How to set a starting/opening chat message

[Benwhut]

Is it possible to set a starting/opening/welcome chat message when a chatbot chat is started? I would like the chatbot to start with a welcome message like, “How can I help you?” instead of silently waiting for the user to start the chat.

A starting message like this could be helpful to the user to give suggestions on what they could chat about, like “Ask questions about our products or book an appointment,” etc.

I tried to find an answer about this in the community search and within the n8n AI chat nodes, but I couldn’t find a solution.

Information on my n8n setup

• n8n version 1.53.0
• SQLite
• default
• npm
• MacOS

[n8n]

It looks like your topic is missing some important information. Could you provide the following if applicable.

• n8n version:
• Database (default: SQLite):
• n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main):
• Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app):
• Operating system:

[ria]

Hi @Benwhut

You can change the start message of the n8n Chat Node after making it public:

Does that help?

Feel free to share your workflow here so we can see where you’re stuck.

[Benwhut]

Ah thanks! It isn’t so intuitive to associate making the chat publicly available with setting an initial message, but this is what I was looking for.

Although is this only possible with “Hosted Chat” and not “Embedded Chat?”

Also, when I test out the Hosted Chat, there is a message at the top of the page saying “Hi there! Start a chat, we’re here to help you 24/7.” Do you know where I can edit this?

[Ryan_Scott]

I figured this out. The documentation could stand to be clarified on this point. @n8n/chat - npm

Just change the embed javascript code to include an updated createChat() for example:

createChat({
	webhookUrl: 'PUT YOUR WEBHOOK HERE',
	webhookConfig: {
		method: 'POST',
		headers: {}
	},
	target: '#n8n-chat',
	mode: 'window',
	chatInputKey: 'chatInput',
	chatSessionKey: 'sessionId',
	metadata: {},
	showWelcomeScreen: false,
	defaultLanguage: 'en',
	initialMessages: [
		'Hi there! 👋',
		'My name is Nathan. How can I assist you today?'
	],
	i18n: {
		en: {
			title: 'Hi there! 👋',
			subtitle: "Start a chat. We're here to help you 24/7.",
			footer: '',
			getStarted: 'New Conversation',
			inputPlaceholder: 'Type your question..',
		},
	},
});