Chatbot Widget

Overview

The Chatbot Widget is a chat bubble you add to any website with a single line of code. Visitors click the bubble, chat with an AI assistant trained on your content, and can be handed off to a real agent in the Team Inbox or sent straight into WhatsApp. Manage widgets under More → Chatbot Widgets.

Each widget is fully customisable (colours, position, header, welcome message, background) and works on any website. It is protected by a long, unguessable access code rather than a login, so it runs safely on your customers' sites, not just yours. Chats started by the widget appear automatically in your Team Inbox alongside your WhatsApp conversations — there is no separate place to manage them.

Works with any setup: the widget works no matter how your WhatsApp number is connected. AI replies come from an AI assistant you set up under AI Training; the "open WhatsApp" option simply opens a chat with your number, and an agent reply from the inbox is sent back through your connected WhatsApp.

Widget Modes

A widget runs in one of three modes:

AI modes require an assistant. If you pick AI or Both you must choose an AI assistant from your workspace, otherwise the widget won't save. Create one under AI Training first, then attach it here.

Create a Widget

1. Go to Chatbot Widgets and click Create Widget.
2. Give it a name and choose a mode (AI / WhatsApp / Both).
3. For AI modes, pick the AI assistant. For WhatsApp modes, set the target number (country code + number) and an optional prefilled message.
4. Style the bubble and panel (see Appearance).
5. Optionally enable pre-chat fields — collect name, email, and/or phone before the chat starts.
6. Optionally restrict allowed domains (see Embed & allowed domains).
7. Click Save. On the first save WaDesk creates the widget's access code and gives you the embed code to paste on your site, plus a live preview link.

Appearance & Behaviour

Link an AI Assistant

• Where it comes from. AI replies are generated by an AI assistant you create and train under AI Training (on your docs, FAQs, and web pages). The widget only lets you pick active assistants from your workspace.
• How replies flow. When a visitor sends a message, WaDesk saves it, asks your assistant for a reply, saves that too, and shows it in the bubble. If the assistant runs into a problem, the visitor sees your assistant's fallback message (or a generic "a team member will follow up" line) instead of a broken chat.
• Switching modes. Move a widget from AI to Both to add a "continue on WhatsApp" button alongside the AI chat, or to WhatsApp-only to skip the in-bubble AI entirely.

Embed & Allowed Domains

After saving, copy the one-line code and paste it just before the closing </body> tag of any page you want the widget on. It adds the floating button, and when a visitor clicks it, the chat panel opens. Agent replies from your inbox appear in the panel automatically, without the visitor needing to refresh.

<script src="https://your-wadesk-domain.com/widget/<your-access-code>/embed.js" async></script>

Where to paste it. Drop it into your site's footer (WordPress: a "before </body>" snippet plugin or your theme footer; Shopify: your theme's main layout file, before </body>; plain HTML: at the end of the page). One snippet per site is enough — it loads on every page.

Allowed domains

The widget runs inside your customer's website. The allowed-domains list controls which websites are permitted to load it:

• Empty list (default) → the widget runs on any site. The access code is the gate, and rate limiting guards against abuse.
• Non-empty list → only the listed websites are allowed; everything else is blocked with a clear message in the browser's developer console telling you which domain to add.
• Format. Enter plain domain names like acme.com or shop.acme.com — any https:// prefix and path are removed for you, capitalisation doesn't matter, and duplicates are ignored. You can add up to 50 domains.
• No wildcards. You can't use *.acme.com to cover all subdomains — add each domain explicitly, so a lookalike like evil.acme.com can never sneak in.

When a website is allowed, the visitor's chat stays connected to the same conversation as they move between pages.

Tip. Leave the list empty while you set up, then lock it down to your real websites once you know them.

AI Replies & Team Inbox Handoff

• In-bubble AI. In AI / Both mode the assistant answers directly in the bubble, and both sides of the conversation are saved.
• Handoff to WhatsApp. In WhatsApp / Both mode the button opens a WhatsApp chat with your number (with the pre-filled message, if set). The visitor continues with your team in the Team Inbox, where it behaves like any other WhatsApp conversation (assignment, notes, response targets).
• Agent takeover. Widget conversations appear in your inbox like any other chat, so an agent can step in and reply at any time; the visitor sees the agent's message without refreshing.
• Visitor capture. If you enabled pre-chat fields, the visitor's name, email, and phone are recorded and shown to the agent as context, so they have background immediately.

Visitor Tracking & Rate Limits

• Returning visitors. The widget remembers a visitor (using a cookie tied to that one widget) so when they come back, the inbox shows one continuous conversation rather than a new one each visit. A cookie from one widget can never be used to read another widget's conversations.
• What's recorded. For each visitor: a unique ID, any captured name/email/phone, the page they came from, their browser, their IP address, and when they were first and last seen.
• Stats. The widgets list shows a visitor count per widget plus a workspace-wide total, alongside how many widgets are active.
• Rate limits. To prevent abuse if your embed code is copied, each visitor is limited to 60 messages per minute, and the chat checks for new replies up to 120 times per minute. Normal chats stay well under these.

Manage Widgets

• Reset access code: if your embed code is copied or ends up on the wrong website, reset the access code — the old code stops working immediately and you re-paste the new one. Saved conversations are unaffected.
• Duplicate: makes a copy of a widget with a fresh access code so you can run a variant on another site.
• Pause: a paused widget stops loading on sites until you reactivate it.
• Delete: removes the widget.

Keep your access code safe: it is visible in your site's page source. Use the allowed-domains list for sensitive sites, and reset the code if you suspect misuse.

Troubleshooting