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Introduction

The Helpdesk is a centralized support dashboard where your team can manage customer tickets across every channel - bubble, email, WhatsApp, and API - in one place. Agents can triage, assign, and resolve tickets without switching between tools, keeping response times low and customer satisfaction high.
Helpdesk dashboard overview showing sidebar, ticket list, and details panel
The sidebar is your primary navigation. It can be collapsed into icon-only mode for more screen space.
  • My inbox - tickets assigned to you
  • Mentions - tickets where you have been @mentioned in an internal note. The badge count shows how many unread mentions you have.
  • All - every ticket across agents that is not Closed or Cancelled
  • Unassigned - tickets with no agent assigned
  • Solved - tickets that are Closed or Cancelled
  • Conversations - all AI agent conversations, including those that have not been escalated to tickets
Each view displays a badge count when there are items requiring attention. Below the built-in views, your saved views appear in two groups, Shared views and My views. Each group shows the first 5 views, with a Show more control to expand the rest. A search box filters views by name, and a New view button creates one. See Saved views for details.

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User Profile

Click your avatar at the bottom of the sidebar to open the profile menu:
  • Away mode - toggle to mark yourself as unavailable for auto-assignment. This only appears if an admin has turned on “Allow teammates to be able to change their availability status” on the Members page. Agents on a shift schedule don’t see it, since their shift sets their availability
  • Sound notifications - toggle notification sounds on or off
  • Dashboard - navigate to the main Chatbase dashboard
  • Account settings - manage your account
  • Logout - sign out of the helpdesk
User profile menu showing away mode, sound notifications, dashboard, account settings, and logout options

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Notifications

New activity on any ticket assigned to you triggers two notifications, wherever you are in the helpdesk:
  • Sound - a notification sound plays (if sound notifications are enabled in your profile menu)
  • Tab badge - the browser tab title updates to show the unread count, e.g. (2) Helpdesk
This works even when the tab is not in focus. Click the search button to open a search modal with two tabs: Tickets and Customers. Results update in real time as you type, and you can click through to the full search results page.
Search modal with Tickets and Customers tabs

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Tickets Inbox

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Table Columns

The ticket list displays the following columns: Click any row to open the ticket.

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Filters

Click the Filter button in the top right, above the ticket list, to narrow the results within the current view without changing it. Add one or more conditions, each made of a field, an operator, and a value. A badge next to the button shows how many conditions are active; Clear all resets them and Apply confirms your selection. Filters here are temporary, scoped to your session, and do not modify the underlying view. To make a filter combination permanent, save it as a saved view, which persists conditions alongside a sort order, columns, and visibility. The full list of fields, operators, and values is documented in the Filters reference.

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Ticket Statuses

Every ticket has a status that reflects where it is in the support lifecycle. Statuses are grouped into active (New, On You, On Customer, On Hold) and closed (Closed, Cancelled). You can also configure your own custom status by clicking Add status on the Settings → Helpdesk → Ticket statuses page.
A freshly created ticket that hasn’t been picked up by any agent yet. New tickets appear in the Unassigned view until an agent claims them.
The ticket requires action from the assigned agent. This is the default status when an agent picks up a ticket or when a customer replies.
The agent has replied and is waiting for the customer to respond. Use this status after sending a reply so your team knows no agent action is needed right now.
The ticket is paused because of an external dependency - for example, waiting on a third-party service or an internal escalation. Use this sparingly and add a note explaining the reason.
The issue has been resolved. Closed tickets move out of the active queue.
The ticket was spam, a duplicate, or opened in error. Cancelled tickets are removed from the active queue.

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Requester and Assignee

  • Requester - the end user who submitted the ticket. Their profile can include a name, email, external ID, and phone number.
  • Assignee - the agent responsible for handling the ticket. Tickets can be assigned manually or through auto-assignment.
Configure auto-assignment rules for each team on the Settings → Helpdesk → Teams & assignment page. See Assignment algorithm for how tickets get routed to available agents.

