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Identity verification lets your agent know who the user is — enabling personalized support and persistent conversations.

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What You Get

FeatureAnonymousVerified
ChatYesYes
Conversation historyNoYes
Personalized by nameNoYes
User-specific actionsNoYes

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How It Works

  1. User logs into your app
  2. Your backend mints an Ourguide identity token (JWT signed with your Ourguide secret)
  3. Your frontend calls window.ourguide('identify', { token })
  4. Widget now knows who the user is
This is not your app’s session JWT. It’s a separate Ourguide-scoped identity token that your backend mints specifically for Ourguide. Your app JWT stays private.

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1. Get Your Secret

Go to dashboard.ourguide.ai/dashboard/deploy/widget → copy Verification Secret. Add to your backend environment: 
OURGUIDE_VERIFICATION_SECRET=your_secret_here
Never expose this secret in frontend code.

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2. Create Backend Endpoint

const jwt = require('jsonwebtoken');

app.get('/api/ourguide-token', authMiddleware, (req, res) => {
  const token = jwt.sign(
    {
      user_id: String(req.user.id),
      exp: Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000) + 3600,
      email: req.user.email,
      name: req.user.name,
    },
    process.env.OURGUIDE_VERIFICATION_SECRET,
    { algorithm: 'HS256' }
  );
  res.json({ token });
});

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JWT Payload

FieldTypeRequiredDescription
user_idstringYesUnique user identifier
expnumberYesExpiration (Unix timestamp)
emailstringNoUser’s email
namestringNoDisplay name

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3. Identify in Frontend

import { OurguideWidget } from "@ourguide-ai/ui";

function App() {
  return (
    <OurguideWidget
      productId="YOUR_PRODUCT_ID"
      apiUrl="https://dashboard.ourguide.ai"
      getIdentityToken={async () => {
        const res = await fetch('/api/ourguide-token');
        const { token } = await res.json();
        return token;
      }}
    />
  );
}
With the React SDK, pass getIdentityToken to the widget component. The SDK calls it on mount and auto-refreshes when the token expires — no manual polling needed.
That’s it. No useEffect, no setInterval, no window.ourguide('identify') calls.

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4. Handle Logout

// Logout is handled automatically — when the component unmounts
// or the user navigates away, the session is cleared.

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Troubleshooting

IssueSolution
User not identifiedCheck secret matches dashboard, user_id is a string
Token invalidCheck exp is in the future, algorithm is HS256
History not persistingCall identify() on page load, not just after login