Everything you need to know to set up channels and tools on the Vindex Ai Gateway.

System Guide

Everything you need to know to set up channels, secure tools, and manage your AI assistants on the Vindex Ai Gateway.

Quick Start

Create a chatbot channel: Go to Channels and click New Channel. Give it a name, write a System Prompt (instructions) that defines your AI's personality, and choose your AI model.
Enable website learning (Optional): Add your site's URL in the Website URL field. The AI chatbot will automatically crawl and read your site's pages to answer questions from your live content.
Turn on lead capture (Optional): Enable the Contact Tool in your channel's settings to let the chatbot conversationally collect customer details (name, email, phone number, etc.) and email them directly to you.
Copy your HTML widget script: Embed the widget script into your website builder (WordPress, Wix, Shopify) to display the floating chat bubble.
Integrate the REST API: Grab the public API key and connect your own custom UI by sending a
text
```
POST /api/chat
```
request. See the API Reference for specifications.

Channel Fields

Each channel represents a single AI chatbot deployment. These are the fields you configure when creating or editing a channel:

Channel Name: A friendly label for your own reference (e.g., Acme Support Bot).
Website URL: The address of your site (e.g.
text
```
https://yoursite.com
```
). When set, the AI chatbot gains the ability to read your site's pages and sitemap to answer customer queries.
System Prompt (Required): The core instructions that shape the AI's personality, tone, and what it can or cannot say.
Knowledge Base: Additional custom text or manuals appended directly to the AI's memory.
Active: Turn this toggle off to temporarily disable the chatbot.
(When disabled, incoming API requests will receive a
text
```
503 Service Unavailable
```
response).
Rate Limits: Protect your credit balance by setting a maximum amount of messages the chatbot can receive per minute or per day.

What are Tools?

Tools (also called function calling) let the AI chatbot perform actions or reach out to external sources for real-time information during a chat.

The Example Flow

Visitor asks: "What is the price of product #1042?"
AI decides to look up the product using the
text
```
get_product_price
```
tool.
Gateway fetches the details from your product list.
AI replies: "Product #1042 is in stock and costs $29.99!"

Built-in Web Tools (Auto-Enabled)

When you add your Website URL, the chatbot automatically gets two built-in tools:

Sitemap Reader (
text
list_site_pages
): Reads your site's
text
```
/sitemap.xml
```
to find all available pages. (Updated every 12 hours).
Web Scraper (
text
fetch_page_content
): Reads the clean text content of a specific page, stripping away headers and menus. (Updated every 2 hours).

Conversational Lead Capture (Contact Tool)

Turn your chatbot into a 24/7 sales agent. Toggle the Contact Tool in your dashboard settings to let the AI collect customer inquiries:

Fields to Collect: Tell the AI what details to ask for (e.g., Name, Email, Phone number, Product interest).
Notification Email: The email address where we will instantly send you the collected lead details once a visitor finishes the conversation.

Smart Automated Learning (Knowledge Flywheel)

The Knowledge Flywheel is an automated gap detection system that alerts you to what your AI doesn't know.

Learning Pool: Gaps are compiled into a simple list inside your Learning tab.
One-Click Approval: View the AI's suggested answers, make quick corrections if needed, and click Approve to instantly teach the AI.

Custom API Integrations (Developer Tools)

Do you want to connect your chatbot to internal systems, like checking a patient's appointment, looking up school grades, or checking shipping tracker numbers from your warehouse?

Vindex supports secure Custom API Tools that can communicate with your software. To configure custom parameters, headers, or web methods, switch to Developer Mode using the toggle at the top of the sidebar.

API Tool Fields (Developer Only)

Configure custom integrations to connect the AI chatbot securely to your own APIs.

Function Name: A unique snake_case label the AI uses to identify the tool (e.g.
text
```
get_shipping_status
```
).
Description: Plain-English explanation of what the tool does. The AI uses this description to decide when to execute this tool.
Method & URL: The standard HTTP method (
text
```
GET
```
,
text
```
POST
```
,
text
```
PUT
```
,
text
```
DELETE
```
) and full URL path of your API endpoint.
Response Path: Dot-notation path to extract specific nested values from your JSON response (e.g.
text
```
data.products.0.price
```
).
Request Headers: Custom headers used for authorization (e.g.
text
```
Authorization: Bearer your-secret-token
```
). Stored using AES-256 encryption.
Requires Confirmation: Turn this on for "Write" actions (e.g. placing an order, deleting records). The chatbot will halt and ask the user for confirmation before firing the API request.

Safety, Guardrails & Security

Vindex provides enterprise-grade safety out of the box, ensuring your AI chatbots remain polite, secure, and fully aligned with your instructions.

1. Smart Security Shield

Every visitor message is automatically scanned by our security shield before it reaches the AI. This instantly blocks trick queries, role-play attempts, or users trying to extract your secret chatbot settings.

Every user input is analyzed by our two-tier security system before it reaches the AI model: * **Layer 1 (High-Speed Regex)**: Instantly blocks known prompt injection patterns and role-play attempts with zero latency. * **Layer 2 (LLM Audit)**: Routes suspicious or highly complex messages to a secondary security auditing model to verify intent before the main chatbot responds.

2. Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) Controls

For sensitive actions (such as booking, billing, or databases), we enforce a "Propose, then Approve" safety halt:

Any action requiring confirmation is held in your dashboard as a Pending Approval.
The chatbot politely tells the customer: "I've prepared your request and submitted it for administrative review."
An administrator can approve or reject the action in the dashboard, creating a full audit trail.

Tips & Best Practices

Prompt Quality Matters: Keep your System Prompt clear and simple. Set rules on tone, language, and what to do when the AI is unsure.
Split Behaviour from Facts: Put the chatbot's personality in the System Prompt and actual facts or manuals in the Knowledge Base or file uploads.
Tool Descriptions: If you add Custom API Tools, write clear descriptions so the AI knows exactly when to use them.
Protect Your Channels: Set daily message rate limits to prevent malicious bots from spamming your channels and consuming your credits.