By the end of this guide, you'll have an AI-powered chatbot on your WordPress site that answers customer questions automatically using your knowledge base.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, make sure you have:
- DeskPress activated on your WordPress site
- Help Scout connected to DeskPress (API credentials configured)
- An API key from OpenAI or Google Gemini
Steps
1. Configure your AI provider
Go to DeskPress > AI Agent > AI API. Select either OpenAI or Gemini as your provider and paste your API key.
Choose a Chat Model (this powers the chatbot responses) and an Embedding Model (this powers knowledge base search). The defaults work well for most setups.
Click Save.
2. Build your knowledge base
Go to DeskPress > AI Agent > Knowledge Base. Enable at least one content source:
- Help Scout Conversations -- past resolved conversations
- Help Scout Docs -- your published documentation
- WordPress Site Content -- posts, pages, products, etc.
- External Websites -- content from other sites via sitemap URLs
Click Index All to build the knowledge base. This runs in the background and may take a few minutes depending on how much content you have.
3. Enable the chatbot
Go to DeskPress > AI Agent > Chatbot and toggle Enable Chatbot to on.
4. Choose a display mode
Decide how the chatbot appears on your site:
- Floating Bubble -- a chat icon appears in the corner of every page. Choose bottom-right or bottom-left using the Position setting.
- Embedded -- place the chatbot on specific pages using the
[hsd_chatbot]shortcode or the AI Chat block in the Portal Template Builder.
5. Customize the welcome experience
- Chatbot Name -- give your bot a name (e.g., "Support Bot")
- Subtitle -- a short line under the name (e.g., "Available 24/7")
- Greeting Message -- the first message visitors see when they open the chat
- Avatar URL -- a custom image URL for the chatbot's avatar
6. Set up handoff
When the AI cannot resolve an issue, it offers to hand off to a human. Choose a handoff mode:
- Beacon -- opens the Help Scout Beacon widget for live chat
- Form -- links to your support form page
You can customize the handoff button text using the Handoff Text field.
7. Configure rate limiting
Set the Rate Limit to control how many messages a visitor can send per session. The default of 10 prevents abuse while still allowing meaningful conversations.
8. Save
Click Save to apply your settings.
Verification
Open your site in a new browser tab (or an incognito window). You should see the chatbot bubble in the corner of the page, or on the page where you placed the shortcode. Click it and ask a question related to your knowledge base content. The AI should respond with a relevant answer.
Optional: Enable extra tabs
The chatbot panel can show additional tabs:
- Tickets Tab -- lets logged-in users see their recent support tickets inside the chatbot. Enable it with the Show Tickets toggle.
- Docs Tab -- adds a documentation search tab. Enable it with the Show Docs toggle. This requires a Docs API key configured under DeskPress > Integrations > Docs.