> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.zaapi.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.zaapi.com/ticket-inbox/understanding-tickets.md).

# Understanding tickets

### What is a Ticket?

A Ticket is a single customer support session. It contains the messages exchanged between a customer and your team (or AI Agent) on one channel, from the moment the session starts to the moment it's resolved.

Tickets are the unit of work in Zaapi. Everything in the platform — assignment, labels, notes, automations, analytics — happens at the Ticket level.

A Ticket has:

* A **status**: Open, Closed, or Spam.
* An **assignee** (an agent or team), or no assignee if unassigned.
* A **conversation**.
* A set of **Ticket Fields** with custom data (see the **Ticket Fields** section).

### Contacts, Conversations & Tickets

```
Contact
 └── Conversation (one per channel — e.g. Facebook Messenger, LINE, Shopee Chat)
      └── Ticket (one per support session within a conversation)
      └── Ticket (next session, opened later)
      └── Ticket ...
```

A **Contact** represents a single customer. One customer, one Contact record — regardless of how many channels they use to reach you.

A **Conversation** is the ongoing thread between a Contact and your store on a specific channel. If the same customer messages you on both LINE and Facebook, they have one Contact but two Conversations.

A **Ticket** is a discrete support session within a Conversation. A Conversation can have many Tickets over time — each time a resolved Ticket is reopened (or a new one is created), it becomes a separate Ticket.

### How Tickets are created

A new Ticket is created automatically when:

* A customer sends a message to one of your connected channels and there is no Open Ticket for that Conversation.
* An agent **manually** opens a Ticket on a Contact.

When a Ticket is created, it starts in **Open** status and is unassigned by default (unless an assignment automation routes it).

### Ticket statuses: Open & Closed

Every Ticket sits in one of three states:

* **Open** — the Ticket is active. New customer messages are appended to this Ticket. Open Tickets show up in the default Inbox views.
* **Closed** — the Ticket has been closed by an agent or by an automation. No new messages will be appended unless the Ticket is reopened (see *The Ticket Lifecycle*).

### The difference between Tickets, Comments, and Reviews

Zaapi handles three separate types of customer interaction:

* **Tickets** are direct messages — the customer is messaging you privately on a channel like Messenger, WhatsApp, LINE, or Shopee Chat.
* **Comments** are public posts on your Facebook or Instagram page (see the **Comments** section).
* **Reviews** are public product reviews on Shopee or Lazada (see the **Reviews** section).

Each lives in its own area of Zaapi but can optionally be converted into a Ticket — for example, replying privately to a public comment opens a DM Ticket.