---
title: "Widget"
description: "Put an assistant on your website for your visitors, as a chat bubble, a chat inside a page or a hosted page, with the allowed domains and spending limits you choose."
canonical: "https://lookio.app/docs/widget/overview"
updated: "2026-10-25"
---

# Widget

A widget puts one of your [assistants](/docs/platform/assistants) on your website. Visitors ask in their own words, the assistant answers from your resources and shows its sources the way you choose. Nobody needs an account.

## Three formats, one chat

| Format          | What visitors see                                                                    | Good for                                             |
| --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| **Chat bubble** | A button in a corner of every page opens the chat in a panel, full screen on phones. | A website, a help center, a docs site.               |
| **In a page**   | The chat sits inside a page, where you place it.                                     | A help page, a docs sidebar, a product page.         |
| **Hosted page** | A page of its own on Lookio, at a link you share.                                    | An email, a QR code, a menu link. No website needed. |

The three are the same chat with the same settings. Each format is on or off. A new widget starts with the chat bubble only: turn on the others in the widget's **Install** tab. A format that is off does not exist: the chat bubble does not show, and the in-page chat and the hosted page answer "not found". One widget can have several formats on at once.

## How it works

1. You [create a widget](/docs/widget/install) in **Widgets**: its name, which assistant answers, and on which site.
2. You paste one line of code on your site, or turn on the hosted page and share its link.
3. A visitor asks. The answer streams in, with its sources. Each answer returned by the model spends the widget's [answer mode](/docs/get-started/concepts) price, even if no source is found. A widget whose assistant reads no resource does not show on your site.

You stay in control of the spending: the widget only shows on the domains you allow, each visitor has an hourly and a daily limit, and you can set a monthly credit ceiling for the widget. See [Access and limits](/docs/widget/access-and-limits).

## What the widget never does

- It never puts a key in your page. A visitor gets a short session from Lookio, valid for this widget only.
- It never shows on a site you did not allow: browsers themselves refuse to display it elsewhere.
- It never tells a visitor about your credits or limits. A visitor who reaches a limit is asked to come back later.
- It never reads your page: it runs in its own frame and does not see your site's content or cookies.
- It never shares what a visitor did with your page. The random id behind a visitor's past chats lives in the chat frame's own storage, partitioned per site. Turn **Visitors' chat history** off and every visit starts a fresh conversation. A widget-specific visitor proof remains for limits; retained chats become available again when history is enabled.

## Next

- [Install a widget](/docs/widget/install)
- [Customize its look and words](/docs/widget/appearance)
- [Access and limits](/docs/widget/access-and-limits)
- [Open it from your own buttons](/docs/widget/javascript-api)
- [Read what visitors asked](/docs/widget/conversations)