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This guide walks through creating a customer support assistant from scratch, including configuring its behavior, connecting a knowledge base, and deploying it as a website widget.

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What You Will Build

By the end of this guide, you will have:
  • A support assistant that answers questions using your help documentation
  • A knowledge base loaded with your support articles
  • A widget embedded on your website for customers to chat with

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Prerequisites

  • An IllumiChat account with an active workspace
  • Help documentation or FAQ content (PDF, DOCX, or text files)
  • Access to your website’s HTML to embed the widget

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Step 1: Create the Assistant

1

Navigate to Assistants

Open your workspace and click Assistants in the sidebar. Click Create Assistant.
2

Configure basic settings

  • Name: Give it a descriptive name, e.g. “Customer Support”
  • Visibility: Controls who on your team can use the assistant in the internal Chat workspace (workspace or private). It has no effect on the widget — that’s enabled separately in Step 4.
3

Write the system prompt

Use a structured prompt that defines the assistant’s role and boundaries:
4

Save the assistant

Click Save to create your assistant.

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Step 2: Add a Knowledge Base

Upload your support documentation so the assistant can reference it when answering questions.
1

Open the assistant's Knowledge Base

From your assistant, open the Knowledge Base tab. Knowledge belongs to the assistant directly — there is nothing separate to create and attach.
2

Add your files

Under Static knowledge, open the Files source and drop in your support documents — PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, text, Markdown, CSV and more (see Supported File Types).
3

Confirm each source is in use

Uploaded files are chunked and indexed on upload, so they are searchable straight away. Each source shows In use when it is ready, Syncing while it is still working, or Needs attention if something failed.
The assistant will now use retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to search your documents before responding. This means answers are grounded in your actual content rather than the model’s general knowledge.

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Step 3: Test the Assistant

Before deploying, test the assistant with realistic questions:
  1. Open the assistant and start a new chat
  2. Ask questions your customers typically ask
  3. Verify the responses are accurate and cite the right sources
  4. Test edge cases — questions the knowledge base does not cover
What to check:
  • Does it answer correctly from the knowledge base?
  • Does it gracefully handle questions outside its scope?
  • Is the tone consistent with your brand?
  • Are responses the right length?
If responses are off, refine your system prompt. See Writing Effective Prompts for techniques.

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Step 4: Deploy the Widget

Embed the assistant on your website so customers can chat with it directly.
1

Get the widget script

In your assistant’s settings, go to the Widget tab. Copy the embed script:
2

Add to your website

Paste the script before the closing </body> tag on every page where you want the widget to appear.
3

Configure appearance

Customize the widget’s look using data attributes:
See Widget Configuration for all options.
4

Set up domain restrictions

For security, restrict the widget to your domains. In the assistant’s Widget settings, add your domains under Allowed Domains (e.g., example.com, www.example.com).

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Step 5: Enable Lead Capture (Optional)

Collect visitor information before or during conversations:
  1. Open your assistant’s Forms page and turn on Enable Form on the Lead Capture tab
  2. Add the fields to collect — name as Single-line text, plus the Email and Phone types, which validate themselves
  3. Mark required fields
  4. Leads are saved to your Contacts and can be exported
See Forms for every field type and for the rules that control when the form appears.

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Step 6: Monitor and Improve

After deployment, review conversations regularly to improve quality:
  • Review chat history in the IllumiChat dashboard to see what customers are asking
  • Update your knowledge base when you notice gaps in coverage
  • Refine the system prompt based on recurring issues
  • Check the widget analytics for usage patterns
Set up a support ticket workflow so the assistant can create tickets when it cannot resolve an issue, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.

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Checklist

Use this checklist to verify your support assistant is ready:
  • Assistant created with a clear system prompt
  • Knowledge base uploaded and fully processed
  • Tested with 10+ representative customer questions
  • Widget embedded and rendering correctly on your site
  • Domain restrictions configured
  • Lead capture enabled (if needed)
  • Team members briefed on reviewing chat history