The Summaries & Memory feature lets your chatbot generate a short AI-written summary of every conversation, build a profile of each client over time, and use this information in future conversations. This allows the chatbot to recognize returning visitors and recall topics from previous interactions - without you reading every chat.
Enabling conversation summaries costs 5 message credits per conversation. The cost is charged once when the summary is first generated, even if the summary is later updated while the conversation remains active.
Where to find these settings
Select your chatbot, open the Settings tab, then select Summaries & Memory in the left sidebar.
Conversation summaries
Conversation summaries are AI-generated overviews created automatically after each conversation ends (about 2 minutes after the last message). They capture key topics, client needs, and significant details from the conversation. Only conversations that happen after you enable the feature are summarized - older conversations are not processed retroactively.
To enable them, turn on the Enable conversation summaries toggle (Settings > Summaries & Memory) and click Save.
Once enabled, two additional options become available:
- Use custom instructions for conversation summary - control what information the AI captures about each conversation.
- Use custom instructions for client summary - control how the AI builds an overall profile of each client across all their conversations.
Turn either option on to reveal a text field where you can write your own instructions (up to 6,000 characters each). Default instructions are provided as a starting point.
Custom instructions let you focus the summaries on what matters to your business, for example:
- Capture only identified client needs or product interests
- Track specific preferences or requirements mentioned across conversations
- Record sentiment or satisfaction indicators
Where to see summaries and client profiles
Both appear in the Chatlogs tab - see the Chatlogs article for a general tour of this view.
Conversation summary
Open Chatlogs and select a conversation. The Conversation summary section appears in the details panel on the right, under Conversation details. It describes what was discussed and how the chatbot helped.
Client profile summary
The client profile is a cumulative summary built from all conversations with the same client. It tracks needs, preferences, and relevant details over time, and is updated after each new conversation with that client. In Chatlogs, scroll the right panel down to the Client details section - the profile appears in the Client profile summary section below the client's contact data.
Chat memory
Chat memory lets the chatbot actually use the conversation summaries and client profile when responding to a returning visitor. Without chat memory, summaries are generated for you to read, but the chatbot does not consult them during conversations.
To enable chat memory:
- Enable Conversation summaries first (the chat memory toggle stays disabled until you do).
- Turn on the Enable chat memory toggle (Settings > Summaries & Memory).
- Adjust the Memory size slider and click Save.
Memory size
The Memory size slider (10% to 90%, in steps of 10) controls how much of the chatbot's context window is reserved for historical information about the client. It is set to 10% by default. For example, with a 16,000-token context and memory size set to 30%:
- 30% (4,800 tokens) is reserved for the client profile and past conversation summaries
- 70% (11,200 tokens) remains available for the knowledge base, current conversation, and instructions
Higher values give the chatbot more access to past context but reduce the space available for knowledge base retrieval, so increase the value gradually if you need deeper recall. Larger context sizes benefit memory the most - see Understanding Chat Context Size for how the context window works and how to extend it.
Activity reports by email
ChatLab can send you regular email summaries of your chatbot's activity. Reports include information about leads, messages, credits, and duration of conversations, along with AI-generated Conversation Insights that summarize your conversations, highlight the most frequent questions, and surface other key insights.
Two report types are available:
- Daily report - a summary of chatbot activity from the past 24 hours, sent every day.
- Weekly report - a weekly conversation summary digest, sent on a day of your choice.
To configure reports, go to Account Settings > Reports and switch between the Daily and Weekly tabs. See Daily Summary Email for details.
Summaries in your language
You can choose the language used for conversation summaries, client profiles, and AI insights. Go to Settings > Languages and set the Reporting language for your chatbot.