composer.lock file and running the installation again:

rm composer.lock
composer.phar install

You can download composer.phar from https://getcomposer.org/download/.

Folder Permissions​

  • After granting write permissions to the cache folder, you should see the installation page. If you encounter an error instead, ensure that:
    • Your browser is pointing to the correct URL: index.php/site_admin/install/install.
    • You have granted recursive write permissions to the cache folder.

Try changing the owner to the Apache user or the user under which your HTTP server operates:

chown apache:apache -R cache/
chown apache:apache -R var/
chown apache:apache settings/
chmod -R 755 cache/

After these changes, you should see a screen similar to this:

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Next, grant write permissions to the required folders and files:

chmod 755 settings/
chmod -R 755 var/storage
chmod -R 755 var/userphoto
chmod -R 755 var/storageform
chmod -R 755 var/storageadmintheme
chmod -R 755 var/botphoto
chmod -R 755 var/bottrphoto
chmod -R 755 var/storageinvitation
chmod -R 755 var/storagedocshare
chmod -R 755 var/storagetheme
chmod -R 755 var/tmpfiles

After this step, all items should be marked in green.

Database Settings​

On the next screen, you will see a window where you need to enter your database settings. Ensure that the database has already been created.

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Application Initial Settings​

Fill in these settings according to your requirements.

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Installation Completed​

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Logging into the Application​

After clicking Login here, you will be redirected to the login window.

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The installation URL is always index.php/site_admin/user/login.

Dashboard Page​

This is the main application window.

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Generating Embed Code​

Click the settings icon ​ in the top menu. This will open the settings window.

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Navigate to:

Embed code -> Widget embed code (new)

You will then see a window like this:

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To enable proactive chat, check the option Check for operator invitation messages.

The embed code should look similar to this. If you copy this code, remember to change install.livehelperchat.com/index.php to your actual installation path:

<script>var LHC_API = LHC_API||{};
LHC_API.args = {mode:'widget',lhc_base_url:'//install.livehelperchat.com/index.php/',wheight:450,wwidth:350,pheight:520,pwidth:500,leaveamessage:true,proactive:true};
(function() {
var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true;
var date = new Date();po.src = '//install.livehelperchat.com/design/defaulttheme/js/widgetv2/index.js?'+(""+date.getFullYear() + date.getMonth() + date.getDate());
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s);
})();
</script>

For more information and troubleshooting, refer to the integration article.

Proactive Invitation Setup​

Navigate to:

System configuration -> Live help configuration -> Proactive chat invitations

Here’s a demo configuration from demo.livehelperchat.com, which includes the following settings:

  • A message is sent to the user after 20 seconds on the page or after viewing more than 2 pages.
  • A random profile from online operators is shown.
  • Delayed messages are available and can be configured in the autoresponder section.
  • A long auto-delayed message is set for 40 seconds. If no operator accepts the chat within this time, a message indicates that all operators are busy.

You can view the proactive invitation setup on our demo installation:

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Here is the instant auto-response message:

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Here is the automatic auto-response message:

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Desktop Client​

The desktop application is available at https://github.com/LiveHelperChat/electron. It is based on the Electron framework, functions as a standalone browser, and is significantly faster than Chrome.

Further Reading​

On Windows IIS, I Get a 404 Error​

Refer to this comment. This issue might occur due to too many URL segments.

Chat Does Not Start​

If you are running behind CloudFlare or another proxy that affects the IP address seen by Live Helper Chat, enable it in the settings file:

https://github.com/LiveHelperChat/livehelperchat/blob/a60a3b485ed08650b9e081ed827998e050717e37/lhc_web/settings/settings.ini.default.php#L18

Widget Content Looks Very Small on My Website​

Ensure that your website includes a viewport tag:

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

My Widget Does Not Load​

Try adding the following to your .htaccess file in the root folder lhc_web. If this folder does not exist, place the .htaccess file in the same folder as the index.php file. The .htaccess file must be placed in the Live Helper Chat folder, not the website folder.

