Staff Chatfor WHMCS · Documentation
v2.0.0
Home › Overview

Staff Chat for WHMCS

Real-time admin-to-admin chat inside the WHMCS admin area, delivered by AJAX polling with no daemon, extra port or Socket.IO server.

Staff Chat adds a floating widget to every WHMCS admin page. Admins can talk in the shared Group Chat, open private 1:1 conversations, mention colleagues, react to messages, share images and files, and search the archived history. Chat history and attachments are encrypted at rest.

Group & private chat

One shared room plus optional private conversations between two admins.

Mentions, reactions, typing

@mentions, emoji reactions, typing indicators, message editing and deletion.

Files, images and previews

Encrypted attachments, an image lightbox and safe text-only link previews.

History, search and audit

DataTables history viewer, global search, CSV export, dashboard analytics and an activity log.

No daemon, no extra port — every message travels through WHMCS itself. If the admin area loads, Staff Chat works. Nothing needs to be installed on the server beyond the module folder.

What it does

The widget sits in the corner of every admin page and can be collapsed to a launcher with an unread badge. Chat actions are handled by the module's own admin controller, so messages, presence, typing state, reactions, attachments and unread counters all update over ordinary authenticated requests.

Messages are kept in an encrypted history file rather than a database table. Full Administrators can review everything from the Chat History page, search across every room, and export the results to CSV. Administrative actions are written to the separate Activity Log.

What’s new in 2.0.0

  • Encrypted attachments at rest, served only through an authenticated download endpoint.
  • Image lightbox in the widget and in Chat History.
  • Reaction counts in Chat History and in the CSV export.
  • Attachment previews and downloads in history and in search results.
  • SweetAlert2 confirmation before deleting a message.
  • Global search across rooms, admins, message text and attachment names.
  • Desktop notifications with a service worker plus Chrome/OS diagnostics.
  • Dashboard analytics: 30-day message volume, time-of-day activity, room distribution, top mentioned admins, and attachment count/storage breakdown.

See the full Changelog.

Requirements

  • WHMCS 8.x or 9.x.
  • PHP as required by your WHMCS version, with the curl and fileinfo extensions.
  • A writable modules/addons/StaffChat/data directory.
  • HTTPS if you want service-worker desktop notifications.
  • A running WHMCS daily cron for retention, pruning and attachment migration.
Admin area only — Staff Chat has no client-area pages. The widget is only rendered for admins whose role is allowed at Addon Modules → Access Control and who also hold the Addon Modules permission.

Start here