---
title: "Getting started"
description: "Create an Assist site, point it at your content, and add the widget to your pages. AI answers from your own content, live in minutes."
url: "https://edge.network/docs/assist/getting-started"
section: "Assist"
---

# Getting started

Four steps: create a site, ingest your content, embed the widget, make it yours. Most integrations take under ten minutes.

## 1. Create a site

In the [console](/console/assist), go to **Assist → Create Site**. Give it a name and the hostname it will run on (e.g. `example.com`).

You'll receive a **sitekey** (`ea_…`). It's public: it goes straight into your HTML. There is no secret key: the API only accepts requests for your sitekey from your registered hostname and its subdomains, so the key is useless anywhere else. `localhost` is always allowed, so you can test before deploying.

> [!NOTE]
> The hostname matters: it's what the origin check enforces. If your site moves domains, update the hostname in **Assist → Settings** or the widget will stop answering.

![Assist site overview with usage, stats and embed snippet](/media/docs/control-assist-overview.svg)

## 2. Ingest your content

Assist answers only from content you give it. Publish a JSON index somewhere on your domain (e.g. `/assist-index.json`), usually as part of your site build:

```json
{
  "hash": "sha256-of-the-content",
  "chunks": [
    {
      "url": "/pricing",
      "title": "Pricing",
      "section": "pricing",
      "text": "One chunk of page content, up to ~1,400 characters,\nsplit on sentence boundaries…"
    }
  ]
}
```

Set the index URL in **Assist → Ingestion** and hit **Re-ingest now**. From then on Assist re-fetches it hourly and re-indexes whenever the `hash` changes. A site rebuild is all it takes to update what Assist knows.

The full format, chunking guidance, and limits are in [Content ingestion](/docs/assist/ingestion).

## 3. Add the widget

One script tag, anywhere in your HTML (the exact snippet with your sitekey is on the site's **Overview** page in Control):

```html
<script src="https://assist.edge.network/widget.js"
  data-sitekey="ea_your_sitekey" defer></script>
```

This renders a floating launcher pill. Clicking it opens the assistant: instant search results as visitors type, AI answers when they ask. Conversations survive page navigations within the session.

Want it inline in a help centre, bound to `⌘K`, or with no integration at all (a hosted page you can link to)? All the embedding modes are in [Widget & embedding](/docs/assist/widget).

## 4. Make it yours

Under **Assist → Widget** you can set, without touching code:

- **Welcome message and placeholder:** the first thing visitors read.
- **Suggested questions:** chips shown before the first question; great for steering visitors to your best answers.
- **Launcher prompts:** rotating labels on the floating pill ("How can we help?", "Ask about pricing…").
- **Accent colour and position:** match your brand; bottom-right or bottom-left.
- **Handoff email:** set this to enable "Need a human?". Visitors leave their email and the conversation lands in your inbox.
- **Keep exploring links:** curated links shown in the expanded view.

Then watch **Assist → Overview** and **Questions**: every question, answered or not, is logged. Unanswered questions are a to-do list for your content.

## Next steps

- [Widget & embedding](/docs/assist/widget) — Every integration mode
- [Content ingestion](/docs/assist/ingestion) — The index format in full
- [Limits & billing](/docs/assist/limits-and-billing) — What's free and what a question costs