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 to manage your domain and 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 same Knowledge Base page — TLS certificates are issued automatically. A verified custom domain is also required if you want your helpdesk content indexed by search engines.
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)