What is AI Messaging Streaming?Enablement Status Create Communications Widget Test the Streaming Experience

How to set up your agentic self service chat experience end to end

Note

Orchestration AI Agents require chat streaming to be enabled for chat contacts. Without chat streaming enabled, some messages will fail to render. See Enable message streaming for AI-powered chat.

What is AI Messaging Streaming?

AI Message Streaming is an Amazon Connect feature that enables progressive display of AI agent responses during chat interactions. Instead of waiting for the AI to generate a complete response before showing anything to the customer, streaming displays text as it's being generated, creating a more natural, conversational experience.

How It Works

With standard chat responses, customers wait while the AI generates its entire response, then the complete message appears all at once. With AI Message Streaming, customers see a growing text bubble where words appear progressively as the AI generates them, similar to watching someone type in real-time.

Note

Official Documentation: For the complete technical reference, see Enable message streaming for AI-powered chat.

Benefits of Progressive Text Display

AI Message Streaming provides several key benefits for customer experience:

Reduced perceived wait time - Customers see immediate activity rather than staring at a loading spinner
More natural conversation flow - Progressive text mimics human typing, creating a more engaging interaction
Better engagement - Customers can start reading the response while it's still being generated
Fulfillment messages - AI agents can provide interim messages like "One moment while I review your account" during processing

Standard Chat vs Streaming Chat

The following table compares the customer experience between standard chat and streaming chat:

Aspect	Standard Chat	Streaming Chat
Response Display	Complete message appears all at once	Text appears progressively (growing bubble)
Customer Experience	Wait for full response with loading indicator	See words appear in real-time
Perceived Wait Time	Longer (waiting for complete response)	Shorter (immediate visual feedback)
Conversation Feel	Transactional	Natural, like chatting with a person
Fulfillment Messages	Not available	AI can send interim status updates
Lex Timeout Handling	Subject to Lex timeout limits	Eliminates Lex timeout limitations

Enablement Status

AI Message Streaming availability depends on when your Amazon Connect instance was created and how it's configured.

Automatic Enablement for New Instances

Amazon Connect instances created after December 2025 have AI Message Streaming enabled by default. The MESSAGE_STREAMING instance attribute is automatically set to true for these instances, so no additional configuration is required.

Important

If you're using an AWS account with an Amazon Connect instance created before December 2025, you may need to manually enable AI Message Streaming. Follow the instructions in the Enable message streaming for AI-powered chat documentation to check your instance's MESSAGE_STREAMING attribute and enable it if needed.

Amazon Lex Bot Permissions

AI Message Streaming requires the lex:RecognizeMessageAsync permission to function correctly. This permission allows Amazon Connect to invoke the asynchronous message recognition API that enables streaming responses.

For new Lex bot associations: When you associate a new Amazon Lex bot with your Amazon Connect instance, the required lex:RecognizeMessageAsync permission is automatically included in the bot's resource-based policy. No additional configuration is needed.

Important

If you have an Amazon Lex bot that was associated with your Amazon Connect instance before AI Message Streaming was enabled, you may need to update the bot's resource-based policy to include the lex:RecognizeMessageAsync permission.

To update your existing Lex bot policy:

Navigate to the Amazon Lex console
Select your bot and go to Resource-based policy
Add the lex:RecognizeMessageAsync action to the policy statement that grants Amazon Connect access
Save the updated policy

For detailed instructions, see the Lex bot permissions section in the AWS documentation.

The Amazon Connect Communications Widget is an embeddable chat interface that you can add to any website. In this section, you'll create and configure a widget to test AI Message Streaming. You can skip this section if you plan to use your own customer chat widget.

In the Amazon Connect console, navigate to your instance
Click Channels in the left navigation menu
Click Communications widget
You'll see the Communications Widget management page

Note

What is the Communications Widget? The Communications Widget is Amazon Connect's out-of-the-box chat solution. It provides a fully functional chat interface that you can embed in websites using a simple JavaScript snippet. The widget handles all the complexity of establishing connections, managing sessions, and displaying messages.

Click Add widget to create a new Communications Widget
Enter the following details:
- Name: AI-Streaming-Demo-Widget
- Description: Widget for testing AI Message Streaming
Under Communication options ensure Add chat is selected
Select Self Service Test Flow as your Chat contact flow
Click Save and continue to proceed to the configuration page

Contact Flow Selection

Make sure you select a contact flow that:

Has the Basic Settings configured (creates AI session, logging, etc)
Routes to your Lex bot with AI Agent integration
Has proper error handling for disconnects

If you haven't created a contact flow yet, complete the Creating the Flow section first.

Customize the look and feel of your chat widget to match your brand and select Save and continue.

Step 4: Configure Allowed Domains

The Communications Widget only loads on websites that are explicitly allowed. This security feature prevents unauthorized use of your widget.

