01 / The problem
Customer support context gets lost when chat, files and follow ups live in separate places. A message sent outside business hours either goes out at a bad time, or gets forgotten until someone remembers to send it. Files also need to stay tied to the right conversation, not scattered across a shared drive.
02 / What I built
Chat that shows who's around
Realtime chat with typing signals, online status and a read receipt stored on every message.
Messages that wait for business hours
Rules set per weekday and per hour, sent in the customer's own time zone.
A folder for every conversation
Each conversation gets its own folder on S3, created from a template, so files stay organized from the start.
Four roles, checked everywhere
From super admin down to user, checked on nearly every route.
One backend, two apps
The same backend serves a mobile app and a web app.
03 / Key decisions
01
Out of hours messages are real scheduling
The send handler queues a job, tracks its status, and releases the message when business hours start in the customer's time zone. It is not just a toggle.
02
Conversation changes moved from REST to sockets
The REST routes were built first, then replaced, so every client sees the same change at the same moment.
03
Every conversation gets its own folder
Created from a template, so files stay organized by conversation instead of piling up in one shared place.
04
One backend for both apps
Role checks sit on nearly every route, so permissions cannot drift between the mobile app and the web app.
04 / Outcome
Al-Khalil is a live client product.
Support staff open one thread and see the whole story: the chat, the files and when a message actually went out.