Install the free BotDesk plugin and paste your site key, or paste your install code into a footer box. Either way your chatbot is live on every page in about 5 minutes, with no coding.
Have someone do it for you. In your BotDesk dashboard, open Install on your site and click Email steps to my web person. It opens a ready-to-send email with your code and the steps.
Skip the website. On the same page, find Chat link. Copy it and add it as a button on your website, or send it to customers. No code needed.
Setup in 4 steps
The easiest way is the free BotDesk AI Chat plugin. Prefer not to add a plugin? There is a copy-and-paste method below the steps.
Install the plugin, 37 seconds
Plugins > Add Plugin, paste the key into Settings > BotDesk, save, and the chat is live on your site.Watch it first (2 minutes)
Create your BotDesk account and type in your website address. BotDesk reads your site and learns your services, hours and common questions on its own, so there's nothing to type in by hand. Pick what you want the bot to do and try it out. Then open the Install tab in your BotDesk dashboard, open Site key (used in your install code) near the bottom, and click Copy. The key starts with bd_. Don't type it by hand.
In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Add Plugin (called Add New on older WordPress). Search for BotDesk AI Chat, click Install Now, then click Activate. (Here is the plugin's page on WordPress.org if you want to check it first.)
Optional: WordPress's own video on adding a plugin
BotDesk AI Chat instead. Watch on YouTubeGo to Settings > BotDesk. Paste your site key into the box labelled API key (the plugin's name for your site key, same thing), make sure Show widget is checked, and click Save Changes. That's all the plugin needs: your bot's look and everything else come from your BotDesk account.
Open your site in a new tab. The chat bubble appears in the bottom corner of every page. Click it and ask a question to test it.
If your site already uses a code snippets plugin such as WPCode (once called "Insert Headers and Footers"), click Copy your install code on the Install on your site page and paste the whole code into that plugin's Footer box, then save. Copy the full code, not just the key. It looks like this:
<script async src="https://botdesk.studio/widget.js" data-api-key="YOUR_API_KEY" data-name="AI Assistant" data-color="#1F5AA8" data-greeting="Hi! How can I help you today?"></script>
Copy yours from the dashboard instead of typing it: your copy has your own site key where this one says YOUR_API_KEY. The code carries your key and a few display settings. Everything else, like what the bot knows, your hours and where leads go, loads from your BotDesk account.
Then check your site as in step 4. Avoid pasting it into your theme's files: a theme update can erase it.
If the chat doesn't show
Speed plugins can hide the chat or hold it back. If the chat bubble is missing, or only shows after you scroll, find your plugin below. After any change, clear that plugin's cache and reload your site in a private window. To add BotDesk to an exclude list, type botdesk.studio/widget.js.
Go to Settings > WP Rocket and open the File Optimization tab. If Delay JavaScript execution is on, the chat bubble only shows after a visitor scrolls, taps or moves the mouse. To show it straight away, add botdesk.studio/widget.js to the Excluded JavaScript Files box, save, and clear the cache.
Go to LiteSpeed Cache > Page Optimization and open the Tuning tab. Add botdesk.studio/widget.js to JS Excludes and to JS Deferred/Delayed Excludes, save, then purge all.
Autoptimize only combines scripts stored on your own site, so it normally leaves BotDesk alone. If the bubble goes missing after you change its JavaScript settings, go to Settings > Autoptimize, add botdesk.studio/widget.js to its list of scripts to exclude, save, and empty its cache.
Rocket Loader is a Cloudflare setting (Speed > Settings, under Content Optimization) that changes how scripts load. The BotDesk plugin, from version 1.0.2, marks its script so Rocket Loader skips it: update the plugin. If you pasted the code yourself, add data-cfasync="false" right after <script, before src. Or turn Rocket Loader off.
Its Combine JavaScript Files setting can stop the chat loading. The SiteGround guide shows what to exclude.