AddType application/wasm .wasm

<Files ~ "\.(gif|jpe?g?|png|bmp|swf|css|js|svg|otf|eot|ttf|woff|woff2|swf|mp3|ogg|wasm|map|wav|pdf|ico|txt)$">
  Header always Set Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*"
  Header always Set Access-Control-Allow-Methods: "GET, POST, OPTIONS, PUT, DELETE"
  Header always Set Access-Control-Allow-Headers: "Origin, X-Requested-With, Content-Type, Accept, API-Key, Authorization"
</Files>

If the above solution does not work, try this configuration without the always keyword:

AddType application/wasm .wasm

<Files ~ "\.(gif|jpe?g?|png|bmp|swf|css|js|svg|otf|eot|ttf|woff|woff2|swf|mp3|ogg|wasm|map|wav|pdf|ico|txt)$">
  Header Set Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*"
  Header Set Access-Control-Allow-Methods: "GET, POST, OPTIONS, PUT, DELETE"
  Header Set Access-Control-Allow-Headers: "Origin, X-Requested-With, Content-Type, Accept, API-Key, Authorization"
</Files>

Other possible causes:

  • You have modified Chat configuration -> Misc -> Domains where script can be embedded. E.g example.com, google.com, but the embedded script's domain is not listed.
  • You have enabled System configuration -> GEO Adjustment with invalid data.
  • You have blocked yourself via System configuration -> Live help configuration -> Blocking -> Blocked users.

How Can I Limit the Widget to a Few Domains and Subdomains?​

The widget can be embedded on multiple domains. More information.

Chat Was Closed, but When the Visitor Starts a New Chat, an Old Chat Opens​

This is likely because you have enabled Chat configuration -> Misc -> Reopen chat functionality enabled.

More information.

Install from the Command Line​

You can also install Live Helper Chat from the command line.

Copy the install-cli.php script to the root folder (lhc_web if you cloned from GitHub):

cp cli/install-cli.php install-cli.php

Copy the default example.settings.ini to settings.ini and modify it:

cp cli/example.settings.ini cli/settings.ini

Install Live Helper Chat:

php install-cli.php cli/settings.ini

Installation Under a Subfolder​

If you are running a WordPress site with pretty permalinks, you might need to allow access to the Live Helper Chat subfolder. Your .htaccess file might look like this:

RewriteEngine On
# Previous rules
RewriteRule ^lhc_web/.*$ - [L]
# Afterward rules

If you experience logouts after a period of inactivity, it could be because your main website uses the same PHP session cookie name. Change php_session_cookie_name in the main settings file to something like lhc_session_id.

I don't get a sound/notification for new chats​

Browser notifications and permission to play sound are shown at the top right in the back office. If you do not see any of those icons, it means the browser has permission to send notifications and play sound.

  • To enable sound permissions at the browser level:
    • Click anywhere on the page.
    • Navigate to Site settings and choose Allow for Sound.

Browser notifications can be enabled by clicking the Ring icon and allowing the web page to send browser notifications.

How to Log In​

To log in, navigate to the directory where the application is installed. The URL should look like: http://<your_domain>/index.php/site_admin/. site_admin is not a folder!!!

Few examples

  • https://example.com/lhc_web/ login URL will be https://example.com/lhc_web/index.php/site_admin
  • https://example.com/chat/ (you renamed lhc_web to chat) login URL will be https://example.com/chat/index.php/site_admin
  • https://chat.example.com/ (you put content from lhc_web directly as the root directory of the chat app) login URL will be https://chat.example.com/index.php/site_admin

If you forget your password and the password reminder does not work, execute the following query to reset the password for the admin user (user_id 1) to demo:

UPDATE `lh_users` SET password = '$2y$10$IwnZfDcPm7nqvp/BLNmJietHT/TSHCRPXWHKFqheQfojwk4c4znVG' WHERE `id` = 1;

If you have modified roles, groups, or functions and cannot access the application, execute the following queries. They will grant all functions to the admin user (user_id 1).

The error you might encounter is:

You do not have permission to access the module "front" and use "use" function.

Execute these queries to restore the admin group, role, and permissions for the first user in the users list:

DELETE FROM `lh_group` WHERE `id` = 1;
DELETE FROM `lh_role` WHERE `id` = 1;
DELETE FROM `lh_grouprole` WHERE `id` = 1;
DELETE FROM `lh_groupuser` WHERE `id` = 1;

INSERT INTO `lh_group` (`id`, `name`, `disabled`, `required`) VALUES (1,'Admin',0,0);
INSERT INTO `lh_role` (`id`, `name`) VALUES (1,'Admin');
INSERT INTO `lh_grouprole` (`id`, `group_id`, `role_id`) VALUES (1,1,1);
INSERT INTO `lh_groupuser` (`id`, `group_id`, `user_id`) (SELECT 1,1,`lh_users`.`id` FROM `lh_users` ORDER BY `lh_users`.`id` ASC LIMIT 1);