Web Messaging widget: persisting authenticated user attributes across sessions

Looking for advice on persisting custom guest attributes for authenticated users in the Web Messaging SDK without triggering a full re-initialization on every route change.

We are managing our widget config via Terraform (genesyscloud_messaging_application), but the client-side JS needs to push the session token and user ID to the guest profile after the OAuth handshake completes. Currently, we are calling genesys.cloud.webmessaging.init with a static user object, but it seems to reset when the browser tab is refreshed or the user navigates away from the support portal.

Here is our current initialization snippet:

const widgetConfig = {
 orgId: 'our-org-id',
 appId: 'messaging-app-id',
 user: {
 id: 'auth-user-123',
 name: 'John Doe',
 email: '[email protected]'
 }
};

genesys.cloud.webmessaging.init(widgetConfig);

Is there a specific API call or SDK method to update the guest profile dynamically without destroying the existing conversation context? We want to avoid the 409 conflict that happens when we try to re-init with different attributes.

To fix this easily, this is…

// Inject attributes via the SDK's event bus post-initialization
// Avoids full re-init on route changes
genesys.cloud.webmessaging.getWidget().then((widget) => {
 widget.on('ready', () => {
 const authData = {
 userId: '12345',
 sessionToken: 'jwt_token_here'
 };
 
 // Update guest profile dynamically
 widget.messaging.updateGuestAttributes(authData);
 
 console.log('Attributes persisted for session');
 });
});

In n8n, I handle similar state persistence by separating the widget initialization from the attribute update. You do not need to tear down the DOM element. Instead, use the updateGuestAttributes method exposed by the widget instance. This keeps the WebSocket connection alive.

Ensure your OAuth token used for the handshake has conversations:messaging:write scope. If you call init repeatedly, you risk creating duplicate conversation threads. The event listener pattern above ensures attributes are pushed only after the client is fully mounted and ready, preventing race conditions in your SPA routing.