Scroll down to Allowed domains
Click Add domain and add the following domain for localhost testing:
- http://localhost
Select No under security
If you plan to deploy to a production website later, add those domains as well and ensure you configure security (e.g., https://www.example.com)

Click Save and continue to save your widget configuration
After creation, you'll see the Widget details page with your embed code
Important: Copy and save the following values from the embed code snippet:
- Client URI - The URL to the widget JavaScript file
- Widget ID - A unique identifier for your widget
- Snippet ID - A Base64-encoded configuration string

Step 6: Set Up Local Testing Environment

To test the widget locally, you'll create a simple HTML file that loads the Communications Widget.

Create a new folder on your computer for testing (e.g., ai-streaming-test)
Download the background image for the demo page and save it as background.jpg in your test folder
Create a new file called index.html in your test folder with the following content:


<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="ie=edge">
    <style>
        body {
            background-image: url("background.jpg");
            background-repeat: no-repeat;
            background-size: cover;
        }
    </style>
    <title>AI Message Streaming Demo</title>
</head>
<body>
    <div id="root"></div>
    <script type="text/javascript">
      (function(w, d, x, id){
        s=d.createElement('script');
        s.src='REPLACE_WITH_CLIENT_URI';
        s.async=1;
        s.id=id;
        d.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);
        w[x] = w[x] || function() { (w[x].ac = w[x].ac || []).push(arguments) };
      })(window, document, 'amazon_connect', 'REPLACE_WITH_WIDGET_ID');
      amazon_connect('styles', {
        iconType: 'CHAT',
        openChat: { color: '#ffffff', backgroundColor: '#ff9200' },
        closeChat: { color: '#ffffff', backgroundColor: '#ff9200'}
      });
      amazon_connect('snippetId', 'REPLACE_WITH_SNIPPET_ID');
      amazon_connect('supportedMessagingContentTypes', [
        'text/plain',
        'text/markdown',
        'application/vnd.amazonaws.connect.message.interactive',
        'application/vnd.amazonaws.connect.message.interactive.response'
      ]);
      amazon_connect('customStyles', {
        global: { frameWidth: '500px', frameHeight: '900px'}
      });
    </script>
</body>
</html>

Step 7: Replace Placeholder Values

Replace the placeholder values in the HTML file with your actual widget values:

Placeholder	Replace With	Example
`REPLACE_WITH_CLIENT_URI`	Your Client URI from Step 5	`https://d2s9x5slqf05.cloudfront.net/amazon-connect-chat-interface-client.js`
`REPLACE_WITH_WIDGET_ID`	Your Widget ID from Step 5	`amazon_connect_widget_abc123`
`REPLACE_WITH_SNIPPET_ID`	Your Snippet ID from Step 5	`QVFJREFIaWJYbG...` (long Base64 string)

Step 8: Start a Local Web Server

To test the widget, you need to serve the HTML file from a local web server. Here are several options:

Option A: Python (if installed)


python -m http.server 8001

Option B: Node.js (if installed)


npx http-server -p 8001

Option C: VS Code Live Server Extension

Install the "Live Server" extension in VS Code
Right-click on index.html and select "Open with Live Server"

After starting the server, open your browser and navigate to: http://localhost:8001

You should see the demo page with an orange chat button in the bottom-right corner.

Test the Streaming Experience

Now that your widget is loaded, it's time to test AI Message Streaming and observe the progressive text display in action.

What to Look For: Streaming vs Non-Streaming

Understanding the difference between streaming and non-streaming responses helps you verify that AI Message Streaming is working:

Behavior	Non-Streaming (Standard)	Streaming (AI Message Streaming)
Initial display	Loading indicator or typing dots	Text starts appearing immediately
Text appearance	Complete message appears all at once	Words appear progressively (growing bubble)
Response timing	Wait until AI finishes generating	See response as it's being generated
Visual effect	"Pop" of complete text	Smooth, flowing text like watching someone type

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How to set up your agentic self service chat experience end to end

Note

What is AI Messaging Streaming?

How It Works

Note

Benefits of Progressive Text Display

Standard Chat vs Streaming Chat

Enablement Status

Automatic Enablement for New Instances

Important

Amazon Lex Bot Permissions

Important

Create Communications Widget

Step 1: Navigate to Communications Widget

Note

Step 2: Create a New Widget

Contact Flow Selection

Step 3: Customize Widget Appearance

Step 4: Configure Allowed Domains

Step 5: Save and Get Widget Code

Step 6: Set Up Local Testing Environment

Step 7: Replace Placeholder Values

Step 8: Start a Local Web Server

Option A: Python (if installed)

Option B: Node.js (if installed)

Option C: VS Code Live Server Extension

Test the Streaming Experience

What to Look For: Streaming vs Non-Streaming