Description
Plug ChatBot helps WordPress businesses answer common customer questions, guide visitors to the right service, and collect useful follow-up details when the team is unavailable.
The administrator can connect OpenAI, Grok, or both, then choose which service prepares live customer replies. Business files are managed separately for each provider so information is sent only to the selected document library.
Current capabilities include:
- OpenAI and xAI Grok customer chat integrations
- Business-friendly dashboard and guided setup experience
- Provider-specific business knowledge files
- Custom AI identity, welcome message, conversation shortcuts, and business guidelines
- Optional visitor name and email capture with an optional phone number
- Optional conversation history stored in WordPress
- Team email copies of completed conversations
- Optional OpenAI voice replies with an AI-generated voice disclosure
- OpenAI-only extra content safety when OpenAI is the active provider
- Live widget design preview
- Brand colour, widget position, reply length, and usage protection controls
External services
This plugin connects to external AI services only when the corresponding integration or feature is configured and used.
OpenAI
OpenAI may receive:
- Visitor chat messages and configured business instructions when OpenAI is the active provider
- Optional visitor contact details included in conversation context
- Business files uploaded under the OpenAI Business Knowledge view
- Optional content-safety requests when OpenAI is active
- Optional text sent for voice generation when OpenAI is active
Service information:
- API documentation: https://platform.openai.com/docs/api-reference
- API pricing: https://openai.com/api/pricing/
- Privacy policy: https://openai.com/policies/row-privacy-policy/
- Terms of use: https://openai.com/policies/terms-of-use/
xAI
xAI may receive:
- Visitor chat messages and configured business instructions when Grok is the active provider
- Optional visitor contact details included in conversation context
- Business files uploaded under the Grok Business Knowledge view
- Document-management requests when a xAI Management API Key is configured
Service information:
- API documentation: https://docs.x.ai/
- Console and API keys: https://console.x.ai/
- Privacy policy: https://x.ai/legal/privacy-policy
- Terms of service: https://x.ai/legal/terms-of-service
If local conversation history is enabled, the plugin may store visitor email addresses, chat transcripts, and IP addresses in the WordPress database. A short-lived, HTTP-only browser cookie and WordPress transients maintain chatbot state for logged-out visitors. The plugin does not start PHP sessions on frontend page loads.
Features
- Select OpenAI or Grok as the active customer chat service
- Configure separate authenticated-encrypted API keys and refresh available provider models from the connected account
- Keep OpenAI-only voice and extra content safety hidden and inactive while Grok is selected
- Upload, use, stop using, list, and delete business files without exposing storage IDs
- Enable uploaded-file answers and file analysis separately for each provider
- Preview the real Plug ChatBot widget style, AI name, welcome message, brand colour, voice status, and widget position before saving
- Review human-readable completed conversations
- Configure one or more team email recipients
- Preserve existing settings during the 2.1.0 upgrade
- Use capability checks and nonces for administrator settings and AJAX actions
Installation
- Upload the plugin folder to
/wp-content/plugins/plug-chatbot/. - Activate the plugin through the Plugins screen in WordPress.
- Go to Plug ChatBot > Settings > General & Keys.
- Connect OpenAI, Grok, or both and choose the active service.
- Select a reply model for the active service.
- Open Plug ChatBot > Identity & Voice to define the customer experience.
- Open Plug ChatBot > Knowledge Base to add approved business information.
- Use Interface Design to review the live widget preview.
- Test the chatbot on the public website before promoting it to customers.
FAQ
-
Do I need both OpenAI and xAI API keys?
-
No. Connect the service you want to use for customer chat. Both can be saved so you can switch later.
-
Why is a second Grok key used for business files?
-
Grok uses a separate document-management credential to organise files used in customer answers. The interface calls this the xAI Management API Key.
-
Does Grok use OpenAI business files?
-
No. Each provider maintains its own business file library. Choose the provider at the top of the Business Knowledge page before uploading or managing files.
-
Are voice replies available with Grok?
-
No. Voice replies and extra content safety are shown and executed only when OpenAI is the active customer chat service. Saved preferences are retained when switching providers.
-
Is a visitor phone number required?
-
No. A visitor name and valid email address are sufficient when visitor follow-up is enabled. The phone number is optional.
-
Does this plugin send data to external services?
-
Yes. Messages and configured instructions are sent to the active AI provider. Business files are sent to the provider selected on the Business Knowledge page. Optional OpenAI voice and content-safety requests run only when OpenAI is active.
-
Can I store conversations in WordPress?
-
Yes. Conversation history is optional and can be enabled from the Conversation History page.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“Plug ChatBot” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
Translate “Plug ChatBot” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
2.1.2
- Updated WordPress.org release metadata for the 2.1.2 tag.
- Limited plugin tags to the supported maximum and shortened the summary.
2.1.0
- Rebuilt the full administrator experience with a responsive, card-based interface.
- Rewrote dashboard, settings, conversation, email, and business knowledge content for non-technical business users.
- Added a live widget preview for AI name, welcome message, conversation shortcuts, brand colour, and position.
- Added consistent, accessible information tooltips and status badges.
- Replaced technical business-file storage controls with automatic provider-specific management.
- Added secure
admin-post.phpsettings handling with capability checks, nonces, early sanitisation, allowlist validation, and escaped output. - Upgraded new API-key storage to authenticated encryption while preserving compatibility with existing encrypted keys.
- Added live Grok text-model discovery with a safe fallback list.
- Updated OpenAI voice replies to the current GPT-4o mini TTS model and expanded supported voice choices.
- Kept OpenAI-only voice replies and extra content safety hidden and inactive while Grok is selected.
- Made visitor phone numbers optional across both capture experiences.
- Added a customer-facing AI-generated voice disclosure when voice replies are enabled.
- Removed the legacy PHP-session compatibility shim; frontend state continues through HTTP-only cookies and WordPress transients.
- Improved human-readable error, empty, loading, and success states.
2.0.3
- Improved provider activation states so API key and model selection are both required.
- Added clean dashboard empty states for unconfigured providers.
- Added local OpenAI and Grok provider logos.
- Replaced persistent helper descriptions with accessible information tooltips.
- Updated the xAI Management API key placeholder.
2.0.2
- Fixed a frontend fatal error when conversation starters were not yet saved.
- Fixed Grok business file and document listing requests.
- Fixed the xAI Management API Key warning state.
- Improved OpenAI model discovery and surfaced model-loading errors.
2.0.1
- Added xAI Grok chat integration.
- Added separate OpenAI and Grok integration cards.
- Added provider-specific conversation state and API error handling.
- Added provider-specific business knowledge management.
- Preserved OpenAI settings through an automatic upgrade migration.
- Updated privacy and external-service disclosures.