Frontend chat agent powered by site content

[jeffpaul]

What problem does this address?

Add an optional experiment that exposes a frontend chat UI capable of answering visitor questions using the site's own public content (and any extra references the site owner provides). Think “chat with my site” using retrieval-augmented responses, integrated with the existing WP AI Client stack.

This experiment will focus outside traditional editor/admin workflows. Looking initially for a simple, extensible example of how WordPress content can power an AI assistant on the public-facing frontend. A frontend chat agent would help visitors quickly find information, showcase how the Abilities API and WP AI Client can serve public UX, and give developers a reference pattern they can build on.

What is your proposed solution?

• Floating chat bubble (likely via block for site editor integration) that triggers a small chat panel
• Site owners pick what content gets indexed (post types, filters, pages only, etc.)
• Optional custom reference text/FAQ entries
• Answers generated through WP AI Client using configured provider/model
• Responses cite or link back to relevant content

Potential items needed to build this out:

1. Content indexing + embeddings

• Small indexing pipeline: chunk posts/pages, embed passages, store in DB
• Incremental updates on post changes
• Basic “reindex” control in settings

2. Retrieval ability

• New Ability that accepts a user query and returns top-k relevant chunks with metadata (title, excerpt, permalink)
• Reusable by other experiments in the future

3. Chat orchestration

• Endpoint for sending messages and returning AI output
• Prompt assembly that combines visitor question + retrieved passages
• Temporary conversation ID stored client side
• Server side controller that routes each turn through WP AI Client

4. Frontend UI

• Minimal, accessible block (and/or JS component)
• Sends messages to endpoint
• Basic error handling and “reset conversation”

Recommended out of scope for v1

• Admin-only assistants
• Multi-channel messaging (WhatsApp, Telegram, etc.)
• Advanced bot workflows or custom logic builders

Decisions to work through

• Index only public content in v1 to avoid permissions complexity
• Use a simple local embeddings table first; make storage pluggable later
• Ship one UI pattern (floating bubble); blocks or template placement can follow later
• Analytics can be minimal (count + common questions) or deferred entirely

Questions to consider

• Should embeddings be stored as JSON or a dedicated vector column?
• Any requirements for streaming responses now, or is single-shot OK for v1?
• Should we expose a “developer mode” to override the default prompt?