Feature request — Control over reopening conversations in Chatwoot

[rquero-dev]

Context
When using WAHA’s Chatwoot app, every incoming message automatically reopens the last conversation for that contact, even if it has been closed. In many scenarios that’s desirable, but in others the correct behavior is to open a new conversation (e.g., new order, new ticket, change of topic/team, metrics and SLAs per conversation).

Problem
There’s no fine-grained control in WAHA over the reopen behavior. Today the default is to always reopen, which:

• mixes unrelated topics into one long thread;
• skews KPIs (SLA, AHT, CSAT) measured per ticket;
• hinders routing across teams/queues.

Proposal
Add a configurable policy for the WAHA Chatwoot app to decide whether, upon receiving a message from a contact whose last conversation is closed, WAHA should reopen it or create a new one.

Suggested configuration (backward-compatible: default = current “reopen”):

• WAHA_APPS_CHATWOOT_CONVERSATION_POLICY

  • reopen (current default) — always reopen the last closed conversation;
  • new — never reopen; always create a new conversation;
  • auto — reopen only if the conversation was closed recently.

• WAHA_APPS_CHATWOOT_CONVERSATION_TTL_MIN (integer minutes). Used when policy=auto.
  Example: 120 → reopen if the last conversation was closed ≤ 120 minutes ago; otherwise, create a new one.

• (Optional) WAHA_APPS_CHATWOOT_RESPECT_INBOX_LOCK=true|false
  If true, follow Chatwoot’s behavior when the Inbox has Lock to single conversation enabled; if false, WAHA’s policy takes precedence.

Scope / Acceptance criteria

1. With policy=new, incoming messages do not reopen closed conversations; a new conversation is created.
2. With policy=reopen, incoming messages always reopen the last conversation (current behavior).
3. With policy=auto + TTL, reopen only within the configured window; otherwise create new.
4. Clear logs indicating the decision taken: reopened vs created_new, including conversation IDs.
5. Configuration available via both environment variables and the WAHA Dashboard UI for the Chatwoot app.

Motivation / Benefits

• Better governance and reporting (accurate SLA per ticket, cleaner analytics).
• Fits processes where each “topic” must be a new ticket.
• Flexibility: teams can choose to reuse or isolate conversations as needed.

Compatibility

• Default value preserves current behavior (reopen).
• No impact for users who don’t need this feature.

I’m happy to help test this feature in a real environment (WAHA Plus + Chatwoot) and validate the reopen/new/auto + TTL scenarios.

Thanks!

Comment +1 for help this !

[devlikepro]

#1237

We are currently collecting feedback on the ChatWoot integration and will fix bugs and add features in the next iteration once we have a better understanding of what users are using!

You can track all requests by the label:
https://github.com/devlikeapro/waha/issues?q=state%3Aopen%20label%3A%22apps%3AChatWoot%22

Let's see how many and supporters needs the fix and prioritize it based on that.

[devlikepro]

🧩 Apps

• 2025.9.6 - ChatWoot - Conversation Control
  • #1216 , #1357 , #1237 , #1343 , #1213