[CHAT] [NOT ALLOWING FOR MESSAGES TO BE SENT] [PROD1]

Summary

On May 14, 2025, a change was deployed to the chat widget at 10:56 AM EDT to improve the logout experience. This update aimed to fix an issue where the widget would incorrectly return to a "New Chat" screen after a user logged out (specifically, calling `Kustomer.logout()`) from a different page, such as a knowledge base article.

However, this change inadvertently caused the chat widget to lose access to essential functions needed for sending and receiving messages after a logout and subsequent new chat initiation. This resulted in messages disappearing and the chat window becoming unresponsive.

Root Cause

The deployed change, while intended to improve the logout flow, inadvertently caused the application to lose references to critical business logic functions stored within the application state. The application state was incorrectly assumed to only hold data, not these essential functions, leading to their loss during the state restoration process after logout.

Timeline

May 14, 2025

• 10:56 AM EST Chat widget update deployed.
• 1:24 PM EST Incident declared after reports of issues.
• 1:51 PM EST Error identified related to missing functions in the application state.
• 1:53 PM EST Rollback performed, restoring chat functionality.
• 2:54 PM EST Root cause found and fixed

May 15, 2025

• 10:30 PM EST  All impacted sessions were identified AND cleared from cache

Lessons/Improvements

• Enhanced Testing - Automated regression tests will be added to prevent future regressions related to the application state. QA testing procedures will be updated to always include testing the ability to start a new conversation after logout.

  • Status: In Progress

• Improved Documentation -  Documentation regarding the expected behavior of the logout function will be enhanced.

  • Status: Done