Rename or edit a chatbot

What it is

General is the chatbot's identity card: its name, its description, and which template it was built from. Three fields, one save button — but the name field has a consequence that is not obvious from looking at it, and this page exists mostly to warn you about it.

Renaming a chatbot changes the address of its public page. The handle in /agent/{handle} is derived from the name, so a rename silently retires every link you have already shared. Read the section below before you rename anything you have published.

General does not control visitor-facing colours (that is Appearance), the welcome message (that is Messages & language), or activation (that is Danger zone).

When you would use it

• The Chatbots list shows a name that made sense to you and to nobody else.
• You picked a template at create time that does not match the work.
• You want a description so teammates can tell two similar chatbots apart.

Where to find it

Open Dashboard → Chatbots → your chatbot → Settings → General (?tab=general).

Steps

1. Open the chatbot, go to Settings, and stay on the first tab, General.
2. Edit Name. It is required and accepts up to 255 characters. Keep it short and descriptive — it appears in the Chatbots list, in the header, and in your public URL.
3. Edit Description (optional, up to 500 characters). It is internal-facing context and a subtitle in previews; it is not shown as a message to visitors.
4. Change Template only if you want that starter's defaults as a reference point. Switching a template never deletes knowledge, conversations, or instructions.
5. Select Save changes. The button only becomes available once something is actually different; Discard throws away unsaved edits.
6. If you changed the name, go to Integrations → Messaging → Direct link and copy the new URL, then update everywhere you published the old one.

Renaming changes your public link

This is the part that bites people weeks later.

When you save a new name, the handle used in /agent/{handle} is regenerated from it. So:

• Support Bot → /agent/support-bot
• rename to Customer Help → /agent/customer-help

The old address stops resolving. Anything pointing at it breaks:

• Links in emails, signatures, and printed material.
• QR codes.
• Iframe embeds on other sites, which will show a not-found screen inside the frame.
• Bookmarks your team saved.

The website widget is not affected. It boots from a widget token, not from the name or handle, so a rename never breaks an embedded bubble. Only link-based and iframe-based surfaces break.

If you need a stable public address that does not follow the display name, set a custom handle instead of renaming — see Hosted page handle. That is the right tool when the internal name and the public URL should differ.

What you will see

General is the first of seven settings tabs (General, Instructions, Appearance, Messages & language, AI configuration, Customer data, Danger zone). Each tab saves independently — editing General and switching to Appearance keeps your unsaved General edits in place, and the page warns you before you close the browser with unsaved changes anywhere.

The description field shows a character counter as you approach the limit.

Limits and plan notes

You need permission to edit chatbots. Viewers can read the settings but cannot save.

Name up to 255 characters, description up to 500. Names must be unique within your account when a chatbot is created — a duplicate is rejected on the create form with a "name already exists" error.

Changing the template does not consume credits or trigger retraining.

Common problems

Save changes stays greyed out.

Nothing has changed yet, or the name is empty. The button only activates on a real edit.

I get a length error on the description.

The cap is 500 characters. Shorten it, or move the detail into an instruction if it is meant to influence answers rather than to inform your team — see Write instructions.

I renamed the chatbot and my public link stopped working.

Expected — see the section above. Copy the new link from Integrations → Messaging → Direct link and update where you published it. If you need the old address permanently, set a custom handle to that value.

I changed the template and I think my files disappeared.

Templates never delete knowledge. Open the Knowledge tab and check. If it is genuinely empty, you are looking at a different chatbot, or you switched accounts — check the Accounts entry in the sidebar.

Can two chatbots share a name?

Not at create time — creating a second chatbot with an existing name is rejected. Give each one a qualifier ("Support — EN", "Support — Wholesale") so both your team and your URLs stay unambiguous.