Quickstart

This quickstart will get you from zero to a working chatbot on your website in about 10 minutes. We'll cover the essentials: creating a knowledge base, setting up your chatbot, adding actions, and deploying it.

Create a Knowledge Base

First, let's give your chatbot something to talk about. Knowledge bases train your chatbot to answer questions based on your content.

Go to Knowledge Bases in your workspace
Click "Create Knowledge Base"
Give it a name like "Product Knowledge Base" or "Support Docs"
Click "Create"

Now add some content. You can:

Upload files - PDFs, Word docs, or text files (up to 10MB each)
Add text snippets - Paste content directly
Add Q&A pairs - Common questions and answers
Add web links - Pull content from your website

Once you've added content, click "Train Knowledge Base" and wait for it to finish. You'll see a green "Success" status when it's ready.

You can skip this step and create a chatbot without a knowledge base, but your bot will only be able to chat without answering questions about your content. You can always add a knowledge base later.

Create Your Chatbot

Now let's create the chatbot itself.

Go to Chatbots in your workspace
Click "Create Chatbot"
Fill in the details:
- Name: Something like "Support Bot" or "Sales Assistant"
- Knowledge Base: Select the one you just created (or skip if you didn't create one)
Click "Create Chatbot"

You'll be taken to your chatbot's settings page. This is where you'll configure everything.

Add Your First Action

Actions are what make your chatbot useful beyond just chatting. Let's add a simple one to get started.

In your chatbot settings, go to Actions
Click "New Action"
Choose "Custom Button" (it's the simplest to start with)

Fill in the form:

Name: "Pricing Button"
Button text: "View Pricing"
URL: Your pricing page URL (like https://yoursite.com/pricing)
Instructions: Copy this:

When a user asks about pricing, costs, plans, or "how much does it cost", execute this action to show them a button linking to the pricing page.
After showing the button, say "Click the button above to see our full pricing and plans."

Click "Create"

Your action is now active. Your bot will automatically show this button when someone asks about pricing.

Want to collect leads instead? Create a Lead Capture action. It's perfect for getting contact information from visitors. Check out the Lead Capture guide for details.

Test Your Chatbot

Before deploying, let's make sure everything works.

Go to Playground in your chatbot settings
Try asking some questions:
- If you added a knowledge base, ask questions about your content
- Ask about pricing to test your button action
- Try different variations to see how your bot responds

The playground shows you exactly what visitors will see. If something doesn't work right, you can adjust it before going live.

Deploy Your Chatbot

Time to put your chatbot on your website.

Go to Deploy → Widget in your chatbot settings
Customize the Content tab:
- Set a display name for your chatbot
- Add initial messages (the greeting visitors see)
- Add suggested messages (quick action buttons)
Customize the Style tab:
- Choose Light or Dark theme
- Set your brand colors
- Upload custom icons if you want
Go to the Embed tab
Copy the embed script
Paste it into your website's HTML, either in the <head> or before the closing </body> tag

See detailed guide on how to deploy your chatbot for more options.

That's it. Your chatbot is now live on your website. Visit your site and you should see the chat icon. Click it to start chatting.

What's Next?

You've got a working chatbot, but here are some ways to make it even better:

Add More Actions

Lead Capture - Collect contact information from visitors
Cal.com Booking - Let people book meetings directly through your chatbot
More Custom Buttons - Add buttons for demos, sign-ups, documentation, etc.

Improve Your Knowledge Base

Add more content as you create it
Update your knowledge base regularly to keep answers current
Use Q&A pairs for common questions

Customize Further

Fine-tune your chatbot's personality and instructions
Add more initial and suggested messages
Adjust the widget styling to match your brand perfectly

Need Help?

Actions Overview - Learn about all available actions
Knowledge Bases Guide - Deep dive into knowledge bases
Chat Widget Guide - Advanced deployment options
Best Practices - Tips for getting the most out of your chatbot

Ready to build something awesome? Go create your chatbot.