How to Implement a Stateless Timer to Auto-Remove Inactive Conversations in an AWS-Based Chat Application?

Question

I am developing a real-time chat application using AWS Streaming APIs, Amazon Lex, Amazon Connect, etc. I need a functionality where if a customer does not reply within a specific time frame, their conversation is automatically removed. I want to implement a stateless timer to track messages, which will reset if the customer replies within the time frame. If the customer does not reply, the timer should trigger an event to remove the chat. How can I achieve this using a solution that does not depend on my application code?

Answer

This can be implemented using the built-in timers and  Idle participant functionality provided by Amazon Connect Chat.

Refer:
1) https://docs.aws.amazon.com/connect/latest/adminguide/setup-chat-timeouts.html OR

2) using ChatJS library
chatSession.onParticipantIdle() => https://github.com/amazon-connect/amazon-connect-chatjs?tab=readme-ov-file#chatsessiononparticipantidle
chatSession.onParticipantReturned() => https://github.com/amazon-connect/amazon-connect-chatjs?tab=readme-ov-file#chatsessiononparticipantreturned
chatSession.onAutoDisconnection()  => https://github.com/amazon-connect/amazon-connect-chatjs?tab=readme-ov-file#chatsessiononautodisconnection

Answer

Use EventBridge Scheduler to create a schedule whenever a message is sent. When the user replies, you need to delete that timer. When it fires, it can invoke a Lambda function that removes the conversation.

How to Implement a Stateless Timer to Auto-Remove Inactive Conversations in an AWS-Based Chat Application?

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