Disable a channel¶
Instead of deleting a channel, you can pause it with the Enabled toggle in the channel's configuration dialog. This keeps the channel's settings in place so you can turn it back on later. See Disabling a channel for what this does and why you might use it.
To disable a channel:
- Navigate to the Chatbot the channel is linked to.
- Open the channel from the list and switch off Enabled.
- Optionally, enter a Disabled message — a static reply sent to any participant who messages the channel, or tries to start a chat on it, while it's off. The field appears once Enabled is switched off. Leave it blank to keep the channel silent instead.
- Click Save.
Disabled channels are highlighted in the chatbot's channel list, so you can see at a glance which ones are off.
What participants and admins see¶
What happens depends on where they try to reach the disabled channel:
| Entry point | What happens |
|---|---|
Chat widget, and POST /api/chat/start/ |
Starting a chat is refused. The widget currently shows a generic "Failed to start chat session" error rather than your configured disabled message. |
| Public web chat link (consent/start page) | The page shows your disabled message instead of starting the conversation. |
| Public link channel page | Visitors see a banner instead of a live widget, rather than a disabled message. Any conversation still open on the link is also ended — same as when the link is regenerated or the channel is deleted. |
| OCS console (starting a chat from the chatbot management pages) | A generic error is shown in place of the chat; your disabled message isn't used here. |
| Slack | If a disabled message is set, it's sent back; otherwise the channel stays silent with no visible error. |
| Messaging an already-disabled channel on any platform | The message isn't processed or recorded. If a disabled message is set, it's sent back as the reply; otherwise the bot stays silent. |
Known limitations¶
Two API endpoints still open a session on a disabled channel:
POST /api/sessions/succeeds as normal. Only messages sent afterwards on that session are blocked.- The OpenAI-compatible chat completions endpoint also opens the session, then returns your disabled message as the assistant's reply — or an empty reply if you haven't set one. Callers see it in place of the model's answer.
POST /api/chat/start/, which the chat widget uses, is refused — see the table above.
Evaluation runs and pipeline test runs are unaffected by a channel's disabled state and continue to work as normal.
Re-enabling a channel¶
Switch Enabled back on and click Save. The channel resumes straight away — new conversations can start again, and scheduled messages send as normal from their next trigger.
Nothing that happened while the channel was off is replayed:
- Messages participants sent were never recorded, so the chatbot won't answer them later.
- Scheduled and event messages that came due were skipped, not queued. Each one still counts as a trigger, so a schedule with a fixed number of repeats has fewer left, and one that reached its last repeat while disabled is marked complete without ever having sent.
See also¶
- Channels — what disabling does and why you might use it
- Deploying your chatbot to different channels