What is Civio Assist? | Civio Civio Assist Knowledge Base [Skip to content](#main) [ ![Civio Civio Assist Knowledge Base](/civio-light.svg) ](https://nginx.deploy-lagoon-production.civio-assist-docs.dh1.amazee.io) [Product documentation](/articles) [Release notes](/releases) [ Support portal ](https://nginx.deploy-lagoon-production.civio-assist-docs.dh1.amazee.io/portal/login) Toggle navigation [Product documentation](/articles) [Release notes](/releases) [Support portal](https://nginx.deploy-lagoon-production.civio-assist-docs.dh1.amazee.io/portal/login) 1. [Home](/) › 2. [Product documentation](/articles) › 3. [Getting started](/articles?category=1) › 4. What is Civio Assist? What is Civio Assist? ===================== Updated 3 weeks ago · 4 min read Search Search Civio Assist is an AI assistant you add to your website. It answers users' questions in a chat window, using information your organisation has approved. This article covers what Assist does, the two parts of it you will work with, and which tasks belong to your team and which to the Civio team. What Civio Assist does ---------------------- A user opens the chat window on your site and asks a question in their own words. Assist searches the content your organisation has approved, finds the passages that answer the question, and replies, usually with links back to the pages the answer came from. That approved content is the chatbot's **knowledge base**: the set of pages and documents it is allowed to draw on, and the only place its answers come from. When you hear the knowledge base mentioned in the dashboard or in these articles, this is what it means. Assist is available at any hour, handles many conversations at once, and takes pressure off your customer service team for the questions that come up again and again. ![The Civio Assist chat window, showing a user's question and the chatbot's reply with links to the source pages](https://assist.knowledge.civ.io/storage/T9mWSwwl7SqMYaHd1F0dBEjnrqB5NqNGlnJVr5h2.png) The two parts of Civio Assist ----------------------------- - **The chat widget** is what users see: the launcher button on your website and the chat window it opens. - **The Assist dashboard** is where your team works. You read past conversations, track how the chatbot is performing, suggest information it is missing, and control whether it is available. ![The Civio Assist dashboard home page, showing reporting widgets for conversation volume and activity](https://assist.knowledge.civ.io/storage/nqhIS6auZwYPys8wnb6qfz2yn9lkYXeoepAwixix.png) Where the answers come from --------------------------- Assist does not search the open internet. Civio indexes the pages and documents in the knowledge base so the chatbot can find and quote your own content back to users. Two things follow from that: - Answers reflect your organisation's published position, not a general web search. - The chatbot only knows what has been added. If a topic is not in the knowledge base, it cannot answer questions on it. When the chatbot cannot find an answer, it says so rather than inventing one. If that happens on a question it should have been able to answer, your team can suggest the missing information from the dashboard. What to expect, and what not to ------------------------------- It helps to be clear with colleagues and users about the limits: - It answers general enquiries. It is not a substitute for staff advice on complex, personal, or legal matters. - It cannot look up an individual's account, application, or case. - It will decline questions outside the topics it has been set up to cover. - Answers can fall behind your website, because the knowledge base is refreshed on a schedule rather than the moment a page changes. Who looks after what -------------------- Setting up the chatbot and curating its knowledge base is done by the Civio team. Running it day to day is your team's work. The Civio team Your team Sets up the chatbot and defines the topics it covers Reads conversations and watches for gaps or wrong answers Adds and refreshes the content in the knowledge base Suggests information the chatbot is missing Applies your branding, greeting, and disclaimer wording Tracks performance on the reporting dashboard Reviews and approves the knowledge your team suggests Turns the chat on or off, or puts it into maintenance To request something the Civio team looks after, such as new branding or a change to the topics the chatbot covers, contact your Civio representative. Where to go next ---------------- The rest of this help centre covers each part in more detail: - [Adding the chatbot to your website](/articles/adding-the-chatbot-to-your-website), for whoever maintains your site. - [How the assistant answers questions](/articles/how-the-assistant-answers-questions), if you want to understand where replies come from. - [The chat window: Classic and Nova](/articles/chat-window-designs), for the two window designs and what users can do in each. - [How personal information is protected](/articles/how-personal-information-is-protected), for privacy and governance questions. - [Your role and what you can do](/articles/roles-and-permissions), to see what your account allows. - [Finding a conversation](/articles/finding-a-conversation), to start reviewing what your chatbot is being asked. - [Creating an additional knowledge entry](/articles/manual-context), when you spot something the chatbot should know. Next in this series [ 2. Adding the chatbot to your website ](/articles/adding-the-chatbot-to-your-website) Was this article helpful? ------------------------- Your feedback helps us prioritise what to rewrite. Yes No [ Back to Getting started ](/articles?category=1) [ Next article Adding the chatbot to your website ](/articles/adding-the-chatbot-to-your-website) On this page New to Civio Assist? 1 / 3 [ 1 What is Civio Assist? ](/articles/what-is-civio-assist) [ 2 Adding the chatbot to your website ](/articles/adding-the-chatbot-to-your-website) [ 3 Finding your way around the dashboard ](/articles/dashboard-navigation) ### Still need help? Raise a request in the support portal and track it to resolution. [ Submit a support request ](https://nginx.deploy-lagoon-production.civio-assist-docs.dh1.amazee.io/portal/login) **Need additional help?** Contact our support team at [help@assist-support.civ.io](mailto:support@civ.io) © 2026 [Civio](https://civ.io)