Customer support · checked 2026-10-19

Can I vibecode Tidio?

KINDA· weekend project

A chat bubble on one site, a socket server and an inbox page fit one agent session, and an FAQ bot is retrieval over your own Markdown plus one LLM call. The weekend goes on what you rely on once visitors use it: a widget that can't break your pages, email replies when you're away, spam control and a bot that says "I don't know" instead of inventing a refund policy. Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp need Meta approval, and Lyro's tuning and the mobile apps are products in themselves. Chatwoot already gives you the inbox side as free software.

$29/moprice

$348you'd save a year

weekendbuild time

—people replaced it

Before you start

What you need on hand.

DifficultyIntermediate · Some system setup or keys.

TimeA weekend; the widget and WebSocket reconnects take the most iterations

Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
Node.js 22better-sqlite3 compiles a native module, so build tools must be installed.
An LLM keyAny OpenAI-compatible endpoint; a local Ollama model works for testing.
SMTP credentialsUsed for replies to visitors who have already left the page.
A public HTTPS addressVisitors' browsers must reach the WebSocket; a reverse proxy such as Caddy handles TLS.
Your help contentFAQ and policy pages as Markdown files in ./faq/.

Before you buildTidio Free keeps 50 billable conversations a month and 10 agents. If your site gets a few chats a week you may never need to pay.

1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.

The prompt

Build me a live-chat widget with an FAQ bot to replace Tidio on my own website. Requirements:

- Node.js 22 + TypeScript: a Fastify server with the `ws` WebSocket library. `npm start` serves
http://localhost:4600 with the inbox at /inbox and the widget script at /widget.js.
- Widget: one vanilla TypeScript file bundled with `esbuild` to under 25 KB, loaded with a single
script tag. It renders in a shadow root so site CSS can't break it, and keeps the visitor id and
open conversation in localStorage so a page change doesn't reset the chat.
- Storage: better-sqlite3 in ./data/chat.db for visitors, conversations and messages, with an
FTS5 table over the FAQ text.
- FAQ bot: read every Markdown file in ./faq/, split it by heading, and answer a question by
taking the top 3 BM25 matches and calling an OpenAI-compatible chat endpoint (LLM_BASE_URL,
LLM_API_KEY and LLM_MODEL in .env). If nothing matches well enough, say so and offer a human.
- Handover: a "Talk to a person" button flags the conversation for the inbox and stops the bot
for that visitor. Outside the hours set in ./config.yaml, ask for an email address instead.
- Inbox: password from .env (signed cookie); open, solved and unanswered lists, live updates, a
reply box, and an email to the visitor through nodemailer SMTP when they have left the page.
- Rules: up to five triggers in ./config.yaml, such as a greeting after 20 seconds on /pricing,
each shown at most once per visitor.
- Single owner. No accounts, no telemetry, local-first: outbound calls go to your LLM endpoint
and SMTP server only, and the README lists what text is sent to the LLM.
- Out of scope: Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, mobile apps, several agents, store plugins.
- README: the script tag, the .env keys, how to run it behind a reverse proxy with HTTPS.

Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.

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Then keep going

Next prompts, same folder.

The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own Tidio.

Extend the chat widget in this folder. Requirements:

- When the bot has no good FAQ match, ask for the visitor's name and email in the chat, validate
  the address, and store it on the conversation.
- The inbox gets a Leads view with name, email, first page, and the question that went unanswered,
  plus a CSV export.
- Email me a summary of new leads once a day through the existing SMTP settings.
- Never ask the same visitor twice; remember the answer in localStorage and in SQLite.
- Update the README.

Add an FAQ suggestion loop to the chat app in this folder. Requirements:

- In the inbox, a "Save as FAQ" button on a solved conversation drafts a Markdown entry from the
  visitor's question and my reply, using the LLM endpoint, and shows it for editing.
- Saving writes a new file in ./faq/ and re-indexes it into the FTS5 table without a restart.
- A page lists questions the bot couldn't answer in the last 30 days, grouped by similarity of
  their first six words.
- Never write a file outside ./faq/ and escape every title that goes into a file name.
- Update the README.

Add a Tidio importer to the chat app in this folder. Requirements:

- `npm run import-tidio -- contacts.csv` reads the CSV from Customers > Export in Tidio and
  creates a visitor record per row with name, email and any phone number it finds.
- Skip rows without an email, merge duplicates on lowercased email, and print counts of created,
  merged and skipped rows.
- Imported visitors show up in the inbox search; no message is sent to them.
- Chat history isn't in that export, so say so in the README and describe the one-at-a-time CSV
  transcript export as the way to keep a conversation.

What you lose

Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp conversations in the same inbox
Mobile apps with push notifications for agents
Lyro's tuning, Guidance and Procedures, which shape how the AI agent answers
Shopify order and product tools inside the chat
A visual Flows builder for lead capture and proactive messages

Why people still pay

Tidio puts live chat, tickets, social inboxes and an AI agent behind one script tag and one bill, and the free plan costs nothing until the 50th conversation of the month. Installs for Wix and Shopify sites take minutes, and the AI agent is metered per conversation instead of being a salary.

