> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.ciarem.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Taking orders in chat: the checkout module
> Turn on checkout so your sales agents can build, confirm, and register customer orders inside the conversation, and where your team manages them afterwards.
With the checkout module on, a **Sales agent** does more than quote prices. It builds a real order while the conversation flows, collects the details you need for every sale, reads the order back, and registers it the moment the customer confirms. Your team then takes over payment and delivery from the **Orders** page.
## Turn on checkout
Checkout is an add-on.
Go to **Settings**, then **Add-ons**.
**See details** shows everything the module includes before you decide. Once active, **Orders** appears in the sidebar for your whole team. While it is off, the Orders page stays hidden.
Define the **order fields**: the details the agent must collect for every order, such as a delivery address or a payment method.
Each field has a type (**Text** or **Options**) and can be marked **required**. The agent will not confirm an order while a required field is missing. It keeps asking, conversationally, until the customer has answered everything.
Checkout applies to your **Sales agents** that have access to at least one catalog. There is nothing to configure per agent. Once the module is on, every sales agent that can sell from a catalog can take orders.
## Orders are catalog-only
The agent can only add items that exist in a [catalog](/using-ciarem/catalogs) it has access to, at the prices the catalog states. If a customer asks for something that is not in the catalog, the agent says so and offers the closest alternatives. It never invents an item or a price. Delivery fees or add-ons you sell should therefore exist as catalog records too.
## How an order happens in chat
The flow mirrors how a good human seller closes:
1. The customer decides on something, and the agent adds it to the order.
2. As the chat advances the agent collects your order fields one at a time, inside the conversation, never as a form.
3. Before confirming, the agent reads the complete order back: items, quantities, total, and the collected details.
4. Only after the customer explicitly agrees does the agent confirm the order. Confirmation and recap always happen in separate messages, so the customer always sees what they are agreeing to.
If the customer changes their mind mid-way, the agent updates quantities, removes items, or cancels the order. Customers can also ask about **previous purchases**. The agent reads the contact's order history, so "what did I order last time?" or "send me the same as always" get real answers, and repeats are rebuilt at current catalog prices.
## After the confirmation
When the customer confirms, Ciarem saves the order and hands the conversation to your team. The agent tells the customer a teammate takes over from there. It never claims the order is on its way or promises delivery times. Coordinating payment and fulfillment is [your team's job after the handoff](/using-ciarem/after-the-handoff).
Everything lands on the **Orders** page: every order with its items, totals, collected details, and status. Move an order from **Confirmed** to **Completed** when it is fulfilled, or to **Cancelled** if it falls through.
## Orders where your team works
The order follows the conversation and the customer, so your team never hunts for context:
* **In the inbox**, the conversation's details panel shows an **Orders** card with what this chat produced. The teammate who inherits the handoff sees what was bought without leaving the thread.
* **On the contact**, an **Orders** tab lists the customer's full history: every order across all their conversations, with status and total.
## Try it without real orders
In the agent **Playground**, checkout runs as a rehearsal. The agent behaves as it would live (adding items, collecting fields, reading back, confirming) but nothing is saved. Use it to try the flow with your own catalog and fields before going live.