What is widget vs launcher?
In support-software vocabulary, the widget is the entire embedded chat surface and the launcher is the small floating button that opens it. Many people use the words interchangeably, but the distinction matters when you start customizing the install.
The launcher
The launcher is the floating circular button (usually bottom-right) that visitors click to open chat. It is typically 60 pixels wide, colored to match the brand, with a chat-bubble icon. Default theme styles handle most cases; advanced installs replace the launcher entirely with a custom CTA elsewhere on the page.
The widget
The widget is everything: the launcher, the conversation panel that opens when you click it, the message history, the pre-chat form, and the JavaScript runtime that powers all of it. When someone says "install the widget", they mean drop in the script tag that boots all of this.
Hiding the launcher
Advanced installs sometimes set data-no-launcher on the script tag and call Message.open() from a custom button on the page. The widget is fully installed but renders no button until JS opens it. See the widget customization docs.
See it working on message.com.
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