Activities / What code does

Records text chat

records_text_chat

Your app keeps what users type in a chat, or a vendor's chat feature inside it receives the text as it is typed, whether a person or an assistant answers.

scope code
in the registry since 1.0
159 laws in 100 jurisdictions name it

What triggers it

The lint's definition. It keeps what users type in a chat, or has a vendor receive it as they type, with a person or an assistant answering: live chat, a chat widget, stored transcripts, session replay of typing. A saved form is not this.

This covers a live-chat window whose vendor keeps the transcript, a support widget that forwards messages to an agent, an assistant whose conversations you store, and a session-replay tool that captures what users type.

What does not

A form your app only saves does not count, and an assistant that keeps no transcript and passes nothing to a vendor is Deploys a chatbot alone.

Often confused with Deploys a chatbot and Records calls.

The law it brings into scope

The kinds of law that name this activity in the LexLint law library, with the number of laws and jurisdictions in each, as of 19 Oct 2026. The examples are chosen by rule, laws in force first and the widest jurisdiction first; each section's page lists every law.

Area of law	Laws	Jurisdictions
Cybersecurity law Build software securely, handle reported flaws, and report incidents on a deadline. National Cybersecurity Incident Reporting Measures China Digital Code, general cybersecurity duty on digital-object owners and holders Kazakhstan Information and Communications Network Act, Report on Computer Security Incidents South Korea	90	66
Communications law Get consent before marketing, calling, recording or storing data on a device, and honor an opt-out. MiFID II European Union Investigatory Powers Act 2016, Unlawful Interception and Lawful Business Monitoring United Kingdom Wiretap Act United States	50	42
Product and AI liability law Answer in damages when defective software or an AI system causes harm. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 46, remedy for damage that digital content causes to a consumer's device or other digital content United Kingdom Võlaõigusseadus, Sections 1061 to 1067, Liability for a Defective Product (Directive 85/374/EEC) Estonia Cybersecurity Program safe harbor from exemplary damages (S.B. 2610) Texas	23	22
Privacy law Have a legal basis for personal data, honor people's rights over it, and report a breach. Labour Code Section 11/A, Monitoring of Employees and Employer-Provided Devices Hungary Act of 30 July 2018 Article 10/1, Recorded Commercial Communications Belgium Labour Code Article L.261-1, Monitoring of Employees and Personal Data in the Employment Relationship Luxembourg	3	3

Counterparties that usually come with it

a live-chat or help-desk vendor
a session-replay service

A component that cannot run as documented without one of these names it in its ACTIVITIES.md under talks_to, with required: true. That party's jurisdiction then joins the run of every product that uses the component, and the finding says why it is there. A default the deployer can change is asked about, never added. Talking to a party never makes a product that party.

In a declaration

A library or framework that makes this possible enables it; an application whose shipped code does it performs it.

For a library

activities: - id: records_text_chat mentioned: enables enabled: requires_configuration where: [<the module that carries it>] note: <one sentence>

For an application

activities: - id: records_text_chat mentioned: performs enabled: by_default where: [<the module that carries it>] note: <one sentence: what it does, and the kind of law it attracts>

History

In the registry since version 1.0, 16 Oct 2026. It replaces records_conversations, retired in version 1.0 together with Records calls.

In the glossary: Records text chat.

The activity registry is LexLint's open list; this page's text is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.