Straight
answers
No fluff, no jargon. Everything you need to know about AskWP in one place.
01 What is AskWP?
AskWP is a free, open-source WordPress plugin that adds an AI-powered chat widget to your site. It uses retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to answer visitor questions based on your actual WordPress content — pages, posts, and FAQs.
02 Is AskWP free?
Yes, AskWP is completely free and open source under the GPLv2 license. You will need an API key from OpenAI, Anthropic, or OpenRouter (which have their own pricing), or you can use Ollama to run models locally at zero cost.
03 Do I need coding skills to use AskWP?
No. AskWP is configured entirely through the WordPress admin panel. Upload the plugin, activate it, add your API key, write a system prompt, and you are done. No code, no terminal, no build tools.
01 How long does setup take?
Most users are up and running in under 5 minutes. The main steps are: install the plugin, enter your API key, and write a system prompt. Everything else has sensible defaults.
02 Which AI provider should I use?
It depends on your priorities. OpenAI (GPT-5.3) offers the best all-around performance for most use cases. Anthropic (Claude 4 family — Opus, Sonnet, Haiku) excels at following instructions precisely. OpenRouter gives you access to any model from any provider through a single API key. Ollama is best if you need complete data privacy or want to avoid per-message API costs.
03 Can I use my own Ollama server?
Yes. Enter your Ollama endpoint URL in the LLM Provider settings tab. The default is http://localhost:11434, but you can point it at any Ollama instance, including one running on a different server.
04 Does AskWP work with WooCommerce?
Yes. AskWP’s RAG system searches any public post type, including WooCommerce products. If a visitor asks about a product, the chatbot can pull information from the product description, price, and attributes.
01 How does RAG work?
When a visitor sends a message, AskWP extracts keywords from the message and runs a WordPress search query. It then ranks the results by relevance, creates text snippets from the best matches, and includes them in the system prompt sent to the AI. The AI uses this context to answer the question accurately.
02 Can the chatbot handle multiple languages?
Yes. AskWP’s default system prompt instructs the AI to respond in whatever language the visitor writes in. You can also configure it to always respond in a specific language by modifying the system prompt.
03 What happens if the AI doesn’t know the answer?
The default system prompt instructs the AI to say it does not have enough information and suggest contacting you directly. You can customize this behavior by editing the system prompt.
04 Can I use the form builder without the chat?
The form builder is integrated into the chat widget. It appears as an overlay inside the chat panel when triggered. You cannot currently use it as a standalone form outside the chat widget.
01 Does AskWP slow down my site?
No. The chat widget’s JavaScript and CSS are lightweight (under 50KB combined) and loaded asynchronously. The AI processing happens via API calls to external providers, so your WordPress server is not under any compute load.
02 Is my data sent to third parties?
When using OpenAI, Anthropic, or OpenRouter, conversation messages are sent to their APIs for processing. These providers offer data processing agreements and do not use API data for model training. With Ollama, all processing happens on your own server — nothing leaves your infrastructure.
03 Does AskWP store conversations?
AskWP does not store conversation history on the server. Conversations are kept in the visitor’s browser localStorage and cleared when they close the browser or start a new session. Token usage is logged (without message content) for cost monitoring.
04 Can I extend AskWP with custom code?
Yes. AskWP provides WordPress filters for the system prompt, RAG context, chat response, and form email body. You can use these hooks in your theme’s functions.php or a custom plugin to modify behavior without editing the plugin files directly.