Turn off the plugin's options that combine or delay JavaScript one at a time, clearing the cache each time, until the bubble shows. Then turn the others back on. Or ask us for free setup help and we'll find it.
After you install
Open your website and look for the chat bubble in the bottom corner, then ask it a question. You can also open the Install tab in your dashboard, type your website address and click Check if it's live.
When the bot takes a visitor's name and phone number, we email it to you and it also shows in the Leads tab. It goes to the email you signed up with unless you change it: open What your bot does, click Emails to you, and fill in Where should we send new leads?
The Free plan takes up to 10 leads a month. Starter and up take unlimited leads.
Change anything in your dashboard, like what the bot knows, how it looks, the pop-up message or the booking button, and save. Changes reach your site automatically within a few minutes. You don't need to paste the code again. Not seeing a change yet? Do a hard refresh: Ctrl+Shift+R, or Cmd+Shift+R on a Mac.
Your business hours (What your bot knows, then Business info, then Hours) are what the bot tells visitors when they ask if you're open. The team schedule in the Team tab (Growth plan and up) only decides when your staff show as available for live chat. They are separate, so changing one doesn't change the other.
Open What your bot knows, then Business info, and scroll to Hours. Under Closed days and holidays, tap a holiday, use Going on vacation? for a run of dates, or click + Add a closed day. Check that Your time zone is right, then click Save settings. The bot will tell visitors you're closed on those days.
If you used the BotDesk plugin: in WordPress, go to Plugins, find BotDesk AI Chat, click Deactivate, then Delete. Deleting also removes the key the plugin saved. Only want to pause it? Untick Show widget in Settings > BotDesk instead.
If you pasted the code instead: open the snippets plugin you used (such as WPCode), delete the BotDesk code from its Footer box and save. It starts with <script and contains botdesk.studio/widget.js.
Then clear your site's cache if it has one, and reload your site to check the chat bubble is gone. Removing the code only takes the chat off your site. It doesn't cancel your BotDesk plan or delete your chats and leads: see How do I cancel or change my plan? in the FAQ.
Set this up for a client? What happens to a client's bot, leads and chats when you remove them.
Send us your website address and we'll help you get it live by email, free.
Someone else runs your website? Open Install on your site in your BotDesk dashboard and click Email steps to my web person. Or email hello@botdesk.studio. We'll reply by email within 24 hours.
FAQ
The free BotDesk AI Chat plugin is the easiest way, but it isn't required. BotDesk's install code is one line, so you can also paste it into the Footer box of a code snippets plugin you already use, such as WPCode, or ask your web developer to add it just before the closing </body> tag.
It adds the BotDesk chat to every page of your site using your site key. That's all it needs. Your bot's name, look, knowledge and hours come from your BotDesk account, so you change them in the dashboard, not in WordPress.
It adds a little, and here is how much. The chat code is one file of about 238 KB, which is about 73 KB once compressed for sending (we measured it in October 2026). It loads at the end of your page, so your content shows first. Then it makes one small request for your bot's settings. It runs nothing on your server. If a speed plugin delays scripts until a visitor scrolls or taps, the chat bubble shows up then. See Caching and speed plugins above to change that.
Yes. The chat loads with your site's footer, so it works with any theme or page builder. Use the plugin or a footer code box rather than an HTML block on a single page.
If you use a caching plugin such as WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache, clear its cache and reload your site. Then check that Show widget is ticked in Settings > BotDesk and that your key was copied in full.
Yes. Log into your BotDesk dashboard any time to update your business info, hours, services and FAQ answers. Changes reach your site automatically within a few minutes. You don't need to paste the code again.
Get Started
Start free, copy your install code, and your chatbot is live in minutes. Still choosing a plugin? See five WordPress chatbot plugins compared.
Start free, or try a paid plan for 30 daysFree plan: no card. Paid plans: 30-day free trial, card at checkout, no charge until day 31, cancel anytime. Plans from $29/mo. 5-minute setup.