Smart Answer for site search

Smart Answer adds to your website's search: below the search field, a short answer from your knowledge base appears, with sources and a field for the next question, which continues in the chat. Smart Answer is a separate service alongside the chat widget and has its own script.

You will find the settings under /app/projects/{id}/suche, linked on the project page as Smart Answer for site search. Changing them requires the right to change the project. Browsers cache the settings for up to five minutes, so changes arrive with a short delay.

Smart Answer answers from the same knowledge base as the AI assistant, and only while the project's assistant is switched on. If it is off, the box stays hidden.

Switching on and storing

• Turn on Smart Answer – off by default. Every detected search query then goes to the AI.
• Store search queries – on by default. Every search is stored with its answer as a conversation in the desk, in the “Site search” channel. The follow-up field continues exactly this conversation in the chat. Off: nothing is stored and nothing is logged with content. The follow-up field then starts a normal chat without the search question.

How it answers

• Answer style – As in the project (default): the tone of your AI assistant. Impersonal: no form of address and no first person, instructions in the imperative.
• Terms – words the answer should avoid and replace. One line per term: language, colon, word to avoid, arrow, preferred word. 20 lines at most, up to 40 characters per word, only letters, spaces and . / & + -. Other lines are not applied.

de: Keks -> Cookie
pl: pliki cookie -> ciasteczka

• Follow-up question – Continue in the chat (default): the follow-up field opens the chat widget and asks the question there. Answer in the box: the follow-up question is answered as a new answer in the same box, for pages without the chat widget. If the widget is missing on a page, the box answers by itself anyway.

When it answers

• Trigger – On submit (Enter or search button), After a typing pause or Both (default).
• Which input – Questions only (default) or Every search. An input counts as a question if it has a question mark, starts with a question word (what, how, why …) or has at least six words. “Shipping” alone triggers nothing, “How long does shipping take” does.
• Typing pause (ms) – 400 to 5000, default 1200. For the “typing pause” trigger.
• Minimum length (characters) – 1 to 50, default 3.
• Answer on page load – on by default. If the search field is already filled when the page loads, or the search is in the address (?s=, ?q=, ?query=, ?search=), it answers right away. That suits results pages.

Where the box appears

• Search fields (CSS selector) – which input fields are watched, including those that only appear later, for example in a search overlay. Default: input[type=search], input[name=s], input[name=q].
• Target (CSS selector, optional) – empty means: the search form or field itself. Example: #suchergebnisse.
• Position – after the target (default), before the target or inside the target, as first element.

Appearance

• Theme – automatic (follows the visitor's system, default), light or dark.
• Accent colour, Background, Text colour, Border colour – a hex value such as #ffffff or a variable of your page such as var(--bg, #ffffff). Empty means: the theme's colour.
• Corner radius (px) – 0 to 32, default 12.
• Font – inherit (default) uses your page's font, otherwise for example "Inter", sans-serif.
• Shadow – on or off.
• Custom CSS – up to 5000 characters, appended at the end. You set spacing, font size and line height via variables:

.rc-ai { --rc-ai-abstand: 16px; --rc-ai-schriftgroesse: 15px; --rc-ai-zeilenhoehe: 1.5; }

@import, expression(, javascript:, backslashes and </ are removed.

The Preview on the page shows the same markup and CSS your page gets. Colours, theme and texts follow the form immediately; custom CSS only after saving.

Texts

Per language (German, English, Polish) you can change:

• Title – up to 60 characters, default “Quick answer”,
• While answering – up to 120 characters,
• Placeholder of the follow-up field – up to 120 characters,
• Button – up to 40 characters,
• Note below the answer – up to 200 characters,
• If no answer comes – up to 300 characters.

Leaving a field empty means: our default. The language follows the visitor's page; other languages get English.

On the free plan, the box shows a note about reactive.chat.

Installation

Under Installation on the same page there are three ways to copy:

1. Script tag (recommended) – once before </body> on all pages with a search field. Runs alongside the chat widget or on its own. With an own domain your account shows the matching version.
2. HTTP API – for results pages your server generates, or your own JavaScript searches. At most 60 requests per minute and IP address.
3. JavaScript API – ask a question and place the box in an element of your choice. Needs the script from option 1.

The details of the API and installation are described in Technical integration.

Usage

Under Usage you see the requests per day over the last seven days. They are counted without content.

If the box does not appear

The page names the reason when Smart Answer is currently idle:

• The project's AI assistant is switched off.
• The project is paused or archived.
• The AI or Smart Answer is temporarily switched off for this project.

Also check whether the script is on the page, whether the selector for the search fields matches, and whether the input counts as a question when Questions only is set.