What is the helpdesk?
Projects on a plan that includes the helpdesk portal (see our pricing page) get a public helpdesk accessible on a subdomain (e.g., yourcompany.chatonio.com/helpdesk) or, on Pro and Ultimate, on your own custom domain. It includes:
- Knowledge base — organized articles with categories
- FAQ section — quick answers grouped by category
- Ticket system — clients can submit and track support tickets
- Client notifications — clients can receive ticket updates by email and, optionally, via a linked Telegram notification bot; you choose which notifications are enabled for your helpdesk, and each client manages their own preferences from the helpdesk
Setting up
- Your helpdesk subdomain is created automatically with your project — once your plan includes the helpdesk, it is ready to use with no extra setup
- Go to Admin → Projects → [Your Project] → Knowledge Base — the Settings tab holds your address, sign-in options and publishing; Articles and FAQ hold the content
- Create categories and publish articles
- Add FAQ entries
On Pro and Ultimate plans you can also serve your helpdesk fully white-label on your own domain (e.g., help.yourcompany.com). Add a CNAME record plus a DNS TXT verification record from the Settings tab — TLS certificates are issued automatically. A verified custom domain is also required if you want your helpdesk content indexed by search engines.
Publishing and unpublishing
The Settings tab opens with Your help center — your public address with a copy button, and a status reading Published, Unpublished, or Not published on your plan.
Below it, the Help center is published switch takes the whole thing offline. While it is off the address stops resolving — visitors get a plain 404 rather than your branded help center with nothing in it — and client sign-in is closed. Your articles, FAQ entries, tickets and client accounts are all kept, and switching it back on restores everything exactly as it was. Use it while you are still writing your first articles, or to retire a help center without deleting anything.
Client authentication
By default, clients sign in with a magic link — they enter their email and receive a one-time login link, no password required. You can also switch your helpdesk to email + password login, or connect your own app via the SSO/JWT bridge so clients are signed in automatically. Registration can be open (anyone can sign up) or invite-only (accounts are created by your team).
Visibility controls
Both articles and FAQ entries have visibility settings:
- Public — visible to everyone (clients, operators, and AI)
- Clients only — visible only to clients logged in to your helpdesk (plus operators and AI) — useful for account-holder documentation you don't want public
- Internal — visible to operators and AI only (great for internal procedures)