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First bot checklist

Follow this checklist from top to bottom and you will go from an empty client to a live, well-behaved chat bot. Each step links to the page that explains it in depth.

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1. Pick an AI provider and model

  1. Open your client and go to Settings → AI provider.
  2. Choose a Provider (openai, openrouter, ollama, or openai-compatible) and type a Model name (e.g. gpt-4o-mini).
  3. Paste the API key (not needed for Ollama) and press Save. The key is stored encrypted and never shown again — the field will say "set — leave empty to keep".

Details and tips: AI providers.

2. Write the system prompt

Still under Settings → AI provider, fill in the System prompt: who the assistant is, what it may talk about, what tone to use, and when to point people to a human. This single text box shapes every answer — spend time on it.

3. Style the widget

  1. Go to Settings → Widget appearance.
  2. Pick a Quick theme or set your own colors, set the Panel title, Launcher label and Welcome message, and watch the Live preview update as you type.
  3. Press Save widget settings.

Details: Widget appearance.

4. Whitelist your domains

  1. Go to Settings → Install on your site.
  2. Under Allowed domains, enter your website's domains, one per line (e.g. www.example.com, or *.example.com for all subdomains).
  3. Press Save.

The widget silently refuses to appear on any domain not in this list — this is the number one "widget doesn't show up" cause, so do it before installing.

5. Add your first knowledge

  1. Go to the Knowledge base tab.
  2. Under Add source, choose type file, give it a name like "Product docs", and press Add source.
  3. Upload a PDF, Word, text or Markdown file. Watch its status become ready in the documents table.

Without knowledge the bot only knows what the AI model generally knows — with it, answers cite your actual content. Details: Knowledge base.

6. Test in the Playground

  1. Open the Playground tab.
  2. Chat with the bot exactly as a visitor would — same configuration, same limits, same knowledge.
  3. Try mobile and tablet widths, the inline mode, and a dark page background.

Adjust the system prompt and knowledge until you like the answers. Details: Playground.

7. Set up failure alerts

  1. Open the Notifications tab.
  2. Make sure Notify on failures is checked, and choose the throttle (one email per problem per Hour or per Day).
  3. Under Add receiver, add your name and email — and anyone else who should know when the bot breaks.

Now you'll get an email if the daily message budget runs out or the AI provider starts failing. Details: Failure notifications.

8. Install the widget and go live

  1. Go back to Settings → Install on your site.
  2. Copy the Embed snippet — floating popup (or the inline variant) with the Copy snippet button.
  3. Send it to your web developer, or paste it into your site's HTML just before </body> yourself.

That's it — the bot is live. Details for the developer: Widget installation.

After going live

  • Watch the Statistics tab for the first days — messages, failures, and the activity log. See Statistics.
  • Read a few transcripts under Conversations to spot questions the bot answers poorly, then feed the knowledge base accordingly.
  • Revisit Limits & quotas with your platform admin if traffic is higher than expected.