=== Hyve Lite – AI Chatbot Trained on WordPress Posts, Pages, Products & More with ChatGPT ===
Contributors: themeisle, hardeepasrani
Tags: ai chatbot, chatbot, chatgpt, customer support, ai assistant
Requires at least: 6.2
Tested up to: 7.0
Requires PHP: 7.4
Stable tag: 2.0.1-dev.1aa98b7
License: GPLv3
License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html

AI chatbot that engages visitors 24/7 and automates customer support from your content. Use free monthly AI credits or scale with your OpenAI key.

== Description ==

Every site gets the same handful of questions over and over. What does this cost, how does it work, is there a version for me? The answer is usually already written down somewhere on your site, and nobody can find it.
 
Hyve is a conversational AI assistant and WordPress chatbot trained on your own content. Using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), it searches the posts, pages, products, and other content you choose, then generates answers based only on what it finds.
 
It suits any site with content worth searching. A blog with hundreds of posts, a documentation site people keep emailing about, a service business answering the same pricing questions, or a WooCommerce store.

Whether you're helping customers find products, answering customer support questions, or making documentation easier to search, Hyve turns your WordPress content into an AI knowledge base that visitors can chat with naturally.

[Hyve Pro](https://themeisle.com/plugins/hyve/?utm_source=plugin-readme&utm_medium=hyvelite&utm_campaign=quicklinks) | [Free vs Pro](https://themeisle.com/plugins/hyve/?utm_source=plugin-readme&utm_medium=hyvelite&utm_campaign=freevspro#free-vs-pro) | [Documentation](https://docs.themeisle.com/hyve/) | [Support Forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/hyve-lite/)

### Set up in three steps
 
1. Pick the posts, pages, and products the chatbot should learn from.
2. Choose how the AI runs, either with Hyve Connect free monthly credits or your own OpenAI key.
3. The chat widget goes live, and answers come from your content.

### Two ways to power the AI
 
**Hyve Connect:** We host the AI, and the free plan includes free monthly credits, so there is no API key to manage. It is the easiest way to run an AI chatbot without an API key. Install it, pick your content, and the chatbot answers the same day.
 
**Your own OpenAI key:** Bring an OpenAI account you already have and choose from the same GPT models behind ChatGPT, starting with GPT-4o mini. As your traffic grows, you can trade cost against answer quality while paying OpenAI directly for what you use, with no per-message fee to us.

You can switch between the two whenever you like, and your knowledge base comes with you.

### Your content, and nothing else

Hyve uses retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), meaning every question starts by searching your content first. The AI then generates an answer from the most relevant information instead of relying on its general knowledge or the open web.
 
**If the answer is not in your content, Hyve says so.** It does not guess, and it will not invent a price or a policy you never wrote.

### Free features
 
**Train it on your WordPress content**

Build an AI knowledge base from the content you already publish, without copying or rewriting anything.

* Add posts, pages, WooCommerce products, and any custom post type, so the AI chatbot handles product questions as readily as blog or documentation questions
* Edit a page and Hyve re-indexes it on save, so nobody gets an answer from an old version
* Every answer links back to the page it came from, so visitors can click through and read more
* Scale your AI knowledge base to thousands of documents by connecting an external vector database like [Qdrant](https://qdrant.tech/).
 
**Put the chat where you want it**

Add the assistant wherever visitors need help, from every page on your site to a single landing page.
 
* A floating chat bubble in either bottom corner, or an inline chat sitting in the page itself
* Drop it in with the Hyve Chat Gutenberg blocks, or the `[hyve]` and `[hyve floating="true"]` shortcodes for any theme, page builder, or widget area
* Run the website chatbot site-wide, only on the pages you pick, or everywhere except the ones you exclude with visibility filters
 
**Control the conversation**

Shape how your AI assistant talks to visitors while keeping conversations safe and helpful.

* Write the welcome message visitors see first, and the fallback message for questions your content does not cover
* Content moderation screens visitor messages before they reach the AI
* Chat sound and message timestamps, both optional
* Read your three most recent conversations from the dashboard and see what people are actually asking

### More with Hyve Pro
 
[Hyve Pro](https://themeisle.com/plugins/hyve/?utm_source=plugin-readme&utm_medium=hyvelite&utm_campaign=profeatures) adds the parts that turn a chatbot into a customer support and sales tool.
 
**More knowledge sources**

Expand your AI knowledge base beyond WordPress by importing files and external websites.
 
* Import PDF, Word, Markdown, text and CSV files, which turns manuals, policies and price lists into answers without republishing them
* Crawl any website URL, or add a whole site through its sitemap, for documentation that lives outside WordPress
* Type in custom data for answers you would rather not publish publicly
 
**Turn conversations into leads**

Never lose a potential customer. Capture leads inside the chat and keep the full conversation alongside every enquiry.
 
* A contact form inside the chat, with the fields you choose, so the chatbot doubles as a lead capture form
* Show it before the chat starts, when the bot cannot answer, or when a visitor asks to speak to a person
* Every lead lands in your dashboard beside the conversation it came from, so you have the context before you reply
 
**Skills for live website answers**

Go beyond your knowledge base by letting Hyve retrieve live information from your website while keeping every action read-only.

