Share information and collaborate.
Chatwoot
Self-hosted customer support hub — live chat, email, WhatsApp and social media in one open-source inbox.
Tech stack
Chatwoot is an open-source omnichannel customer support platform (MIT, 34 k+ stars, v4.16.0) that brings all your customer conversations — live chat, email, WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, Twitter/X DMs and Instagram — into a single shared inbox. Your support team collaborates on tickets, assigns conversations to agents, sets up automated workflows and tracks response times, all without paying per-agent SaaS fees.
Deployed on a ServOrbit VPS, Chatwoot gives your business full ownership of customer data and conversation history. The stack runs as four Docker containers: a PostgreSQL 15 database, Redis 7 cache, a Rails web server and a Sidekiq background worker. First-boot migration runs automatically; the admin account is created through the web UI on the first visit.
Chatwoot integrates natively with WhatsApp Business API, Twilio SMS, email (IMAP/SMTP), Slack, GitHub Issues and dozens of other channels via its open API. For developers, the REST and WebSocket APIs let you build custom integrations, trigger automation from external tools or embed the live-chat widget into any website with a single JavaScript snippet.
Key features
When to use this solution?
Customer support for web agencies and SaaS
Replace Intercom or Zendesk with a self-hosted shared inbox. Your team answers live-chat questions from the website, email threads and WhatsApp messages from the same screen. Canned responses handle repeat questions; automation rules route conversations to the right agent by language or product area.
E-commerce support
Connect your WooCommerce or PrestaShop store's contact form and WhatsApp Business number to Chatwoot. Every order inquiry, refund request and complaint lands in one queue, assigned to the right team member. Response time SLAs are tracked per inbox — no message gets lost.
Internal helpdesk
Use Chatwoot as an internal IT or HR helpdesk. Employees submit requests via the embedded widget on the intranet; the support team manages, escalates and resolves tickets in one interface with full conversation history, notes and audit trail.
Deploy Chatwoot on your VPS
Guide optimized for ServOrbit Cloud VPS.
Order a ServOrbit VPS
Chatwoot's Rails server and Sidekiq worker need at least 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended for teams over 10 agents). The system installed is Ubuntu 24.04. Chatwoot listens on port 3000 on the loopback interface only — ServOrbit puts the nginx vhost and the TLS certificate in front of it when you attach a domain, so there is no port to open yourself.
One-click deploy from the marketplace
Open your ServOrbit control panel, go to Marketplace → Collaboration & Productivity → Chatwoot, and click Deploy. Docker pulls chatwoot/chatwoot:latest and starts the stack: PostgreSQL, Redis, the web server and the Sidekiq worker. The first boot runs database migrations automatically — allow 60–90 seconds.
Create your admin account
If a domain is attached to the app, open https://your-domain — with no port number: the nginx vhost and TLS certificate are already in place. Without a domain there is no public access: open an SSH tunnel with ssh -L 3000:127.0.0.1:3000 root@<your-vps-ip> (3000 is the catalogue port, given as an example — use the port shown on your app's card in the client area), then browse to http://localhost:3000. Chatwoot shows a first-run setup wizard: enter your name, email and password. This account becomes the super admin. You can invite additional agents and create teams from the Settings panel.
Set the FRONTEND_URL and configure HTTPS
Attach the domain that will carry your helpdesk — e.g. support.your-domain.com — to the app from your client area. ServOrbit installs the nginx vhost and the TLS certificate and renews them on its own: there is no reverse proxy to install and no certificate to request. ServOrbit writes that domain into FRONTEND_URL, the address Chatwoot uses for OAuth redirects, email links and the embeddable widget — check it matches the domain you actually use before you open your inboxes.
Add your first inbox
In Chatwoot's Settings → Inboxes, click Add Inbox. Choose Website (for live chat), Email (SMTP/IMAP) or a messaging channel like WhatsApp Cloud API or Telegram. For website chat, copy the generated JavaScript snippet and paste it into your site's <head>. Visitors see the chat bubble immediately.
Invite agents and set up automation
Go to Settings → Agents and send email invites. In Settings → Automation, create rules to auto-assign conversations (e.g., WhatsApp → Morocco team, email → billing team) and send first-response messages outside business hours. Chatwoot queues the Sidekiq worker handles all async jobs — email delivery, webhook triggers and notification pushes.
Frequently asked questions
Embed the deploy button
Maintaining a project that uses Chatwoot? This button lets your readers deploy it on a VPS in one click, without reading Docker documentation.
[](https://servorbit.com/vps-cloud?template=chatwoot&utm_source=deploy-badge&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=chatwoot)<a href="https://servorbit.com/vps-cloud?template=chatwoot&utm_source=deploy-badge&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=chatwoot"><img src="https://servorbit.com/brand/deploy/button.svg" alt="Deploy Chatwoot on ServOrbit" height="40"></a>The button points to a VPS order with the template preselected. The image is served from servorbit.com — nothing to host on your side.
Complementary solutions
Nextcloud
Storage, sharing and team collaboration. Your files, calendars and contacts on your own infrastructure.
Collaboration & ProductivityMattermost
Secure, self-hosted team messaging. Channels, threads, integrations — without depending on Slack or Teams.
Collaboration & ProductivityWiki.js
A modern knowledge base for your teams. Structured documentation, full-text search and fine-grained access control.
Need help?
Browse our help center and FAQ, or reach our team — callback, WhatsApp or email. Support in French, English and Arabic.