> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developer.watson-orchestrate.ibm.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# chat:ready

Triggered when the chat is fully loaded and ready to receive user input. Use this event to perform initialization tasks such as displaying a welcome message, configuring custom header items, or setting up other UI components.

## Event properties

<ParamField path="type" type="string" required>
  Always `'chat:ready'`.
</ParamField>

## Example

```javascript theme={null}
instance.on('chat:ready', (event, instance) => {
    console.log('Chat is ready for interaction');
    
    // Send a welcome message
    instance.send('Hello! How can I help you today?');
    
    // Initialize custom header items
    instance.updateCustomHeaderItems([
        {
            id: 'help',
            text: 'Help',
            type: 'menu-item',
            onClick: () => window.open('/help', '_blank')
        }
    ]);
});
```

<Card title="Do you need practical examples?" icon="text-align-start" href="https://www.ibm.com/docs/SSAVQO/deploy/web_chat_agent/tutorials/tutorials_lp.html" arrow="true" cta="Learn with walk-throughs" horizontal>
  Learn how to apply the features available for embedded chat into your implementation with guidance and examples.
</Card>