Departments route conversations to the right team (Sales, Support, Billing, and so on). Assign agents to departments, filter the inbox, and let visitors pick a department before they chat.

Configure under Settings → General in the Aysali Bot admin panel.

Quick start

1. •

   Create departments

   Go to Settings → General → Departments. Click Add new item, enter Name, Color, optional Image, and save. Each row gets an auto-generated department ID.

2. •

   Reload

   After saving department changes, reload the admin page so lists and selectors refresh.

3. •

   Assign agents

   Open Users → Agents, edit an agent, and set Department on their profile. Save and reload if the field was just enabled.

4. •

   Use in Conversations

   In Conversations, use the department control on a thread to assign or change department (requires Update conversation department privilege for agents).

Departments settings

Settings → General → Departments settings

Setting	Effect
Display in dashboard	Shows the department list on the chat dashboard and requires the visitor to choose a department before starting a conversation
Display images	Uses each department image instead of the color swatch in the dashboard list
Display in conversation list	Shows department color indicators in the admin Conversations list
One conversation per department	Visitor may have only one active conversation per department (not multiple threads in the same department)
Label	Replaces the plural label Departments in admin and tickets UI
Single label	Replaces the singular label Department
Dashboard title	Title above the dashboard department list (default: Departments)

Department repeater fields

Field	Purpose
Name	Display name (for example Sales)
Color	Accent color when images are off or in conversation list
Image	Optional icon shown when Display images is on
ID	Auto ID — use this in API, JavaScript, and automations

How routing works

• New conversations can store a department on sb_conversations.
• Push and email notifications for the first message route to offline agents in that department (and agents with no department). See Push notifications and Email notifications.
• When a conversation is assigned to a new department with a notification message, agents in that department are alerted via sb_send_agents_notifications (in-app / email depending on your notification setup).
• Routing and queue can pick agents filtered by department (sb_routing_find_best_agent).

Assign a department to a conversation

Method	Details
Admin Conversations UI	Department dropdown on the active conversation (see Manage agents and admins)
Dashboard picker	Enable Display in dashboard — visitor selects department before chat starts
Chatbot Q&A — Set data	Bot payload key department with the department ID (sb_chatbot_payload → sb_update_conversation_department)
Chatbot flows — Actions	Flow action department with the target ID
Automations → More	Automation type More with Department set; applies on matching URL/path rules
JavaScript embed	On pages with the widget: var SB_DEFAULT_DEPARTMENT = ID; (replace ID with the numeric department ID)
API / RPC	update-conversation-department with conversation_id and department (see bot OpenAPI schema)

JavaScript example

<script>
  var SB_DEFAULT_DEPARTMENT = 2;
</script>
<!-- Aysali Bot embed snippet -->

Set this before the chat init script on pages where every visitor should land in that department.

API example

{
  "function": "update-conversation-department",
  "conversation_id": 1057,
  "department": 2
}

Requires an authenticated admin/agent request (token). Clearing department: use empty value or -1 per your API client conventions.

Agent department field

When editing an agent under Users → Agents:

• Empty department — access to all departments (typical for admins and team leads).
• Set department — inbox, user list, and related queries are scoped to that department only.

Supervisors and agent privileges still apply on top of department scoping.

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