Put the chat on your store

Ivy,Widget, card Installation, has two options:

You need to be the store's owner or an admin in Strathly, and your Shopify staff account needs permission to manage themes. If you're still in setup, the last step, Turn on the chat, has the same button: see the quickstart. Replacing another chat app? Switch its embed off in the same save: see switch from another chat.

Turn on the theme app embed#

1. In Strathly, open Ivy,Widget and scroll to Installation. Leave Theme app embed selected and press Open theme editor. Shopify's theme editor opens in a new tab, on your live theme's App embeds, with Strathly AI chat already switched on.

2. In the theme editor, press Save at the top right. Until you save, nothing changes on your store.

   

3. Open any page of your store in a new browser tab. A page of your store loading the chat is how Strathly sees it.

4. Back in Strathly, press Check again. The status turns Enabled with Seen on your store and the time. A message confirms The chat is showing on your domain.

Open theme editor shows only while your store is connected to Shopify. If it's missing, reconnect Shopify first: see disconnect and uninstall.

Where are App embeds in the theme editor?#

You can also switch the embed on by hand, from your Shopify admin:

1. Go to Online Store,Themes. Next to your current theme, press Customize.

   

2. In the theme editor's left bar, select App embeds.

3. Find Strathly AI chat and switch it on.

4. Press Save.

App embeds belong to a theme. If you publish a different theme later, or preview a new one, switch Strathly AI chat on in that theme too, then save. The chat appears on the theme that is live.

The embed's settings#

Select Strathly AI chat in App embeds to see its settings. They are the only ones that live in Shopify; everything else is in Strathly.

There is no setting to show the chat on some pages only. Besides the cart page, the only other choice is phones: Show on phones in Ivy,Widget,Options, covered in customize the chat.

How Strathly knows the chat is on#

Strathly reads your live theme's settings to see whether the chat is switched on in it (the read-only themes permission). The Installation card names your live theme and shows one of three states:

Under it, Last seen on your store says when a page of your store last loaded the chat. Check again reads your theme from Shopify once more, for example right after you saved it.

A store connected before the themes permission was added sees the older status, based only on the storefront loading the chat (Enabled, Not seen lately, Not seen yet), and a link to update permissions in Settings,Integrations.

When you publish a new theme#

App embeds belong to each theme, and Shopify switches them off in a theme you publish. So when you publish a new theme, or switch the chat off in your live theme, Ivy disappears from your store. Strathly notices within a minute:

• The owner and admins get a notification in the dashboard and an email, once per theme: Ivy is off your store, with a button that opens the theme editor with the chat switched on.
• Home shows the same notice until the chat is back on.
• Press Save in the theme editor and the notice goes away by itself.

Strathly also checks your theme once a day, in case a change was missed.

The other signs that the chat is live: a green dot on the Ivy row of the sidebar, and Live on your domain at the top of Ivy's pages. The go-live checklist walks through them.

When does the chat show to shoppers?#

Saving the embed is not enough on its own. The chat shows on your store only when all four of these hold:

1. You went live. Setup ends with Go live. Before that, the chat never shows, even with the embed saved.
2. Your store is connected to Shopify. If it was disconnected, Home says Shopify is disconnected with Reconnect Shopify.
3. Your trial or plan is active. If the trial ended without a plan, a payment failed or the subscription ended, the chat goes off the store until billing is fixed in Settings,Billing.
4. The app embed is on and saved in your live theme, with Show chat widget ticked.

If you publish another theme, it starts with the embed off: see when you publish a new theme.

Two settings then narrow where it shows: Hide on the cart page in the embed, and Show on phones in Ivy,Widget.

When any of them is missing, shoppers see nothing at all: no button and no error. Pausing Ivy is different: the chat stays, and new shoppers get a contact form instead (see pause Ivy or hide the chat).

Why isn't the chat showing after I saved?#

Check these in order:

• Setup isn't finished. Home shows Finish setting up Ivy with Continue setup. Go live first.
• The trial or plan isn't active. Look at Settings,Billing.
• Shopify is disconnected. Reconnect it from the notice on Home.
• You saved a theme that isn't live, or switched themes since. Open Online Store,Themes and check the embed on the current theme.
• Show chat widget is off in the embed's settings.
• You're on a phone and Show on phones is off. The chat is hidden on screens up to 480 pixels wide.
• You're on the cart page and Hide on the cart page is on.
• The page was open from before. Changes take about a minute to reach pages already open. Reload.
• Your store is password protected. Only visitors who enter the password reach the chat. Open your store yourself, past the password, then press Check again.

The full list, with what to do for each, is in fix a chat that doesn't show.

Share a chat link#

Select Chat link in Installation to copy your link. It looks like https://yourstore.com/?strathly_open=1: it opens your store with the chat already open. Use it in order emails, newsletters, social bios or a QR code. Home has the same link under Copy chat link.

The link opens the chat only where the chat is installed and live.

Remove the chat#

To take the chat off your store, open the theme editor, switch off Strathly AI chat (or untick Show chat widget) and press Save. Nothing stays behind in your theme.

To stop Ivy from answering but keep a way for shoppers to reach you, pause her instead: new shoppers get a contact form that lands in your Inbox. See pause Ivy or hide the chat.