Check the basics first
Is chat enabled? Under Contact → Chat, confirm chat is enabled and a provider is selected.
Is the ID correct? For paste-an-ID providers, re-copy the value from your provider's dashboard. These IDs are long and a truncated paste looks identical at a glance. Check you've pasted the right kind of ID too — Help Scout wants a Beacon ID, Crisp wants a Website ID, Freshdesk wants a Freshchat Token.
Is your OAuth connection still active? For Intercom and Zendesk, check Integrations. If the connection shows an error, reconnect. See Connecting Intercom and Zendesk chat.
Provider-specific issues
Help Scout — only Beacon 2.0 is supported. If you're on the older 1.0 framework, chat won't load and you'll see console errors. Create a new Beacon in Help Scout; new ones are 2.0 by default.
Kayako — the field wants your subdomain only, not the full URL. If you log in at acme.kayako.com, enter acme.
Zendesk — same: subdomain only.
Facebook Messenger — the most fragile of the providers. Messenger is blocked by Firefox's content blocking in private windows and by the Facebook Container extension, and your page's domain must be whitelisted in your Facebook Page settings. A console error mentioning a Content Security Policy or frame ancestors means the domain isn't whitelisted.
Providers that aren't ready yet
LiveAgent, HubSpot, and ServiceNow appear in the provider picker but aren't implemented. Selecting one won't produce a working handoff. Use email or phone until they ship.
Two chat widgets appearing
You've left your provider's own script on your site. HelpShelf loads it on demand, so remove the provider's snippet from your HTML. See Connecting live chat.
Blocked by the browser
Chat launchers open a page that loads your provider's SDK. If a visitor's browser blocks third-party scripts or pop-ups, it may not open. Test in a clean private window with extensions disabled to rule this out.
Still not working?
Get in touch with your provider, the ID you've configured (the widget ID, never a secret or API key), and any console errors.