Set Up User Context on BigCommerce

What You're Setting

User Context is a client-side JavaScript object. On every page where the widget loads for a logged-in user, you attach an object to window.Asyntai.userContext describing who they are. The widget sends this with each message, so the AI can reply with their name, order status, plan tier, or anything else relevant.

Keys act as labels the AI sees, so make them descriptive — use "Customer name" or "Loyalty points", not just "name" or "points".

window.Asyntai = window.Asyntai || {};
window.Asyntai.userContext = {
  "Customer name": "Sarah Chen",
  "Email": "[email protected]",
  "Subscription plan": "Pro",
  "Loyalty points": 1840,
  "Last order": "#8847, out for delivery"
};

Two ways to set it

Either assign synchronously (if data is already on the page), or provide a fetcher that runs when the chat opens. The second option is better for performance — user data is only loaded when someone actually opens the chat.

// Option A — synchronous (data already available)
window.Asyntai.userContext = { "Customer name": "Sarah", ... };

// Option B — async fetch on chat open (better performance)
window.Asyntai.fetchUserContext = function() {
  return fetch('/api/chat-context/')
    .then(r => r.json())
    .then(data => { window.Asyntai.userContext = data; });
};

How BigCommerce Exposes the Customer

BigCommerce's Stencil themes expose a customer global in Handlebars templates. When a shopper is logged in, you get customer.name, customer.email, customer.id, customer.phone, and customer.customer_group_id — enough to build a rich context object.

Option 1 — Stencil Theme Edit

{{#if customer}}
<script>
  window.Asyntai = window.Asyntai || {};
  window.Asyntai.userContext = {
    "Customer name": {{{json customer.name}}},
    "Email": {{{json customer.email}}},
    "Customer ID": {{customer.id}},
    "Customer group": {{customer.customer_group_id}}
  };
</script>
{{/if}}

The json helper is BigCommerce's built-in way to output a Stencil value as a JavaScript-safe JSON literal — it handles quotes and special characters so you don't have to escape manually.

Option 2 — Script Manager (no theme edit)

If you'd rather not touch the theme, BigCommerce's Script Manager lets you inject client-side JavaScript that reads the Customer ID from the visible DOM or a BigCommerce JS object.

<script>
window.Asyntai = window.Asyntai || {};
window.Asyntai.fetchUserContext = function() {
  return fetch('/api/my-user-context', { credentials: 'include' })
    .then(r => r.json())
    .then(data => { window.Asyntai.userContext = data; });
};
</script>

Your /api/my-user-context endpoint (hosted anywhere, even on a small Cloudflare Worker or external server) verifies the session and returns the customer JSON. Use the BigCommerce Customers API with a server-side token to look them up.

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