Changelog

All notable changes to the Conferbot iOS SDK are documented in this file. This is the only changelog for the SDK (the old copy in docs/ was merged in here).

The format is based on Keep a Changelog, and this project adheres to Semantic Versioning.

Everything since 1.0.0: the SDK now behaves like the Conferbot web widget, from the launcher to the AI agent, the handover and the help centre. docs/PARITY.md tracks each feature with its issue and its files.

The 1.0.0 tag does not compile (duplicate declarations, missing members, SwiftUI views marked iOS 14 that use iOS 15 APIs; #1). Apps that pinned 1.0.0 should move to the next release. The changes below are listed against 1.0.0's source.

1. ChatViewController hosts the SwiftUI chat on iOS 15+. ChatViewController(), ConferBot.shared.present(from:) and pushing the controller are unchanged, and ChatViewController(enableKnowledgeBase: Bool? = nil) is new. On iOS 15 and later the controller is a UIHostingController child running ChatView, so UIKit apps get the home screen, help centre, "Your requests", step cards, wait cards and games, formatted replies and the chat menu (#96, #56, #81, #84).
   • The navigation bar is hidden while the chat is on screen (the chat draws the bot's own header with ✕) and put back as it was when the chat goes. The chat no longer sets your navigation bar's appearance or bar button items; customise it in the dashboard. The interactive swipe-back may not work while the bar is hidden; ✕ pops or dismisses.
   • The UITableView, MessageCell, TypingIndicatorCell and ChatInputView are no longer what is on screen on iOS 15+. MessageCell and ChatInputView stay public for custom layouts.
   • ChatViewController's UITableViewDataSource, UITableViewDelegate and ChatInputViewDelegate conformances (and their public tableView(_:...) / chatInputView(_:...) methods) are gone.
   • iOS 13 / 14 keep a UIKit-drawn chat (UIKitChatViewController, internal) in the navigation bar as before: plain-text bubbles, typing dots, the composer, the menu with Email me this chat and Sound on / off. Step cards, live chat cards, the help centre, home screen, wait cards and requests need iOS 15.
2. The SwiftUI views need iOS 15 (@available(iOS 15.0, *); they were marked iOS 14 but use AsyncImage and .task) (#1).
3. ChatView(enableKnowledgeBase: Bool? = nil) (was Bool = true). The owner's help centre setting in the dashboard decides: nil (the default) and true follow it, false hides the Help tab even when the owner turned it on. It can no longer turn the help centre on against the owner's setting (the server sends no articles then) (#33).
4. Node handlers (only for apps that write their own):
   • NodeHandler.handle(node:state:) is @MainActor, and the protocol has handleResponse(_:node:state:) async -> NodeResult? (default nil: move on along the first edge) for the visitor's answer.
   • NodeResult has new cases: .port(String, fallback: String?) (leave by an exact handle), .invalid(String, uiState: NodeUIState?, inCard: Bool) (a refused answer; the step waits) and .end. NodeUIState has .rich(type:data:nodeId:). An exhaustive switch needs the new cases.
   • Removed: MissingNodeHandlers.swift and the guessed-key handler classes that duplicated the registry (for example SendMessageHandler, AskQuestionHandler, ButtonsNodeHandler, TextInputNodeHandler), DisplayHandlerRegistry, IntegrationHandlerRegistry, BaseIntegrationHandler, IntegrationNodeHandler, NodeState, NodeHandlerResult, and the device-side AI handlers (OpenAIHandler, ClaudeHandler, GeminiHandler, GroqHandler, PerplexityHandler, CustomLLMHandler, DialogflowHandler, GptNodeHandler). GPT, AI and integration steps run on Conferbot's server; the app holds no AI key (#26, #28, #45). NodeHandlerRegistry registers every step of the shared spec.
   • InputValidation in Utils/ValidationUtils.swift is now ValidationKind (it clashed with the node input validation type of the same name) (#1).
5. The SwiftUI node views are gone (NodeComponents.swift: NodeRenderer, NodeRenderState, TextInputView, SingleChoiceView, ButtonsView, RatingView, CalendarPicker, PaymentView and the rest, with their ...State types and ChatTheme). The chat draws each waiting step itself (FlowStepView). A custom UI answers a step with ConferBot.shared.answerStep(_:forNodeId:) and FlowStepAnswer, reading the step from waitingStep(_:) (#45).
6. identify(user: ConferBotUser?) takes an optional. identify(user: nil) signs the user out: their "Your requests" list goes at once, an answer still on its way for them is ignored, greet-by-name texts fall back, and the device's push token is unregistered from their conversation. Existing identify(user:) calls compile unchanged (#86, #97).
7. Push. registerPushToken(_:) is deprecated (renamed setPushToken(_:type:)) and still works. New: setPushToken(_ deviceToken: Data), setPushToken(_:type:), unregisterPush(). handlePushNotification(_:open:) gained open (default true: a tap opens its conversation; false only counts it unread), is @discardableResult, and returns true only for a Conferbot push of this bot (1.0.0 took any type: "conferbot_message"). APIClient.registerPushToken(token:chatSessionId:) is deprecated for registerPushToken(_ body:) (#97).
8. ChatState.resolveVariables(text:) fills {x}, ${x}, {{x}}, ${ANSWERS.x} and $${x} as the web does, from the answers, then the flow variables, then the visitor's details. An unknown, null or empty variable now shows nothing (1.0.0 left the placeholder in the text). resolveVariables(html:) escapes the values for owner HTML. resolveVariablesInDictionary was removed (#28, #67).
9. endSession(clearStorage:) no longer sends end-chat (the server takes it only from an agent). While the visitor waits for a person it leaves the queue instead (#59).
10. English wording. The SDK's own words come from the web widget's table, so some English texts changed, for example "Related Articles" is "Related articles" and "Searching..." is "Searching…". UI tests that match the old English need updating. What the owner wrote in the dashboard is shown as written (#89).

