Add live chat to WordPress

1. 1

   Download the plugin

   In Builderify, open Connect › Snippet and choose the WordPress tab. Download builderify.zip; the plugin isn’t in the WordPress.org directory yet.

2. 2

   Upload and activate

   In WordPress, go to Plugins › Add New Plugin › Upload Plugin, choose the file, then Install Now and Activate. It needs WordPress 6.2 or later and PHP 7.4 or later.

3. 3

   Paste your site key

   Open Settings › Builderify, paste the site key from the same tab (or the whole snippet) and save. The page says straight away whether Builderify recognises it. Leave Load the Builderify widget ticked.

4. 4

   Add the chat and go online

   In Builderify, add the Live Chat block to your Floating Bubble, write a welcome and an offline message, and choose whether to ask for a name and email. Then open Manage › Live Chat: while it is open, you are online.

The widget loads on every public page, never in wp-admin, and starts after the page has loaded. If your theme or a code plugin already holds a Builderify snippet, remove it so the widget doesn’t load twice. Developers can skip it on any request with the builderify_load_scripts filter.

1. 1

   Copy the chat code

   Your chat tool’s install or widget settings page shows its embed code, usually a short <script> block. Copy all of it.

2. 2

   Paste it into WPCode

   Install the free WPCode plugin, then go to Code Snippets › Header & Footer. Paste the code into the Footer box, or Header if your chat tool says so, and click Save Changes.

3. 3

   Clear your caches

   Purge your caching plugin and any CDN. If a speed plugin delays JavaScript until the visitor interacts, the chat appears on their first scroll or tap, which suits a chat button.

4. 4

   Test it logged out

   Open the site in a private window, send a message, and answer it from the chat tool’s dashboard or app.

The Builderify snippet works this way too: paste it into the Header box. Only the SEO translations (translated pages at their own URLs) need the Builderify plugin.

1. 1

   Use a child theme

   Never edit the parent theme: its next update overwrites your change. If you don’t have a child theme yet, create one first.

2. 2

   Add the footer hook

   Copy the code below into the child theme’s functions.php. It uses wp_footer, which classic and block themes both print.

3. 3

   Paste the chat code

   Replace the comment line with your chat tool’s code. Edit the file over SFTP or your host’s file manager, so you can undo a typo that takes the site down.

4. 4

   Test it logged out

   Open the site in a private window and send a message. Nothing showing? View the page source and search for the chat tool’s domain.

// In your child theme's functions.php: prints the chat code before </body>
add_action( 'wp_footer', function () {
	?>
	<!-- Paste your chat tool's code here, from <script> to </script> -->
	<?php
}, 100 );

1. 1

   Install it

   Go to Plugins › Add New Plugin, search for the tool by name, then Install Now and Activate. Check Last updated and Tested up to on its page first.

2. 2

   Connect your account

   tawk.to: Settings › Tawk.to, log in and pick a widget. Crisp: Settings › Crisp, then Link with Crisp. Tidio opens its sign-up page as soon as you activate it.

3. 3

   Set it up in the chat tool

   Hours, the offline message, colours and who answers are set in the chat tool’s own dashboard, not in WordPress.

4. 4

   Test it logged out

   Open the site in a private window and send a message, then answer it from the tool’s dashboard or phone app.

tawk.to’s plugin adds its script with async, so it downloads alongside your page. Crisp’s plugin was last updated on 14 April 2025 and WordPress.org warns it hasn’t been tested with the latest three major releases; pasting Crisp’s code with WPCode avoids the question.