Assistant

Lotus can load hosted Ask AI widgets for documentation sites. The theme does not implement retrieval, model routing, or chat protocols. Providers such as Inkeep and kapa.ai own the index, answer quality, citations, analytics, and widget UI.

When an assistant provider is configured, Lotus adds an AI trigger button next to the header search trigger. The search trigger becomes slightly narrower on desktop so search and Ask AI read as one compact control group.

Assistant widgets are disabled by default.

assistant: false

Inkeep

Use Inkeep when you want a hosted chat button backed by an Inkeep assistant.

assistant: {
  provider: 'inkeep',
  apiKey: '...',
  organizationDisplayName: 'Acme',
}

Lotus loads the Inkeep browser script only when this provider is enabled and initializes Inkeep.ModalSearchAndChat. The modal is connected to the header AI trigger with modalSettings.triggerSelector, and the default base settings sync with Lotus’ data-theme attribute so the widget follows light and dark mode.

Additional Inkeep settings can be passed through:

assistant: {
  provider: 'inkeep',
  apiKey: '...',
  organizationDisplayName: 'Acme',
  primaryBrandColor: '#6366f1',
  aiChatSettings: {
    aiAssistantName: 'Docs Assistant',
    exampleQuestions: [
      'How do I configure sidebars?',
      'How do I override theme components?',
    ],
  },
}

Use scriptUrl to pin or self-host the Inkeep script.

Kapa

Use kapa.ai when you already have a Kapa Website Widget integration.

assistant: {
  provider: 'kapa',
  websiteId: '...',
  projectName: 'Acme Docs',
  projectColor: '#6366f1',
  projectLogo: 'https://example.com/logo.png',
}

Lotus renders Kapa’s widget script only when this provider is enabled. The default Kapa launcher is hidden, and the header AI trigger opens Kapa in Ask AI mode through data-modal-override-open-selector-ask-ai.

The websiteId value is the Kapa Website ID, which Kapa also labels as the Integration ID in the dashboard.

Pass extra widget attributes with attributes:

assistant: {
  provider: 'kapa',
  websiteId: '...',
  attributes: {
    'data-modal-title': 'Ask AI',
  },
}

Use scriptUrl to self-host or pin the Kapa widget bundle.

Custom

Use custom when the project wants to own the full assistant integration.

assistant: {
  provider: 'custom',
}

Then override Assistant:

export default defineLotusConfig({
  assistant: {
    provider: 'custom',
  },
  components: {
    Assistant: './src/components/Assistant.astro',
  },
});

The default custom provider renders nothing. This keeps Lotus out of API keys, RAG pipelines, model gateways, and provider-specific chat protocols.