Launchers are a great tool to empower your users to access information at their own pace through targeted checklists, release logs, help menus, and more.
You can add different types of items to Launchers that users can access at their own pace to learn how to use your product or provide direct feedback that you can incorporate into your guidance and flows.
Launcher items are the individual components that make up the content of your Chameleon Launcher. These items represent different types of resources, links, experiences, or actions that users can access at their own pace through your Launcher interface.
With each Launcher you create in Chameleon, you can fully customize what items you add and how they behave. The items serve as the building blocks of your Launcher, whether linking to helpful resources, triggering other Chameleon Experiences, displaying videos, enabling chat with your team, or executing custom actions.
You can add a title and description to each item to present your guidance with clarity. Additionally, you can include a search component to allow users to find specific items within your Launcher quickly 🔎.
Available Item Types
To ensure these powerful menus have all the resources your users may need, you can add any combination with these types of items, which we'll cover below:
Page URLs
Script (JS code)
Additional Actions (launchable Integrations)
Aside from adding individual Items, you'll also have a few other components to help turn your Launcher into a useful onboarding list or the place to get the latest exciting updates.
When you create a new Launcher, you will find it empty. You can add a new item from the Items section of the Builder:
Select item type: Click on the desired item type from the available options in the Items section
Configure item settings: Once selected, you'll see configuration options specific to that item type, including redirect options, title settings, and completion criteria
Customize item appearance: Click directly on any item in your Launcher preview to open the Builder's configuration panel for that specific item
💡 You can add as many items as you want - e.g. you can add multiple URL items if you wish to link to help articles, blog posts, or something else). Simply click the item type and a new one will be added to your Launcher for you to configure. It's easy to keep up with your Launcher's configuration from the Builder.
With Chameleon, you can create. interactive Launchers that provide a lot of value. You have options to create personalized experiences that cater to different user needs. Below you can find an overview of each item type and its corresponding settings.
These Chameleon Experience items allow users to access guided tours or provide feedback when ready, giving them control over their experience.
When you add a Walkthrough or Microsurvey, you'll get the full list of Experiences created on your account (including Drafts and Inactive ones). But your users can launch only live Experiences from your Launchers. Make sure you go in and set all the Experience items as 'Live', before publishing your Launcher to your users.
Configuration options
Title: This text appears in the Launcher for your end-users and should clearly describe the item's purpose.
Redirect on click: When enabled, this setting redirects users to a specified URL when they click the Launcher item. This feature is particularly useful for directing users to the page where the Experience will start, since Tours and Microsurveys triggered from Launchers ignore the first Step URL, Element, and Trigger Rules.
Description (optional): You can add a description below the title to describe what the item represents.
Segment: This feature works as a subset of your Launcher's main audience, allowing you to show different items to different user segments. For example, you might restrict items in a 'Feature Updates' Launcher based on user rights or access to specific features.
Completion Criteria: Define what marks the Launcher item as completed. It can either be the event that's fired when your user completes the Experience (Tour completed or Microsurvey completed) or any other event that you're tracking in Chameleon.
Hide when complete: Choose whether to remove the item once it's completed. You can decide what to display if all items are removed by defining an Empty State.
The HelpBar item enables users to access your help documentation, blog articles, or
Allow users to access your HelpBar from any Chameleon Launcher to enable a deeper search experience whenever they encounter blockers in your product. The HelpBar supports your help documentation, blog article, or developer docs, as well as product navigation and actions.
Configuration Options
You have the usual Experience configuration options to set up the HelpBar:
Title
Description
Segment
Completion Criteria
Hide when complete
Additional Actions leverage your tool stack to drive self-serve adoption by allowing users to launch chats, videos, prototypes, and more from your Launcher. You can include multiple Additional Actions in your Launcher.
👉 Make sure you enable your integration in the Dashboard first, so it will show up in the Builder as you configure your Launcher.
Configuration Options
You'll find the usual Experience configuration options to configure them:
Title
Description
Segment
Completion Criteria
Hide when complete
Depending on the Additional Action type, you'll find specialized configuration options. For example:
Typeform surveys: Choose display mode (fullscreen popup, embedded, etc.)
Chili Piper: Select scheduling type (Concierge, Static URL, router-based)
Loom videos: Configure video display settings
Script items provide maximum flexibility by allowing you to execute custom JavaScript code when users click the item.
Common Use Cases
Opening chat messengers (Intercom, Zendesk integration)
Creating customized wrappers for in-product widgets
Executing complex user flows using Chameleon Launcher as a trigger point
Opening different Launchers programmatically
👉 Discover all the possibilities for using code scripts in Chameleon.
ℹ️ If you employ a Content Security Policy (CSP) then you must add an exception to allow this functionality to be used. Learn more about CSP.
Example: Have an Item open a different Launcher
You can use JavaScript code to create sophisticated launcher workflows. For example, closing one Launcher and opening another:
💡 If you already use the chmln.show(Experience_ID) command to run Experiences, you'll notice that in the case of an open Launcher, it gets in the way of another one opening. We need to close the first one first, and here's what we end up with:
chmln.show('CLOSING_LAUNCHER_ID', { close: true});
setTimeout(function(){ chmln.show('OPENING_LAUNCHER_ID',
{ open: true}); }, 0);ℹ️ Keep in mind that the open: true option is only used to open a Launcher that is already shown on the page, and won't add it to the page and open it.
You can add any custom URL to your Launcher as an item that will provide more value, context, or help when your users need it. With Link Items, you have the same useful options to customize how they appear to your users
Configuration Options
Open in a new tab - Control whether links open in the current window or new tab
Description
Target Audience
Completion Criteria
Hide when complete
Beyond individual items, Launchers support several components to improve organization and user experience.
Divider: Add a horizontal divider to separate your items. You can customize its color and thickness.
Title: Add a Title to your Launcher. You can customize its Alignment, Color, Font size, apply markdown styling, and personalization variables.
Search: Include a search bar in your Launcher. You can change the placeholder text.
Checklist: Transform your Launcher into a checklist by marking completed items with a checkmark. You can change the checkmark color.
Welcome state: Show a welcome message the first time a user sees your Launcher to provide more context and make a good first impression. You can customize its Title, add a Media component, customize its body text, as well as the CTA button.
Empty State: Show an Empty State instead of hiding the Launcher when all your items are completed by your users. Here you can leverage markdown styling, and personalization variables for your text, as well as customize its Alignment, Color, and Font size.
Best Practices for Launcher Items
Content organization strategy: Structure your Launcher items logically with clear hierarchies. Use dividers and titles to group related items together, making navigation intuitive for users.
User control principle: Remember that Launchers empower users to access information at their own pace. Design your items to support self-service learning and reduce dependence on support channels.
Completion tracking: Set up meaningful completion criteria for each item type to track user progress and engagement. This data helps optimize your onboarding and user guidance strategies.
Segmentation utilization: Use segment targeting to show relevant items to appropriate user groups, reducing cognitive load and improving user experience relevance.