Why Documentation Chatbots Matter
You've written great documentation. Help articles, API guides, FAQ pages, getting started tutorials. The problem? Users don't read them.
Studies consistently show that only 20-30% of users will attempt self-service before contacting support. The rest want an immediate answer without navigating your help center. They'll scan for 10 seconds, not find what they need, and open a ticket.
A documentation chatbot solves this by meeting users where they are. Instead of searching through articles, they ask a question in natural language and get an instant, cited answer. The documentation is still the source of truth — the chatbot just makes it accessible.
What You'll Build
By the end of this guide, you'll have:
- An AI chatbot trained on your documentation
- A widget embedded on your website
- Answers with
[Source N]citations linking back to your docs - Auto-escalation when the AI can't answer confidently
- Knowledge gap tracking to improve your docs over time
Total time: under 10 minutes. No coding experience required.
Prerequisites
You need:
- Documentation in one of these formats:
- Notion workspace (recommended)
- A website with your docs (any URL)
- Files: Markdown, Word, or TXT
- A website where you want the chatbot to appear
- A LaunchChat account — sign up free
Step 1: Create Your Account
Head to launchchat.dev/register and create an account. The free tier includes everything you need:
- 1 widget
- 1 data source
- 50 messages per month
- Full RAG pipeline with citations
- Knowledge gap tracking
No credit card required.
Step 2: Connect Your Documentation
After signing in, you'll land on the Setup page. Choose your data source:
Option A: Notion (Recommended)
Click "Connect Notion" and authorize via OAuth. You'll see a list of your Notion pages — select the ones containing your documentation.
Tips:
- Include FAQ pages, help articles, and getting started guides
- Skip internal pages (meeting notes, roadmaps)
- You can add or remove pages later
LaunchChat syncs with Notion every 30 minutes. When you update a page, the chatbot updates automatically.
Option B: Website Crawl
Enter your documentation URL (e.g., docs.yoursite.com). LaunchChat will crawl the pages and index the content. This works with any website — static HTML, Docusaurus, GitBook, ReadMe, or custom docs sites.
Option C: File Upload
Drag and drop your documentation files. Supported formats:
- Markdown (.md)
- Word (.docx)
- Plain text (.txt)
You can upload multiple files. Each file is processed independently.
Step 3: Wait for Indexing
Once you connect your data source, LaunchChat's RAG pipeline processes your content automatically:
- Parsing: Content is converted to clean, structured text
- Chunking: Text is split into ~400-token segments with overlap
- Embedding: Each chunk becomes a 1536-dimensional vector
- Storage: Vectors are indexed for fast similarity search
For a typical 50-page documentation site, this takes 1-2 minutes. You'll see a progress indicator in the dashboard.
Step 4: Configure Your Widget
While indexing runs, customize your widget:
Appearance:
- Primary color — match your brand
- Position — bottom-right or bottom-left
- Greeting message — "Hi! Ask me anything about [Your Product]"
- Bot avatar — upload your logo or use the default
Behavior:
- Confidence threshold — how sure the AI needs to be before answering (default: 0.6)
- Refusal message — what to show when confidence is low
- Auto-escalation — show a contact form when the AI can't help
AI Model:
- Claude 3 Haiku (default) — fast and cost-effective
- Or bring your own API key for any OpenRouter model
Step 5: Test Your Chatbot
Before embedding, test it in the dashboard. Click "Preview" to open the widget and ask some questions:
- Try questions you know are in your docs
- Try questions that aren't in your docs (to see the refusal behavior)
- Try different phrasings of the same question
- Try questions in different languages
If answers aren't accurate enough:
- Check that the right pages are indexed
- Adjust the confidence threshold (higher = stricter, lower = more permissive)
- Add more documentation to cover gaps
Step 6: Embed on Your Website
Copy the embed code from the Widget page:
<script>
window.NotionSupportConfig = { widgetId: 'your-widget-id' };
</script>
<script src="https://launchchat.dev/widget.js"></script>Add it to your website just before the closing </body> tag.
Platform-specific instructions:
- Next.js: Use
<Script strategy="afterInteractive">in your layout - WordPress: Paste in your theme's footer or use a Header/Footer Scripts plugin
- Webflow: Add to Project Settings → Custom Code → Footer Code
- Static HTML: Paste directly before
</body>
The widget loads asynchronously — it won't slow down your page.
Step 7: Monitor and Improve
Your chatbot is live. Now use the dashboard to make it better:
Analytics
Track message volume, resolution rates, and confidence scores. See which topics get the most questions.
Knowledge Gaps
This is the most valuable feature. When users ask questions your docs don't cover, they appear here with:
- The exact question asked
- How many times it was asked
- An AI-drafted article suggestion
Use this data to prioritize which docs to write next. Every gap you fill makes the chatbot smarter.
Activity Feed
See recent conversations, including the questions asked, answers given, and confidence scores. Use this to spot-check answer quality.
Tips for Better Answers
- Structure your docs with clear headings. H1 for page titles, H2 for sections, H3 for subsections. The chunker preserves heading hierarchy for better retrieval.
- Write for questions. Use the actual questions users ask as headings. "How do I reset my password?" retrieves better than "Password Management."
- Keep pages focused. One topic per page. A dedicated "Cancellation Policy" page works better than a section buried in a "General FAQ."
- Include examples. Code snippets, screenshots, and step-by-step instructions help the AI give more complete answers.
- Update regularly. Changes sync automatically with Notion. For other sources, re-upload or re-crawl when content changes.
What's Next?
Once your chatbot is running:
- Review knowledge gaps weekly and fill the top ones
- Monitor the analytics dashboard for trends
- Adjust the confidence threshold based on answer quality
- Consider upgrading to Pro for more messages and widgets
- Try BYOK for unlimited messages at API cost
Your documentation chatbot is live. Every question it answers is a support ticket you don't have to handle manually.
Get started free — no credit card required.