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Viewing a Ticket

When you open a ticket, the view splits into a conversation thread on the left and a details panel on the right.

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Conversation Thread

The conversation thread displays three types of entries:
  • Replies - customer-visible messages from either the customer or an agent
  • Notes - internal-only messages visible to your team (shown with an amber background)
  • Events - system-generated entries for status changes and assignment updates
Conversation thread with customer replies, internal notes, and system events

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Ticket Details Panel

The right sidebar contains the following collapsible sections:
  1. Assignee - view or change the assigned agent. Click the edit icon to reassign to another agent or unassign the ticket entirely.
  2. Author - the requester’s information: name, email, external ID, and phone number.
  3. Ticket Details - ticket ID, status badge, submission date, subject, and a View conversation button that links to the original AI agent conversation that created the ticket.
  4. Customer History - a list of other tickets from the same customer, showing subject, ticket ID, time, and status badge. This gives agents quick context on the customer’s support history.
  5. Notes - a list of internal notes attached to the ticket, including any @mentions.
Connected integrations can add their own panels, such as the Shopify Orders panel when a Shopify store is connected. See Shopify integration for details.
Ticket details panel showing assignee, author info, ticket details, previous tickets, and notes sections

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Replying to Tickets

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Reply vs Note

The message composer at the bottom of the conversation thread has two tabs:
  • Reply - sends a public message to the customer through the same channel they used to contact you.
  • Note - saves an internal-only message (shown with an amber background) that only your team can see.
Always double-check which tab is selected before sending. Notes are internal-only, but replies go directly to the customer.

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@Mentions

Type @ in the note composer to mention a team member. A dropdown appears listing available agents along with a colored dot indicating their current availability status. Select an agent to insert the mention into your note.
Agent mention dropdown showing team members with availability status indicators
When you @mention someone:
  • The mentioned agent receives a notification
  • The ticket appears in their Mentions sidebar view
  • The mention is rendered as a clickable link in the note
Use @mentions to loop in colleagues, escalate to another agent, or flag a ticket for someone’s attention without reassigning it.
Ticket view showing an @mention in an internal note and the Mentions count in the sidebar
@mentions are only available in Notes (internal messages). They are not supported in customer-facing replies.

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Attachments

Click the paperclip icon to attach files to a reply or note. Any file type works, and you can remove an attachment before sending.

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AI Compose

Click the magic wand icon in the composer toolbar to open the AI writing assistant. It offers the following options: You need to have text in the editor for AI Compose to be available.
AI compose dropdown menu with formatting, tone, and translation options
A typical ticket lifecycle follows these steps:
  1. A customer submits a request → ticket is created as New
  2. An agent picks up the ticket → status changes to On You
  3. The agent sends a reply → agent sets status to On Customer
  4. The customer responds → status returns to On You
  5. An external blocker is identified → agent sets status to On Hold
  6. The issue is resolved → agent sets status to Closed
  7. The ticket is spam or a duplicate → agent sets status to Cancelled
Best practices:
  • Set the status to On Customer after every reply so your team knows you’re waiting for a response.
  • Use On Hold sparingly - add a Note explaining what you’re waiting on.
  • Add Notes to document your investigation steps, so other agents can pick up where you left off.

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Ticket Channels

Tickets can arrive from multiple channels. The channel is shown on each ticket so agents know where the conversation originated:
  • Email - received via email forwarding
  • Help desk - created manually by an agent directly in the help desk
  • Using “Escalations” Action:
    • Chat bubble - submitted through the AI agent on your website
    • WhatsApp - from a WhatsApp conversation
    • API - created programmatically through the API
    • Messenger - from Facebook Messenger direct message.
    • Instagram - from Instagram direct message.
    • Center stage - submitted through the full-focus chat experience centered over your website
    • Phone - from an inbound phone call handled by your AI agent
When you reply to a ticket created from the chat bubble, the customer receives your reply in two places: their email and the chat bubble itself. To see it in the chat bubble, the customer opens the three-dot menu (•••) and selects View tickets.