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How to launch a hosted chat page for your AskVault agent

Written by , Founder, AskVault · Reviewed by Aashiq
Last updated: · 4 min read

What the hosted page does

A hosted chat page is a standalone web page with just the AskVault chat interface, no other UI. The URL looks like askvault.co/c/acme-support or support.acme.co if you connect a custom domain. Visitors land on the page and chat with the AI agent immediately. No widget to click, no host-site context to load.

Three patterns where it matters:

  1. Customer-support portal. Link your support email signature to support.acme.co. Customers click the link and get a full-screen chat surface that works without your main site.
  2. App store listings. App Store and Google Play require a support URL. Point it at your hosted page.
  3. QR codes on printed material. Physical shops, conference booths, business cards. The QR encodes the hosted page URL. Customers scan and chat.
  4. Internal SSO support portals. Your IT team can host the link behind SSO so only employees see it.

The hosted page runs the same agent as your widget. Same knowledge base, same skills, same answers. Different surface.

Setup, step by step

  1. Open Deploy > Hosted Page in AskVault.
  2. Pick a slug. This becomes part of your URL: askvault.co/c/[slug]. Pick something brand-recognizable like acme or acme-support. Slugs must be unique across all AskVault customers.
  3. Click Publish. The page is live within 5 seconds. Visit askvault.co/c/[your-slug] to confirm.

That's the minimum setup. The page works as-is with default branding.

Customize branding

Under Deploy > Hosted Page > Customize, set:

  • Page title. Appears in the browser tab and on the page header.
  • Primary color. Hex picker. Pair with your brand.
  • Welcome message. First message visitors see. Keep it under 100 characters.
  • Logo. Replaces the AskVault icon at top-left.
  • Footer text. Optional. Use for legal disclaimers or contact info.
  • Show branding. Toggle the "Powered by AskVault" footer. Free tier shows it; Growth and above can hide it. Growth+
  • Custom CSS. Inject your own styles for advanced theming. Business+

Preview live before publishing. Publishing pushes changes to the public URL within 30 seconds.

Custom domain

The default URL is askvault.co/c/your-slug. To use your own domain (like support.acme.co):

  1. In AskVault, Deploy > Hosted Page > Custom Domain > Add.
  2. Enter the subdomain you want to use (e.g., support.acme.co).
  3. AskVault generates two DNS records to add: a CNAME pointing to hosted.askvault.co, and a TXT record proving you own the domain.
  4. Add both records in your DNS provider (Cloudflare, Route 53, Namecheap, etc.). Wait 5 to 30 minutes for propagation.
  5. Click Verify in AskVault. If both records resolve correctly, AskVault provisions a TLS certificate via Let's Encrypt within about 90 seconds.

Your hosted page is now at https://support.acme.co. The original askvault.co/c/your-slug keeps working too, but most customers redirect it to the custom domain.

Custom domains are on Growth and above. Growth+

SEO considerations

The hosted page renders the chat UI but no static content per page. That means it's not great for SEO; search engines see an empty page. If you need SEO-friendly support content, build it on your main site and link to the hosted page for live chat.

If you want SEO from the hosted page specifically, enable the Public FAQ feature: AskVault renders static HTML for common questions alongside the chat interface, with proper meta tags. Growth+

Identity verification

Same HMAC flow as the widget. Pass ?token=hmac_value&user_id=user_42 in the URL when you link to the hosted page, and AskVault verifies the user before opening the chat. Without a valid token, the page falls back to anonymous mode.

Identity verification is on Growth and above. Growth+

Limits

The hosted page is included on every plan. There's no extra cost beyond the per-query AI usage.

You can have one hosted page per workspace. To run multiple hosted pages with different branding (e.g., separate customer brands), create separate workspaces.

Common pitfalls

Custom domain verification fails. DNS hasn't propagated yet. Wait 30 minutes and try again. Use a DNS checker like dnschecker.org to confirm your CNAME is live globally.

TLS certificate provisioning fails. Usually because your domain has a conflicting CAA record that blocks Let's Encrypt. Add 0 issue "letsencrypt.org" to your DNS CAA records.

Page shows but chat doesn't work. Your AskVault workspace has no indexed content, or the query quota is exhausted. Check Knowledge Hub and Billing > Usage.

Visitors get a different experience than the widget. They're testing the wrong slug, or you've configured per-channel system prompts that differ between widget and hosted page. Verify under AI Config > Per-Channel Settings.

FAQ

Can I embed the hosted page in an iframe?

Yes. The hosted page allows iframe embedding from any origin by default. For tighter restrictions, configure CORS allowlist under Settings > Hosted Page > Embed Allowlist.

Does the hosted page support file uploads?

Visitors can paste short text passages and ask questions about them. For full file uploads (PDFs, images), use the website widget which has the file-attachment UI enabled by default.

Can I A/B test different greetings?

Yes. Create two hosted pages with different welcome messages under different slugs. Split your traffic between them. Compare engagement under Analytics.

Is the hosted page accessible (WCAG AA)?

Yes. Keyboard navigation, screen-reader labels, sufficient color contrast. Tested against WCAG 2.1 AA.

Can I disable the hosted page after enabling it?

Yes. Under Deploy > Hosted Page > Unpublish. The URL returns a 404 within 30 seconds. Custom domains continue to point at AskVault's infrastructure but show a 404 page.

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