* Search your WooCommerce catalog and return live prices and stock, so nobody is pointed at a product that sold out
* Check a signed-in customer's order status, with identity taken from their account rather than an order number
* Run a site search when the knowledge base does not cover a question, then point the visitor to the right article
* You decide which skills are switched on, and every one of them is read-only
 
**Send the data where you work**

Connect Hyve with your existing workflows so conversations, leads, and knowledge searches reach the tools your team already uses.
 
* Webhooks push visitor messages, bot replies, and captured leads to any URL the moment they happen, so the events land in the tools your team already uses
* API access lets external tools search your knowledge base through a secure endpoint
 
**Start the conversation first**

Reach out before visitors leave by starting conversations at the moments they're most likely to need help.
 
* Proactive messages open the chat on time spent, scroll depth, or exit intent, catching someone before they leave
* Suggested follow-up questions appear after each reply, keeping the conversation moving
 
**Learn what visitors want**

Understand what people ask most, discover content gaps, and continuously improve your knowledge base.

* Browse every conversation to spot common questions and trends
* Find unanswered questions and use them to improve your knowledge base
* Export chats as CSV and let your team review conversations without admin access
 
**Make it yours**

Customize the assistant so it feels like part of your brand instead of a generic chatbot.

* Give your AI assistant a custom name and personality
* Shape every response with custom instructions
* Match your brand with custom colors, icons, and widget styling

**[Compare Free vs Pro and see everything Hyve Pro includes →](https://themeisle.com/plugins/hyve/?utm_source=plugin-readme&utm_medium=hyvelite&utm_campaign=prosection#free-vs-pro)**
 
### AI processing and third-party services
 
For AI processing, Hyve relies on the OpenAI API to provide certain features, such as text generation and language processing. How your data reaches OpenAI depends on which option you choose.
 
**With Hyve Connect**, your indexed content and visitor messages are processed through Themeisle's hosted service, which passes them to OpenAI on your behalf. See the [Themeisle Terms of Service](https://themeisle.com/terms-of-service/) and [Privacy Policy](https://themeisle.com/privacy-policy/).
 
**With your own API key**, those requests go from your site straight to OpenAI, and nothing passes through our servers. You can learn more about their terms of use here: [OpenAI Terms of Use](https://openai.com/policies/terms-of-use/).
 
Hyve is backed by the Themeisle team, a trusted WordPress company behind Neve, Otter Blocks, and other popular products.

== Screenshots ==
 
1. Answers from your own content
2. Hosted AI, or your own OpenAI key
3. Pick the content it learns from
4. See what your visitors asked
5. Place the chat anywhere on your site
6. What Hyve Pro adds
7. Skills check stock and orders live

== Installation ==

#### Automatic Installation

To download and install the Hyve plugin, make sure you follow the steps below:

- Navigate to the WordPress Dashboard > Plugins.
- Click the Add New button and type in the Search Bar "Hyve Lite".
- When the plugin appears, click on the Install button and then on Activate.

#### Manual Installation

- Log into your website admin page, then go to Plugins. You will see all the plugins currently installed in your dashboard listed there.
- To install a new WordPress plugin, simply click on the Add New tab.
- Click the Upload Plugin button in the WordPress Dashboard.
- Click the Choose File button, select the ZIP archive of the Hyve Lite plugin from your local computer and press the Install Now button.
- Click on the Activate button under the "Plugin installed successfully" message.

If you want to upload the plugin using FTP, [click here](https://themeisle.com/blog/what-is-ftp-wordpress/) to see a detailed explanation about it.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= Do I need an OpenAI API key? =
 
No. Hyve Connect includes hosted AI with free monthly credits, so you can install the plugin and start answering questions the same day. Add your own OpenAI key instead, and you get to choose the model, from GPT-4o mini upward, and change it whenever you want.
 
= Is Hyve Lite free? =
 
Yes. Hyve Lite is a free AI chatbot: it trains on your WordPress content, runs the chat widget, and includes hosted AI credits every month. For lead capture, document imports, webhooks, and Skills, [upgrade to Hyve Pro](https://themeisle.com/plugins/hyve/?utm_source=plugin-readme&utm_medium=hyvelite&utm_campaign=faq).
 
= How is this different from using ChatGPT on my site? =
 
ChatGPT answers from what it learned during training. Hyve answers from your content, so it knows your prices, your policies, and your products. When your content does not cover a question, it stays quiet instead of inventing something.
 
= Can I train the chatbot on my WooCommerce products? =
 
Yes. Products are a WordPress post type, so you can add them to the knowledge base in the free version. Hyve Pro adds Skills, which turn it into a WooCommerce chatbot that searches your live catalog and checks a signed-in customer's order status during the chat.
 
= Can I see what visitors are asking? =
 
Yes. The free version shows your three most recent conversations in the dashboard, which is usually enough to spot the questions worth writing a page about. Hyve Pro keeps the full history with CSV export and collects the questions the bot could not answer.
 
= Is my customer support data safe? =
 
Conversations and captured leads stay in your WordPress database. Content moderation screens messages before they reach the AI, and every Pro skill is read-only, so the assistant looks things up but never changes them.
 
= How to report a security issue? =
 
Plugin security is a core priority for us. If you find a potential vulnerability, please disclose it responsibly by following the protocols on our [Security Page](https://themeisle.com/security/).
