askVela – Live Chat & AI Support

Description

askVela is an AI-powered live chat and customer support service for online shops. This plugin embeds the askVela chat widget on your WordPress or WooCommerce site and – on WooCommerce – exposes a secure, signed endpoint so the askVela assistant can answer questions about a customer’s orders.

You need an askVela account (workspace), which you can create at https://askvela.pro. The easiest setup is one-click connect: under the askVela menu click “Connect with askVela”, confirm in your askVela account, and the Widget Key (and, for WooCommerce, the order lookup) are configured automatically. You can also enter the Widget Key manually.

What you get

• AI & live chat widget on all pages (including WooCommerce product, cart and checkout pages).
• Order lookup for WooCommerce (built in): the plugin publishes a secure REST endpoint that the askVela assistant can call (HMAC-SHA256 signed) to retrieve a customer’s orders and basic customer details by email. No coding required.
• Privacy by design: the lookup endpoint only answers requests that carry a valid signature created with your shared secret. Without the secret, no data is returned.
• HPOS compatible: orders are read through the official WooCommerce CRUD API, so it works with both the classic and the High-Performance Order Storage.

How the order lookup works

1. The plugin generates a secret automatically and shows you a Lookup URL and a Secret under the askVela menu.
2. You paste both values into your askVela dashboard (Settings → “Lookup URL of your shop” and “Signature secret”).
3. When a known customer asks about an order, askVela calls your Lookup URL with the customer’s email and the signature. The plugin verifies the signature and returns the matching orders.

Full guide: https://askvela.pro/wordpress

External services

This plugin connects to askVela, a third-party SaaS service operated by askVela, to provide the chat widget and (optionally) the order lookup. By installing and configuring this plugin you choose to use that service.

1. askVela widget loader (frontend). When you set a Widget Key, the plugin loads the widget script from https://askvela.pro/widget.js on your site’s frontend. Through the widget, chat messages, the current page URL, and any name/email a visitor enters are sent to askVela so the assistant can respond. The Widget Key (which identifies your workspace) is included.

2. Order lookup (WooCommerce, optional). When the order lookup is enabled, askVela may call the plugin’s endpoint /wp-json/askvela/v1/lookup with a customer email and an HMAC signature. In the response, the plugin sends order and customer data to askVela: order number, status, total, date, order URL, amount, currency, an optional payment reference, and basic customer details (name, number of orders, customer since, total spent). This only happens for requests carrying a valid signature, and only when you have enabled the lookup and entered the URL + secret in askVela.

3. Product sync (WooCommerce, optional). When a product sync is enabled, askVela may call the plugin’s endpoint /wp-json/askvela/v1/products with an HMAC signature. In the response, the plugin sends your product catalog to askVela: name, description, attributes, price, currency, image URL, product URL, category and stock status. This only happens for requests carrying a valid signature.

4. One-click connect (optional). If you use the “Connect with askVela” button, you are sent to askVela to confirm while logged in. After you confirm, the plugin exchanges a one-time code with https://askvela.pro/api/wp/connect, sending your site’s lookup URL, product-sync URL and secret (so askVela can be configured automatically) and receiving your Widget Key. This only runs when you click connect.

No data is sent to askVela until you enter a Widget Key (widget), configure the lookup/product sync (order/product data), or use one-click connect.

• Service & terms: https://askvela.pro/impressum
• Privacy policy: https://askvela.pro/datenschutz