Moatintegrations execution polish

Do the math

Tidio or your own copy?

Over

Your usage

Count my time12h ×$/h

Tidio, 1 yr$348

Your own copy, 1 yr$68running + build session

You keep$281pays for itself in the first month

Estimate · A $5 VPS, SMTP on a free tier and a few cents of LLM tokens per hundred bot answers. The build is token usage on your agent plan.

Leaving Tidio

Take your data, then cancel.

1 · Take your data out of Tidio

1Contacts: open Customers in the left sidebar, select the contacts and click Export. Tidio builds a CSV and gives you a link; only the columns currently shown in the list are exported.
2Chat transcripts: open a conversation, use the three-dot menu and choose Export transcript to .CSV. Tidio can download only one transcript at a time.
3Flows, bot settings and Lyro Guidance have no export in what we read: screenshot or copy the text you want to keep.

2 · Cancel Tidio

1Open Settings > Billing, then the Subscription tab, and click Cancel subscription. This stops billing and moves the project to the free version.
2Plus and Premium plans may be changed only by Tidio's team: email your account manager or support@tidio.net.
3To hide the widget, go to Settings > Live Chat > Appearance, then Visibility and position, and switch off Display for desktop and mobile.
4To delete the project, cancel the subscription, uninstall the widget from your site, then use the red Delete project button in Settings > Preferences (project owner only).

Deleting the project removes the data collected in it, including agents, and can't be undone. Export contacts and transcripts first.
Annual and Plus plans don't auto-upgrade; a standard monthly plan on a newer project can, so check the Automatic upgrades setting before a busy season.
The free version also stops showing incoming chats once its 50 conversations are used, so cancel before removing the widget, not after.
Remove the script tag from your site only after you've swapped in the new chat, or visitors see a broken bubble.

Checked 2026-10-19 against Tidio's docs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

The escape hatch

Don't feel like building it? These are already free.

ChatwootOpen sourceLive chat, email and social inbox with an AI assistant; MIT-style core with an enterprise directory under its own licence.★ 38k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
Web, iOS, AndroidVisit ↗Live Helper ChatOpen sourceApache-2.0 live support for a website with web and mobile apps, bots, and Telegram, WhatsApp via Twilio and Messenger support.★ 2.2k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
Web, iOS, AndroidVisit ↗LibredeskOpen sourceAGPL-3.0 customer support desk shipped as a single binary; a lighter take on Chatwoot.★ 3.1k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗

All 4 free alternatives to Tidio ›

The numbers

Tidio pricing

Plan	Monthly	Annual, per month	What you get
Free	$0	$0	50 billable conversations a month, 10 seats, Flows for 100 visitors a month, 50 one-time Lyro AI conversations.
Starter	$29	$24.17	100 billable conversations a month, 10 seats, 50 one-time Lyro AI conversations.
Growth	$59	$49.17	From 250 billable conversations a month, 10 seats; larger quotas up to 2,000 cost more (1,000 conversations is $179 a month).
Plus	$300	—	Custom conversations and seats, usage billed on top, wire transfer accepted.
Premium	custom	—	Custom limits; Lyro quotas start at 3,000 conversations.
Lyro AI Agent (add-on)	$39	$32.50	From 50 Lyro AI conversations a month; the 50 included in Free and Starter are a one-time allowance.
Flows (add-on)	$29	$24.17	From 2,000 visitors reached a month, up to 100,000.

Free tier: 50 billable conversations a month, counted per project; once it is used up you can neither see nor answer more incoming chats until the quota resets. Lyro's 50 conversations are a one-off, not monthly.
Billing: Monthly or annual (annual is two months free). New projects get a 7-day trial of the paid features with no card, then fall back to Free unless you subscribe. The pricing page says upgrades and downgrades start with the next billing cycle. Plus and Premium are changed only through Tidio's team; wire transfer is accepted on those.
Hidden costs: Three separate meters: billable conversations (a chat, ticket or social message a human handles), Lyro AI conversations and Flows visitors, each with its own quota and add-on price. Standard monthly plans on newer projects can be upgraded automatically when a quota fills; annual and Plus plans can't. More than 10 seats means Plus or Premium.
Source: www.tidio.com

Also on the list

Intercom$39/mo · Customer supportKINDA

Crisp$45/mo · Customer supportKINDA

Chatbase$40/mo · Customer supportYES

Questions

Tidio, briefly

Not answered here? Tell us and we'll add it.

Ask a question ›

Free covers 50 billable conversations a month, up to 10 agents and 100 visitors reached by Flows.

Kinda. The core is a weekend build with the prompt on this page, but real gaps remain: Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp conversations in the same inbox, Mobile apps with push notifications for agents.

About $29 a month on the Starter plan, $348 a year (checked 2026-10-19).

Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp conversations in the same inbox; Mobile apps with push notifications for agents; Lyro's tuning, Guidance and Procedures, which shape how the AI agent answers; Shopify order and product tools inside the chat; A visual Flows builder for lead capture and proactive messages. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.

Yes: Chatwoot (open source), Live Helper Chat (open source), Libredesk (open source).