Website chat (AI)

The website chat is a chat button on your website. Visitors' questions are answered by AI only from the knowledge you give it: FAQ pages on your website and text you write in the settings. Visitors can also check their order status and send a question to your e-mail. All conversations are visible in ZERPY.

In the menu it is under Support:

• Website chat — the conversations. Visible to the owner, admin, member and sales roles (area Website chat). The accountant and viewer do not see it.
• Chat settings — owner and admin only.

What you need

• Your own AI key: Anthropic or OpenAI. AI costs come from your AI account, not from ZERPY.
• Knowledge: FAQ pages and/or written text.

The AI does not see your ZERPY data (prices, stock, customers) — it answers only from the knowledge. The order status check is a separate form, not the AI.

Setting it up

Open Support → Chat settings.

AI assistant

1. Choose the AI provider and the Model (the default is a cheaper, fast model).
2. Paste the API key. The key is stored encrypted and never shown again — enter a new one to replace it.
3. AI answers per month (limit) — the most AI answers per calendar month (default 1000). This keeps costs under control.
4. Switch on Chat on and save. On saving ZERPY checks with a tiny request that the key works.

The card also shows this month's usage: number of answers and tokens.

Knowledge

• Add the addresses of your FAQ or other web pages and click Add page (up to 20 pages). ZERPY reads the page text; each page shows its status (Read, Error, Waiting) and number of characters. Pages are read again every day; Read again reads one right away.
• Additional information — anything that is not on your website: opening hours, contacts, answers to common questions.
• Instructions for the assistant — optional: tone, what to recommend, what not to promise (e.g. "For custom sizes, recommend asking for a quote").

Help for visitors

• Forward unanswered questions to — when the assistant cannot help, the visitor can send the question with their e-mail to this address. You reply directly to them.
• Order status — visitors can check their order with the order number and the e-mail on the order.

Chat on your website

• Title and Greeting.
• Colour — chat button, header and the visitor's messages; the text colour is chosen automatically.
• Background colour and Text colour — empty = default (light or dark depending on the visitor's device). If the text is hard to read on the background, you see a warning.
• Preview shows how the chat looks.
• Allowed websites — only these sites can show the chat. Empty = any site; add your site before going live.

Adding it to your website

1. Save the settings — the code line then appears under Add to your website.
2. Click Copy.
3. Paste the line at the end of every page, before the closing body tag (WordPress, Shopify, Wix: custom code / footer scripts).

The chat button appears in the corner of the page. Open chat opens the chat in a new window for testing. New widget key creates new code — then update the code line on your website too.

Trying it

On the Try it card you can ask a test question and see what the AI would answer. Test chats are not saved.

What the visitor sees

• The AI answers from the knowledge, with the note "Answers are generated by AI".
• When a forwarding address is set, the chat has a Contact our team button, and the AI suggests it when it does not know the answer: the visitor enters an e-mail, optionally a name, and the question, and it is sent to your address together with the conversation.
• Order status: the visitor enters the order number and the e-mail used for the order. They see the status, dates, lines (without prices) and shipments with tracking. A wrong number and a wrong e-mail get the same answer, so nobody can guess other people's orders.

The number of messages is limited to prevent abuse.

Conversations and replying

Support → Website chat lists all conversations: question, contact, number of messages, last message and status (Open, Forwarded, Handled). Not answered marks conversations the AI could not answer. Search in messages or by e-mail.

Open a conversation to see it from start to finish.

Replying by e-mail

When the visitor left an e-mail address (forwarded the question or checked an order), the conversation has a Reply by e-mail to … form.

1. Write your reply.
2. Click Send reply.

The reply is sent from your company name and the customer can answer by e-mail. The conversation is marked handled, and the reply also shows in the chat when the visitor opens it again. The conversation shows the e-mail's state (E-mail waiting, E-mail sent, E-mail failed).

If the visitor left no e-mail address, you cannot reply.

Other actions

• Mark handled / Reopen.
• Delete — the messages are deleted permanently (e.g. when a visitor asks to remove their data).

Conversations older than 12 months are deleted automatically.