Creating Your First Bot

This guide walks you through creating a fully functional Powerful Docs Bot from scratch, from naming your bot to having it ready for testing.

Before You Begin

Make sure you have:

• An active Powerful Docs Bot account
• At least one knowledge source ready (a website URL, PDF, or a few Q&A pairs)

If you haven’t signed up yet, refer to the Getting Started guide.

Step 1: Log In and Open the Dashboard

1. Go to app.surereplies.com and log in.
2. You will land on the main dashboard, which shows all your existing bots (or an empty state if this is your first).

Step 2: Create a New Bot

1. Click the “Create New Bot” button (top-right of the dashboard).
2. A setup panel will appear asking for basic information.

Step 3: Name Your Bot

Enter a clear, descriptive name for your bot. This name is only visible inside the dashboard, it is not shown to your end users.

Tips for naming:

• Use the product or team the bot serves (e.g., Acme Help Bot, Billing Support)
• Avoid generic names like Bot 1, you may create multiple bots later and will want to tell them apart quickly

Step 4: Add a Knowledge Source

Your bot needs at least one knowledge source to answer questions. You can add more later, but one is required to proceed.

Choose from the following source types:

Source Type	Best For
Website / URL	Existing help centers, product pages
Sitemap	Large sites with structured XML sitemaps
PDF	Policy documents, manuals, guides
Q&A Pairs	Precise, hand-crafted answers
GitHub Repo	Developer-facing technical documentation
WordPress Docs	Sites running WordPress with doc plugins
Raw Text	Custom content not hosted anywhere
Changelog	Release notes and version history

Click “Add Source”, select the type, and follow the on-screen prompts. The system will begin indexing your content immediately.

For a detailed walkthrough of each source type, see Adding Knowledge Sources: Overview.

Step 5: Configure Basic Bot Settings

After adding your source, you can configure the bot by clicking on the Chat Bot label and can manage the following:

• Welcome Message: The first message your bot sends to a visitor (e.g., “Hi! Ask me anything about our product.”)
• Tone: Choose from Friendly, Formal, or Technical
• Bot Avatar / Name: The display name and icon your visitors will see in the chat widget
• Custom Instruction: Extra guidance that you want the bot to follow, such as redirecting the users to open a support ticket that needs urgent support, and so on.
• Widget position: Set the position where the bot should appear on your site.

You can change all of these settings at any time without re-deploying.

Step 6: Test Your Bot

Before going live, test the bot inside the dashboard:

1. Click “Test Bot” in the top bar.
2. A chat panel opens. Ask it questions that your users would typically ask.
3. Review the answers and the sources it cites.
4. If answers are missing or incorrect, check that the source was indexed successfully and that the content covers the topic.

Step 7: Deploy the Widget

Once you are satisfied with the bot’s responses:

1. Open your bot → Chat bot → Widget Embed tab
2. Copy the snippet provided.
3. Paste it before the closing </body> tag of your website.

The widget goes live immediately after the snippet is added, no rebuild or redeploy of your site is needed.