SSD · Slot 05 · Save file
Companion
a.k.a. Voice Over Cinema version ›
An assistant that recommends real products: ask for a table for a small kitchen and get catalogue cards, not a generic paragraph. It's the latest chapter of a site I've looked after since 2022.
- Sector
- Design furniture
- Period
- Mar — Apr 2026 · launching soon
- Role
- Assistant design and development
- Team
- The assistant is mine; I've worked on the site since 2022 with 3 other developers
The problem
ERR The catalogue is large and visitors often don't know where to start.
WARN A generic chatbot answers with text: the goal was an assistant that leads straight to products, in the site's own look.
The technical choice
- Patch 1.0.0
A WordPress proxy
The browser talks to a REST endpoint on the site, which forwards to Voiceflow: the key never reaches the client.
- Patch 1.1.0
Structured answers
When the assistant returns text, results and links, the chat splits them into separate messages.
- Patch 1.2.0
Real product cards
Cards are rendered server-side with the theme's own components: identical to the rest of the site.
- Patch 1.3.0
No empty waits
Skeletons appear instantly with the same markup as the cards and are replaced one by one by the real HTML.
- Patch 1.4.0
Language and context
The language is chosen first; the assistant lives on its own page or as an embedded widget.
How it works
- 0x01 Visitor types a request
- 0x02 WordPress proxy REST /interact
- 0x03 Voiceflow structured answer
- 0x04 REST /teases cards from the theme
- 0x05 Chat real products
In numbers
- 730 of my commits on the site since 2022
- 2 REST endpoints: dialogue and cards
- 0 keys exposed in the browser