Order Messages

A customer has two conversations about an order: one with the store and one with the driver. The store also has its own thread with the driver, which the customer never sees. The console shows all three:

A message written in the customer's tab reaches the customer in their chat with the store; one written by the driver from the driver app goes to the customer and driver thread, which the console shows as All three. Every thread stays readable after the order is completed, canceled or expired, but no new messages can be sent.

Messaging from the console

Message in the order panel's header opens the messages drawer beside the panel, on the customer's tab. The button and each tab show how many messages the store hasn't read; for a booking the button is just the icon and the count.

A thread starts with its first message. Staff who write in it join the conversation and are notified of replies. Each message shows who sent it — Customer, Driver, Store, or Update for system messages such as a wrong-address request — and in All three the sender's name.

Live updates

Messages arrive while the panel is open, over the realtime socket; nothing needs refreshing. A message in the thread the drawer shows appears in it and is marked read. A message in another thread, or with the drawer closed, adds to the unread counts, shows New message from …, and updates the customer's latest message on the customer card. The panel also picks up a thread the customer starts while it is open.

Opening a thread marks it read for the store, whichever staff member reads it. Messages you sent yourself are never unread to you, including those you send from the driver app when you are also the driver.

Quick replies

The replies offered depend on the order and the thread:

To use your own replies to customers, open Storefront → Settings → Order messages and write one reply per line in Quick replies for orders and Quick replies for bookings, then Save settings. Each box shows the defaults until you type; leaving one empty keeps them. A booking never uses the order replies: without its own it gets the booking defaults. The replies to the driver are fixed.

The replies are stored on the store as options.quick_replies and options.booking_quick_replies, lists of strings.

Wrong-address requests

A customer who notices that the delivery address is wrong can tell the store from the app, with a message and optionally one of their saved places. The store then sees:

• an alert at the top of the order panel, The customer says the address is wrong, with the message and the suggested address;
• the request in its thread with the customer, as The address is wrong. … New address: ….

From the alert, Update address opens the edit form at the delivery address; saving a new address closes the request (resolved). Dismiss closes it without changing anything (dismissed).

Pickup orders and finished orders can't receive a wrong-address request.

Order chat API

Customer apps use these endpoints with the storefront key and the customer's Customer-Token. kind is driver (the default) or customer, sent in the query string or, on POST, in the body:

The thread looks like this:

{
  "id": "chat_channel_5Tk1pQ8",
  "channel": "chat.chat_channel_5Tk1pQ8",
  "order": "order_9Kx2mQ1",
  "kind": "customer",
  "status": "open",
  "me": "chat_participant_2Ab7cD3",
  "participants": [
    { "id": "chat_participant_2Ab7cD3", "role": "customer", "name": "Ada Lovelace", "avatar_url": null, "is_online": true },
    { "id": "chat_participant_8Ef4gH1", "role": "store", "name": "Sam (Acme Market)", "avatar_url": null, "is_online": false }
  ],
  "messages": [
    {
      "id": "chat_message_1Xy2zA9",
      "content": "Your order is being prepared.",
      "sender": { "id": "chat_participant_8Ef4gH1", "role": "store", "name": "Sam (Acme Market)" },
      "is_mine": false,
      "system": false,
      "kind": null,
      "attachments": [],
      "read": true,
      "created_at": "2026-10-13T12:01:00.000000Z"
    }
  ],
  "unread_count": 1
}

• role is customer, driver, store or system. Treat an unknown role as driver.
• system messages (for example kind: "address_change_requested") are notices rather than something a person typed; show them as such.
• Subscribe to channel over the realtime socket to receive new messages.

Roles and system messages need core-api v1.6.69, which adds meta to chat participants and messages (see Chat).

Sending a wrong-address request

POST /storefront/v1/orders/{id}/address-change-request
Authorization: Bearer store_your_store_key
Customer-Token: 1|VlKK7lZ...

{ "message": "It's 12 King St, not 21", "place": "place_9Qs1tY6" }

Both fields are optional: message (up to 1,000 characters) and place, one of the customer's own saved places. The response is { "status": "ok", "address_change_request": { … } }, and the order's meta.address_change_request holds status (open, resolved or dismissed), message, place, address and at. The request is refused with 422 for pickup orders and finished orders, and 404 when the place isn't one of the customer's.

In the Storefront app

The Storefront App adds Message the store next to the driver chat, with an unread badge, and a Wrong address? action on deliveries that haven't been dispatched yet.