Visitor context

What it is

Visitor context is a per-chatbot setting on the AI configuration tab. It decides whether an answer may use a few facts about the person who is chatting: their local date and time, time zone, country, device, the site they came from, and the language of the chat.

It has three modes:

Mode	What it does
Off	Nothing about the visitor is shared with the AI.
Auto	Shared only when a question depends on time, place or device. This is the default, and the recommended choice.
Always	Shared with every message. Answers that use the block are not cached.

A second switch, Share visitor identity and page, is off by default. Names, a visitor id, custom visitor data your website passes in, and the current page are sent only when that switch is on — and only while the mode is Auto or Always. Off shares nothing, whatever the switch says.

When you would use it

• Visitors ask "Are you open now?" or "Do you ship here?" and the right answer depends on their clock or country.
• You want the opposite: the AI should never be told where the visitor is or what device they use.
• Your site already passes a name or a plan into the widget, and you want the AI to be able to greet them or talk about that plan. That is the identity switch, not the mode.

Where to find it

Open Dashboard → Chatbots → your chatbot → Settings → AI configuration (?tab=ai). Visitor context is the menu under the answer-length cards. The privacy line under the preview links back to this page.

What the AI sees

With Auto or Always, on a turn the mode allows, the AI can see:

• Local date and time, and the visitor's time zone
• The business time zone you saved for the chatbot
• Country, device, and the site they arrived from
• The language of the chat

The settings page shows a preview built from your own browser, with example values labelled as examples. Each visitor's real values replace those examples. Before you save, Off shows that nothing about the visitor is shared.

Auto does not attach the block to every question. A question about your refund policy does not need a clock or a country, so the block stays out. "Are you open now?" does, so the block goes in.

Always attaches it to every message. Those answers are not reused from the cache.

Names and custom visitor data

The AI does not see a visitor's name, id, custom visitor data, or the page they are on unless Share visitor identity and page is on.

That switch is disabled while the mode is Off, because there is nothing to add the extra lines to. Turn the mode to Auto or Always first.

What the switch adds, when a turn actually uses visitor context:

• The name, id and custom data your website's widget code sends
• The current page, as the site and path only — not the query string

These values come from your website's code. They are not verified. The AI is told they are what your site claims about the visitor. They are not proof of who the person is, and they are not permission to change an account, reveal another customer's data, or skip a check your instructions require.

If you do not need the AI to use a name or a page, leave the switch off. The mode can still answer "Are you open now?" from the time and country alone.

What it never does

• It never sends names or custom visitor data while Share visitor identity and page is off.
• It never treats a name or a custom field as a login, a password, or an instruction.
• It is not the visitor column on the Conversations list, and it is not lead capture. Those are separate.

Passing a name into the widget is described in Visitor identity. The chatbot still only reads that name when this switch is on.

Limits and plan notes

Available on every plan, including Free. You need permission to edit the chatbot.

Changing the mode or the identity switch drops cached answers, because a later reply might be allowed to see something the cached one did not. A turn that actually used the block is not cached in any case.

Common problems

I turned on Share visitor identity and page and the AI still does not use the name.

The mode is probably Off, which disables the switch and shares nothing. Set Visitor context to Auto or Always, save, and confirm the website widget is actually sending the name. See Visitor identity.

Auto did not mention the visitor's country.

Expected when the question does not depend on place, time or device. Ask something that does, such as whether you are open right now, or switch to Always if every reply should have the block.

Can a visitor's custom data include a password or a card number?

Do not send those. Custom visitor data is whatever your site's code puts in the widget. The AI is not a safe place for secrets, and the value is still only what your site claimed.