Personalize agent conversations in Enhanced Chat with context variables. Context variables let your agent use Messaging Session record fields as action inputs.
Required Editions
| Available in: Lightning Experience |
| Available in: Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions. Required add-on licenses vary by agent type. |
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To learn about channel support for other agent types, see the documentation for that type. |
| User Permissions Needed | |
|---|---|
| To build and manage Service agents: |
Manage Agentforce Service Agents AND Manage AI Agents OR Customize Application |
| To build and manage Employee agents: |
Manage AI Agents and Manage Agentforce Employee Agents OR Customize Application |
Before you begin:
By default, Service agents include a Messaging Session variable that’s mapped to a MessagingSession record. Agents can use the information stored in the Messaging Session ID, Messaging User ID, and other included fields. They can also update the Messaging Session record as they chat with customers.
Context variables let you map Messaging Session object fields to messaging channels. For example, to save your agent from having to ask for common information conversationally, you can configure your agent to reference any Messaging Session object field, including the ones populated via a pre-chat form. This data can even be used as an input for actions. We don't recommend using context variables for authentication.
You can’t test context variable use cases in Agentforce Builder because context variables require a Messaging Session record. To test context variables, chat with your agent on a connected channel.
- Add context variables to your agent in Agentforce Builder. To make more Messaging Session fields available as context variables, add custom fields to the Messaging Session object.
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You can also add field values to the Messaging Session record by using a pre-chat form,
your inbound Omni-Channel flow, or Pre-Chat API.
- To use the pre-chat form, create and customize an Enhanced Chat pre-chat form. You can add standard and custom fields to the pre-chat form. Then map your pre-chat values to your messaging channel and update your inbound Omni-Channel flow.
- To use your inbound Omni-Channel flow, customize your inbound Omni-Channel flow so that it passes information from previous messaging sessions to your agent. See Persist Pre-Chat Inputs Across Messaging Sessions.
- To use Pre-Chat API, send user data that isn’t visible in the pre-chat form, known as hidden pre-chat fields, to your agent. See Enhanced Web Chat Hidden Pre-Chat API, iOS Hidden Pre-Chat API, and Android Hidden Pre-Chat API.
- To use a context variable during agent conversations, assign it to an action input or use it in subagent instructions. See Create Variables in Agentforce Builder.
To share context from your website with your agent during an Enhanced Chat v2 conversation, such as the current page or search, pass context events with the Enhanced Web Chat API. See Context Events in Enhanced Web Chat v2.