Web Messaging SDK: Custom guest attributes not persisting for authenticated users

We are instrumenting the Genesys Cloud Web Messaging SDK (v1.2.0) to track customer journey metrics in New Relic. The setup involves identifying users before they start a chat session. We’ve configured the widget to accept custom attributes via the onReady callback, but the attributes aren’t showing up in the conversation metadata in the Genesys UI or the analytics export.

Here’s the initialization code running in the browser context:

pureCloudMessaging.init({
 organizationId: 'ORG_ID',
 deploymentId: 'DEPLOY_ID',
 onReady: (messaging) => {
 const user = getCurrentUser(); // Returns { id: '123', name: 'Sam' }
 messaging.setGuestAttributes({
 'userId': user.id,
 'customerTier': 'Gold',
 'source': 'mobile-app'
 });
 console.log('Attributes set:', messaging.getGuestAttributes());
 }
});

The console log confirms the attributes are stored locally in the widget instance. However, when I inspect the API response from GET /api/v2/conversations/guests/{guestId} shortly after the session starts, the attributes object is empty.

{
 "id": "guest-uuid",
 "attributes": {},
 "externalContactId": null
}

We’ve verified that the deployment configuration allows custom attributes. The setGuestAttributes method seems to be a local state operation until the first message is sent or the session is explicitly started. Is there a specific SDK method we need to call to flush these attributes to the server before the startSession call? Or is there a delay in the propagation that we’re missing?

We’ve tried calling messaging.startSession() immediately after setting the attributes, but the result is the same. The userId is critical for our New Relic entity correlation, so we can’t wait for the first message to trigger the sync. Any pointers on the correct sequence of SDK calls?

The issue isn’t the SDK initialization. The Web Messaging SDK sends those custom attributes as transient session data, not as persistent user metadata. If you’re expecting them to stick around for analytics or show up in the Genesys UI after the chat ends, you’re hitting a design limit. The widget drops them once the connection closes unless you explicitly persist them.

You need to hook into the onMessage event and push those attributes to the external data service or use a Data Action in Architect to save them to the user’s profile via the /api/v2/users/{userId} endpoint. But since you’re doing this client-side, the easier route is using the setUserData method correctly after authentication, not just in onReady.

Here’s how to force persistence using the SDK’s setUserData before the conversation starts:

genesyscloud.widget.onReady(() => {
 const user = genesyscloud.widget.getUser();
 
 // Ensure user is authenticated first
 if (user.isAuthenticated) {
 user.setUserData({
 customAttributes: {
 newrelic_session_id: 'your-nr-id-here',
 journey_step: 'pre_chat'
 }
 });
 
 // Optional: Force a sync if needed
 user.syncUserData();
 }
});

Also check your webhook retry policy. If the external system (New Relic) is slow to respond, the Genesys platform might drop the event. Verify the dead letter queue in /api/v2/webhooks for failed deliveries. If you see 429s, bump the retry backoff.

One more thing: make sure your Architect flow isn’t stripping these attributes. If you’re using a “Set Participant Data” action, it might be overwriting the SDK-sent data. Check the flow logs.

This should fix the persistence issue. If it doesn’t, look at the browser console for CORS errors blocking the sync call.