• Dashboard customisation, as the web widget draws it: header, bubbles, avatar and option corners, the chat background (gradients, image with mask, 13 patterns), all 27 widget themes with light / dark / auto and the theme palette, in SwiftUI and UIKit (#11-#14).
• The floating launcher (.conferBotWidget()): shapes and styles, all 56 icons and their motion, entrance effects (12), attention modes (8), idle call (5), the 27 mascots with their moods, and the greeting card with its rules, frequency and 11 styles (#15-#17, #20, #82, #88, #47).
• Flow engine at parity: the shared flow-node spec's 156 cases pass. Every step the dashboard builds runs, with a SwiftUI view for every step that waits for the visitor (consent, OTP, address, signature, matrix, ranking, slider, date / time, calendar with booked slots, payment, cards); loops and sub-flows; card numbers, ids and passwords masked (redactSensitive); answerStep(_:forNodeId:), FlowStepAnswer, waitingStep(_:) (#26-#31, #45, #52, #53, #64, #67-#73).
• AI agent: formatted replies (tables, headings, quotes, code), sources and article cards, "Helpful?" with reasons and comments (sendAnswerFeedback(agentMessageId:feedback:), and sendAnswerFeedback(agentMessageId:helpful:reason:)), the 45 s "took too long" notice, question chips, the inactivity close, the phone's language on every record (#4, #32, #43, #44, #49, #94).
• Handover lifecycle: "Connecting you with the team…" and its outcomes, the header's reply time, leaveQueue(_:), the waiting signals (onWidgetSignal(_:_:), WidgetSignal), back in the queue, transfers, a restored live chat, the max-wait countdown and handover-timeout, the post-chat survey, startNewChat(), closedState, a blocked visitor's closed chat (#6, #7, #10, #21-#25, #34-#36, #40, #41, #57, #66, #93).
• While you wait: help articles 6 s into a wait, the server's pick with "That solved it", seven games (ConferBot.shared.waiting) (#37, #58, #83).
• Home screen (enableInitialPage): greeting, "Ask anything", "Talk to us", recent articles, customer logos, view transitions; ConferBot.shared.home, HomeScreenView (#85, #87).
• "Your requests": ConferBot.shared.requests (requests, unread, open(requestId:), refresh(force:)), RequestsPortalView, RequestsViewController (#38).
• Help centre: follows enableKnowledgeBase / hideRecentArticles, bodies fetched on open, search over the socket with snippets, openHelpArticle(id:), isHelpCentreOn, KnowledgeBaseView(articleId:categoryId:onBack:) (#33, #42, #50, #51, #54, #55).
• "Email me this chat": openEmailTranscript(), emailTranscript(_:done:) (#39).
• Widget languages: English, Dutch, French, German and Spanish, chosen as the web chooses; ConferBotConfig(widgetLanguage:), ConferBot.shared.widgetLanguage, I18n.t; the words ship as a SwiftPM resource and in the pod's Conferbot.bundle (#89).
• The owner's font from Google Fonts, registered with Core Text and cached (#46).
• Sounds (ConferBot.shared.sounds, Sound on / off in the menu), human touches (tapbacks, confetti, "No rush", "Edit" on the latest answer), auto-open and the agent's typing preview (#48, #90, #91).
• Post-chat redirect (redirectUrl): a 10 s countdown line with Cancel, then the system browser; ConferBotConfig(onPostChatRedirect:disablePostChatRedirect:), ConferBot.shared.postChatRedirect (#92). The post-chat rating at the flow's end (#95, #98).
• Identity verification: ConferBotUser(hash:), the user sent with every record as the visitor context (#18).
• Push notifications: setPushToken, unregisterPush(), handlePushNotification(_:open:), onPushOpen, pushToOpen, PushTokenType, ConferbotPush, parseConferbotPush(_:), isConferbotPush(_:); the token registered per conversation over HTTP; no push library in the SDK (#97).

