ChannelsChatChat configuration

Data controls

Overview

Data controls let you decide how your AI Agent remembers end user conversations and what types of links it can share. These settings help balance personalized experiences with privacy and security.

Use cases

Data controls help you manage end user data and link security in your Chat widget.

  • Handoff continuity: Retain conversation history across browser sessions so end users don’t lose context when handed off to human agents.
  • Privacy-first interactions: Clear conversation history after each page reload for sensitive contexts where end users shouldn’t have persistent records.
  • Mobile app deep linking: Direct end users to specific screens in your mobile app using custom URI schemes—for example, yourbrand://orders/12345.

Capabilities & configuration

Data controls provide settings for managing conversation persistence and link protocols.

  • Persistence settings: Control when your AI Agent forgets end user conversation history and variables.
  • Custom link protocols: Define which URI schemes your AI Agent can use in messages beyond the standard protocols (https, http, ftp, ftps, mailto, tel, callto, sms, cid, xmpp).

Quick start

Configure data controls in a few steps.

1

On the Ada dashboard, go to Config > CHANNELS > Chat.

2

Go to the Data & privacy tab.

3

Under Persistence, select your preferred setting.

4

Optionally, add custom link protocols under Approved link protocols.

5

Click Save.

For detailed instructions, see Implementation & usage.

Implementation & usage

Configure persistence settings and custom link protocols.

Persistence settings

AI Agents can remember an end user from one conversation to the next. AI Agents store a record of the end user, their associated data, and their chat history. This is called Customer Persistence.

You can use the Customer Persistence settings to determine when your AI Agent should forget an end user.

Persistence is only evaluated on page load or refresh, not continuously. If an end user keeps the chat page open without reloading—even for extended periods beyond the configured time duration—Ada will retain the conversation and variables.

Configure persistence

To configure Customer Persistence:

  1. On the Ada dashboard, go to Config > CHANNELS > Chat, then go to the Data & privacy tab.

  2. Under Persistence, from the drop-down menu, select your preferred Customer Persistence setting.

  3. Click Save.

Persistence options

There are four Customer Persistence settings to select from.

Never Forget

The AI Agent never forgets the chat history and saved variables, regardless of how the end user ends the conversation.

If the end user clears their browser history, the chat history is cleared as well.

Forget After Tab Close

The AI Agent forgets the chat history and saved variables if the end user closes the chat tab or window; however, the AI Agent maintains the chat history and saved variables if the end user refreshes the page or links to a new page.

Each new tab behaves as a unique chat conversation. The end user’s conversation and data does not carry across tabs.

Forget After Reload

The AI Agent forgets the chat history and saved variables if the end user leaves the webpage, or refreshes or closes their browser tab.

Forget After…

The AI Agent forgets the chat history and saved variables after a predetermined time period that you define. This can be any number of minutes, hours, days, or weeks.

Persistence considerations

Keep these considerations in mind when configuring persistence.

  • If your AI Agent hands end users off to a human agent it is best practice to select either Never Forget or Forget After… Selecting Forget After Tab Close will result in each new tab behaving as a unique chat session. This can become problematic when the AI Agent hands the end user off to a live agent. Multiple tabs with separate AI Agent conversations may confuse the end user. They may even start another handoff request flow.

  • When you select Never Forget, returning end users are not provided with the Greeting. Thus, this setting is not recommended if you use the Greeting to provide end users with important announcements such as realtime bug and outage updates.

  • The Customer Info within the Convos view contains a combination of end user and session data. This means that the AI Agent may have collected variable data in a previous conversation.

Enable your AI Agent to send links with custom protocols (URI schemes) in messages (for example: yourbrand://link-to-page). These can be used to send end users deeplinks to specific parts of your application.

By default, your AI Agent supports sending links with these standard protocols: https, http, ftp, ftps, mailto, tel, callto, sms, cid, xmpp. Unless they are added to the allowlist, other protocols will be sanitized from messages to keep your end users safe.

To add a link protocol:

  1. On the Ada dashboard, go to Config > CHANNELS > Chat, then go to the Privacy & data tab.

  2. Beside Approved link protocols, click Add protocol.

    The Add Protocol window appears.

  3. In the Add Protocol window, in the Protocol Name field, enter the link protocol or URI scheme you want to authorize. (This is the part of your link that appears just before ://, for example: yourbrand from yourbrand://deep-link.)

  4. Click Add to add the protocol to the approved link protocols list.

You can edit any link protocols already in your list.

To edit a link protocol:

  1. On the Ada dashboard, go to Config > CHANNELS > Chat, then go to the Privacy & data tab.

  2. Under Approved link protocols, click the pencil icon next to the link protocol you’d like to edit.

  3. In the Edit Protocol window, make your changes in the Protocol Name field.

  4. Click Save.

The updated link protocol appears in the list.

To remove a link protocol:

  1. On the Ada dashboard, go to Config > CHANNELS > Chat, then go to the Privacy & data tab.

  2. Under Approved link protocols, click the trash can icon next to the link protocol you’d like to remove.

  3. In the Confirm Protocol Deletion window that appears, click Delete.

This removes the link protocol from the list. Your AI Agent will no longer send links that use this protocol.

Have any questions? Contact your Ada team, or email us at .