Step‑by‑step setup and usage details for TheSkinnyAI.
If you prefer us to set up and test your Skinny, you may opt for Concierge Setup. We will work with you to customize your Skinny, train it, do positive and negative testing and help your team deploy your Skinny to your web site. Contact us if you have already purchased a subscription in order to add this service.
After you create your free account, you will see the Getting Started Wizard. This wizard is intended to help you walk through setting up your Skinny. It has similar pages to the Dashboard tab but walks you through the process. The pages are simpler forms of the Dashboard described below.
The Settings Tab is where you control the source of your Skinny’s information. You do that by directing which URLs (webpages) to read and which to ignore. Users normally start with the home page of a site and let TheSkinnyAI walk through the site from there, but you can start it anywhere—for example on your Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page or User Guide. Sites often have a sitemap.xml file that is used by search engines to quickly read (index) a site. You can choose to start there in addition to the starting page.
The Content Tab is where you shape what your Skinny says and how it says it. Use Critical Instructions to establish guardrails and must‑follow rules (links, disclaimers, safety guidelines). Set the Tone to match your brand voice (Eg.professional, friendly, compassionate), and provide Primary Facts to ground answers in accurate, approved information. You can iterate safely—updates apply to new chats immediately and influence how the assistant summarizes, cites, and recommends next steps.Primary Facts can also be used to supplement your website. For example, if there is an answer your skinny can't answer because it isn't on your site, you can add the detail here instead of updating your site.
The My Skinny tab controls how the on‑page assistant looks and launches. Use the Appearance button to set the button text and brand colors, choose corner placement, or mount the widget into your own element for a custom launcher. The Embed Script snippet is the single line of code you need to add to your site. When a user visits your site, it installs the widget on your site; if your site uses a Content Security Policy (CSP), allow scripts and connections to https://theskinnyai.com. Advanced setups can provide a data-target to mount inside a specific container and trigger open/close from your own buttons.
https://theskinnyai.com. Advanced: provide data-target to mount inside a specific container.Basic embed (minimal):
<script src="https://skinnyai.netlify.app/chatbot-widget.js"
data-api-endpoint="https://skinnyai.netlify.app/.netlify/functions/proxy-fns/chat-complete"
data-tenant-id="YOUR_TENANT_ID"
data-site-id="YOUR_SITE_ID"></script>Notes: data-tenant-id and data-site-id are required. The data-api-endpoint should point to the public chat endpoint (use the value above unless instructed otherwise).
Custom embed (advanced parameters):
Supported attributes: data-tenant-id (required), data-site-id (required), data-api-endpoint (recommended), data-name (optional; overrides the Appearance label), data-position (top-left|top-right|bottom-left|bottom-right), data-target (mount container id), data-theme (light|dark).
<script>
// Decide button position by viewport width
var pos = 'top-left';
try {
var isMobile = window.matchMedia('(max-width: 575.98px)').matches;
var isTablet = window.matchMedia('(min-width: 576px) and (max-width: 1199.98px)').matches;
if (isMobile) pos = 'bottom-right';
else if (isTablet) pos = 'bottom-left';
} catch (e) {}
var s = document.createElement('script');
s.src = 'https://theskinnyai.com/chatbot-widget.js';
s.dataset.tenantId = 'YOUR_TENANT_ID';
s.dataset.name = 'Ask Skinny';
s.dataset.position = pos; // top-left | top-right | bottom-left | bottom-right
document.body.appendChild(s);
</script>If you use data-target to mount inside your own element, the widget won’t float; position that container with your CSS instead of data-position.
Use Appearance to customize the look and feel of your Skinny’s chat window and launcher. Changes apply immediately after saving and will be used anywhere your widget is embedded.
Tip: Keep contrast high for readability (e.g., dark text on light backgrounds). After saving, refresh your page with the widget to see the updated theme applied.
AutoGreet lets your Skinny proactively open the chat and send a short greeting sequence to help visitors engage. Configure it from My Skinny → AutoGreet (Dashboard), or from SuperAdmin → Users (for administrators managing multiple tenants).
Tip: The “Preview on this page” button is available in SuperAdmin to inject a one‑off preview for testing. On the Dashboard, use “Reset AutoGreet Guards” to clear session/localStorage flags (last shown, impressions) and re‑trigger AutoGreet during testing.
Best practices: Keep greetings short and helpful, lead with value, and ask one clear question. Use Sequential for multi‑line intros; use Random to rotate a single hook.
TheSkinnyAI does not display its own cookie banner. Instead, it honors your site’s consent state. If your site requires consent for client storage or analytics‑style features, set the following globals before the widget loads (your CMP usually does this):
<script>
// Required on sites that gate client storage/analytics
window.__SKINNY_CONSENT_REQUIRED = true;
window.__SKINNY_CONSENT_GRANTED = false; // updated by your CMP after user accepts
// Later, when the user accepts in your CMP:
// window.__SKINNY_CONSENT_GRANTED = true;
</script>Behavior:
__SKINNY_CONSENT_REQUIRED is true and __SKINNY_CONSENT_GRANTED is false, the widget will skip AutoGreet and avoid writing client storage.SKINNY_AUTOGREET_DONE_<siteId>,
SKINNY_AUTOLAUNCH_LAST_SHOWN_<siteId>,
SKINNY_AUTOLAUNCH_IMPRESSIONS_<siteId>.
Note: We do not collect analytics by default for AutoGreet. If/when event tracking is enabled in the future, it will honor the same consent guard.
The Billing tab manages plans, concierge setup and payments. It’s visible to Owners and Admins (Editors won’t see it). Use it to start or change a subscription, add Concierge Setup, or open the customer portal.
Use Share to let others try your Skinny without dashboard access. This is great to have your internal team test it out! Generate a shareable link and email it to team members or friends.
/test?code=…) and Revoke.The Usage tab tracks chat activity and plan consumption. Pick a date range to view totals and trends, watch for limit banners, and review current meters for chats and indexed pages.
The History tab is your running log of activity—every recent conversation and any leads your Skinny captured. Use it to see what visitors asked, how the assistant responded, and where follow‑ups are needed. Click a row to open the full, timestamped transcript; you can review the exchange end‑to‑end, copy text, and assess response quality before exporting or sharing.
Teams & Roles controls who can access and manage your Skinny for each site (tenant). Invite teammates, assign the right role for their responsibilities, and manage seats as your team grows. Permissions are tenant‑scoped: Owners have full control with safeguards, Admins handle day‑to‑day management, and Editors can work in the dashboard but can’t access Team or Billing. If you belong to multiple sites, use the tenant switcher to move between them.
The Analysis tab turns raw chats into a management report. Choose a date range and generate an automated summary that highlights what visitors ask, how well the assistant performs, where there are gaps in your website and where to improve. You’ll get totals and trends, personas, funnel steps and drop‑off, overall sentiment, concrete QA examples, and actionable insights—ready to export as JSON, RTF, or a print‑friendly PDF for sharing.
TheSkinnyAI provides built-in privacy controls for website visitors using the chat widget:
For site owners:
data-session-persist="false" to your embed script to disable conversation persistence entirely for all visitors.For complete details, see our Privacy Policy.