• The flow is loaded from the bot's data on connect and started with the session; agent bots open on the agent chat (#1-#4).
• The flow runs as the web runs it: exact handles, the first edge for a step that does not branch, the end of a path ends the chat, unknown steps pass along their first edge, pacing as on the web (#5, #27, #52, #69).
• The composer is one line and grows with the text (#76, #77).

• The package compiles: one calendar handler, no duplicate InputValidation, the missing NodeTypes member, the SwiftUI availability (#1, #9).
• Agent details decode without an email (#3).
• A new session starts from the server's session/init payload and belongs to the client's bot (#60); startSession() no longer hangs on the analytics lock (#61).
• The flow's steps send chatSessionId and botId, so a handover makes a ticket (#62).
• Socket listeners added before connect() are kept, and items are emitted as separate arguments; two connect() calls at once no longer crash (#19, #78).
• A restored bot message keeps its avatar and bubble style (#65).
• A picked file goes to its step to be checked and uploaded; a picked date reaches its step on the right clock (#72, #73).
• A visitor refused at connect no longer sees "Connecting..." for good; the closed chat's composer is off in ChatViewWithKBSheet too (#79, #80).
• OfflineManager publishes its queue count at once and runs one flush at a time (a message could be sent twice); FileUploadService no longer leaks through its URLSession (#99).
• A message sent while the socket is reconnecting is queued and sent on the next connect, not lost; the queue's messages keep their retries. Socket.IO's reconnect fires when reconnection starts, and the SDK no longer takes it as connected (#101).

• Identity verification: with ConferBotUser.hash the server files the chat under the verified user; when the workspace requires it, a missing or wrong hash drops the claimed name, email and id. The secret never ships in the app (#18).
• Sign-out (identify(user: nil)) and switching users drop the last user's requests and ignore answers still on their way for them, for shared devices (#86).
• Card numbers, ids and passwords a visitor types are masked in answers and records unless the bot's redactSensitive is off; the typing preview is never sent from a secure field (#30, #48).
• The post-chat redirect follows only http(s) URLs and opens them in the system browser, never in the chat (#92).
• A push is handled only when it is Conferbot's and for this bot (#97).
• The socket handshake carries the visitor id, so a visitor the workspace blocked is refused at connect (#40).

• Initial release of the Conferbot iOS SDK (Swift 5.7+)
• ConferBot.shared singleton, Combine @Published state and ConferBotDelegate
• Real-time messaging via Socket.IO, REST via URLSession with async/await
• UIKit ChatViewController, MessageCell, ChatInputView; SwiftUI ChatView, MessageBubble, ChatInput
• Node flow engine with 50+ node types
• Live agent handover support, typing indicators
• Message reactions and read receipts
• File and image uploads
• Knowledge base integration
• Session persistence
• Push notification support (APNs)
• User identification and metadata
• Full theming and customization (ConferBotCustomization)
• Offline message queuing
• Analytics and event tracking
• Swift Package Manager and CocoaPods manifests