Cookies and privacy
Cookies
Maya uses cookies to provide the chat experience and remember functional preferences. Your website’s cookie-consent or security tool must recognize these cookies and must not automatically delete or block them when the relevant consent has been given. If they are blocked, conversations or interface preferences can reset when a visitor changes page or refreshes the browser.
The guidance below is technical information, not legal advice. Your organization remains responsible for choosing the appropriate cookie category, legal basis, consent flow, wording, and retention period with its privacy or legal advisor.
Recommended cookie classification
We recommend adding Maya’s cookies to the Functional category in your consent-management platform. They support chat continuity and interface preferences and are not advertising cookies. Your legal advisor may determine that specific cookies are strictly necessary for the service requested by a visitor; apply your organization’s own consent policy.
Do not rely only on an automatic cookie scan. Some Maya cookies are created only after a visitor opens or uses the chat, and names can differ by environment, language, and organization. Add the patterns manually where your consent tool supports this.
Cookies used by Maya Chat
| Cookie name or pattern | Purpose | Expiry | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
maya_is_test_case_<ENV> | Remembers that chats from this browser should be treated as test chats. | 7 days | First party |
maya_is_internal_case | Remembers that chats from this browser should be treated as internal organization chats. | 7 days | First party |
maya_chat_auto_open_popover_<ENV>_mobile | Remembers the popover’s auto-open preference on mobile devices. | 24 hours | First party |
maya_chat_auto_open_popover_<ENV>_desktop | Remembers the popover’s auto-open preference on desktop devices. | 24 hours | First party |
maya_is_popover_chat_open_<ENV> | Remembers whether the popover chat was open or closed. | 1 hour | First party |
maya_is_popover_notification_dismissed_<ENV> | Remembers that the visitor dismissed the notification bubble next to the chat icon, so it is not shown again straight away. | 1 hour | First party |
maya_is_grid_mode_<ENV> | Remembers whether the visitor was viewing the recommendation grid, so the interface can be restored after navigation or refresh. | 24 hours, and deleted as soon as the visitor leaves the grid | First party |
maya_chat_slug_<ENV>_<LANGUAGE>_<ORGANIZATION_SLUG> | Identifies the active chat so the conversation can continue across page changes and browser refreshes. | 7 days by default, configurable | First party |
maya_chat_token_<ENV>_<LANGUAGE>_<ORGANIZATION_SLUG> | Authenticates access to the active chat and allows the conversation to continue across page changes and browser refreshes. | 7 days by default, configurable | First party |
Additional cookies for multi-client setups ( B2B Mode Only )
Some organizations use Maya to serve several of their own clients from one website, giving each client its own unique page. In that setup Maya keeps a separate conversation per client, so the two chat cookies carry one extra suffix: the client identifier, taken from the last part of the page URL.
For example, if your Maya chat lives at www.example.com/maya, each client has a page such as www.example.com/maya/client-example-slug. Maya reads client-example-slug as the client identifier and adds it to the cookie names.
In this setup the chat identifier cookies without a client suffix are never created. The names below replace them. All other Maya cookies listed above are unchanged.
| Cookie name or pattern | Purpose | Expiry | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
maya_chat_slug_<ENV>_<LANGUAGE>_<ORGANIZATION_SLUG>_<CLIENT_SLUG> | Identifies the active chat so the conversation can continue across page changes and browser refreshes. | 7 days by default, configurable | First party |
maya_chat_token_<ENV>_<LANGUAGE>_<ORGANIZATION_SLUG>_<CLIENT_SLUG> | Authenticates access to the active chat and allows the conversation to continue across page changes and browser refreshes. | 7 days by default, configurable | First party |
Every client creates its own cookie name. Use a wildcard pattern such as maya_chat_slug_* and maya_chat_token_* in your consent tool rather than listing each client separately.
A few notes on the values above:
- All Maya cookies are first-party cookies. The widget runs as a script inside your own page, not in an iframe, so every cookie is written on your own hostname. Maya sets no third-party or cross-site cookies, and none of these cookies can be read from another website.
- Expiry is a maximum lifetime, not a fixed date. The chat, test and internal cookies are rewritten each time a visitor loads a page with Maya, so the countdown restarts on every visit. A returning visitor keeps their conversation for as long as they come back within the expiry window.
- The chat cookie lifetime can be adjusted for your organization. The default is 7 days. Ask the Maya team if you want a shorter session, for example 12 or 24 hours. The other cookies have fixed lifetimes.
- Only two of these cookies contain an identifier.
maya_chat_slugandmaya_chat_tokenreference the active conversation. All the others only store atrueorfalseinterface preference.
The placeholders mean:
<ENV>: the Maya environment, such asdev,staging, orproduction<LANGUAGE>: the widget language, such asnl,en, orfr<ORGANIZATION_SLUG>: your organization identifier from the Maya widget configuration<CLIENT_SLUG>: in multi-client setups only, the identifier of one of your clients, taken from the last part of the page URL
For example, a Dutch production deployment may create cookie names ending in _production_nl_<ORGANIZATION_SLUG>. If you use several languages, make sure your policy and consent tool cover each language-specific cookie name.
Configure your cookie-consent platform
- Create entries for all Maya cookie names or patterns. Include both the general cookies and every relevant environment, language, and organization-specific chat cookie.
- Assign them to the appropriate consent category. The recommended default is Functional, subject to your own legal review.
- Prevent automatic deletion. Some consent tools remove cookies they do not recognize, even after functional consent has been granted. Manually allow Maya’s cookies if needed.
- Update your cookie policy and banner. Explain the purposes, provider, category, and effect of refusing these cookies. Add the retention period configured for your deployment; confirm it with the Maya team if it is not known.
- Repeat the setup for every domain and language. Configuration on one website, subdomain, or locale may not automatically apply to another.
Suggested cookie-policy wording
You can adapt this text for your own cookie policy:
Maya Chat — functional cookies
We use Maya, an AI-powered chat service, on this website. Maya uses functional cookies to maintain an active conversation when you navigate between pages or refresh the browser and to remember interface preferences, such as whether the chat popover or recommendation grid was open. The cookie names may include the Maya environment, selected language, and our organization identifier.
If these cookies are refused or blocked, Maya may not remember the active conversation or interface preferences between pages. The chat may restart or parts of the experience may not work as expected.
Include the cookie table from above, with your variables filled in.
Testing your implementation
Test the configuration on both staging and production, on mobile and desktop, and for every supported language:
- Accept functional cookies, start a chat, navigate to another page, and refresh. The same conversation should remain available.
- Open and close the popover, then navigate or refresh. Confirm the expected state is preserved.
- Open the recommendation grid, then navigate or refresh. Confirm the expected view is restored.
- Review your browser’s cookie storage and check that all created Maya cookies appear in the correct category in your consent tool.
- Reject functional cookies and confirm that your website follows your chosen consent policy. Document that chat continuity or remembered preferences may be limited.
- Repeat the test in a private/incognito window to avoid results being affected by older cookies.
If a conversation disappears between pages, first check whether your consent or security tool is deleting unrecognized cookies. Add the missing Maya cookie names manually rather than relying only on a scanner.