# Secure a deployment: websites, limits and history

> Control which sites can load your widget, cap usage, and decide what history is kept.

A deployment is public by design: anyone who loads your website can chat. These settings, on the deployment's **Settings** tab, control who can connect and how much they can use. They apply to website widget, hosted page and API deployments alike.

## Allowed websites

**Allowed websites** → **Websites (optional)** lists the websites that may show this deployment's chat, one address per line, with https://:

```text
https://example.com
https://app.example.com
```

- Leave it empty to allow any website. `*` also allows any website.
- Addresses are exact, so `https://example.com` and `https://www.example.com` are separate entries. Enter the address with no path or trailing slash, and add the port if your site uses one, such as `http://localhost:3000`.
- You can add up to 100 addresses.
- The check applies to browsers. Calls from your own servers aren't affected.

The deployment ID and public key in your snippet are public, so anyone can copy them. **Allowed websites** is what keeps another site from running your chat.

If you use the deployment's hosted page or **Preview** and they can't chat, add the page's own address too, such as `https://your-link.help.chat`.

## Traffic limits

Optional caps across all visitors of the deployment, counted per minute or per hour:

| Limit | Up to | Presets |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Messages per minute** | 10,000 | 60, 300, 600 |
| **New conversations per hour** | 100,000 | 100, 500, 1,000 |
| **File uploads per minute** | 10,000 | 10, 60, 120 |

**Default** (empty) relies on help.ai's platform-wide protection. Over a limit, requests are turned away until the minute or hour is up.

## Message and file size

- **Maximum message length:** characters in one visitor message, up to 1,000,000. Presets: 1,000, 4,000, 8,000, 16,000 and 32,000. Longer messages are turned away.
- **Maximum file size:** megabytes per file, up to 1,024. Presets: 1, 5, 10, 25 and 100 MB. help.ai's own limit of 10 MB per file still applies, so a bigger value has no effect.

Empty fields keep the defaults.

## Conversation history

- **Keep conversations:** when it's off, each visit starts a new conversation, and the widget hides its history button. Earlier conversations stay stored.
- **Messages per conversation (optional)** and **Conversations per visitor (optional):** how many of the newest messages, and of a visitor's newest conversations, the widget shows, up to 10,000. Older ones stay stored. Choose a preset (50, 100, 200 or 500 messages; 10, 25, 50 or 100 conversations), enter your own number, or keep **No cap**.

## Keys

| Key | Safe in a browser? | Used for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Public key | Yes | The widget snippet and the hosted page |
| Secret key | No | Signing tokens for signed-in users on your server, and server-to-server calls |

Keep the secret key on your own server. Never paste it into website code. The **Install** tab masks it until you select the eye icon.

A deployment's keys can't be changed. If the secret key leaks, create a new deployment, install its snippet, and delete the old deployment.

## Switch it off

To take a deployment offline without deleting it, turn off **Live** under **Availability**, or choose **Disable** from its row menu in **Deployments**. A deployment also stops answering while its AI agent is disabled.

To remove it, choose **Delete** from the row menu. Public access through it stops working.

<Tip>
Set allowed websites before you announce the widget, so the deployment only answers on your own sites.
</Tip>