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How to launch a hosted chat page for your AskVault agent

Written by Joseph Russo, Principal Architect, Networks and Tech, AskVault · Reviewed by Allison Chan
Last updated: · 4 min read

What the hosted page does

A hosted chat page is a standalone web page with just the AskVault chat interface, no other UI. The URL looks like askvault.co/c/acme-support or support.acme.co if you connect a custom domain. Visitors land on the page and chat with the AI agent immediately. No widget to click, no host-site context to load.

Three patterns where it matters:

  1. Customer-support portal. Link your support email signature to support.acme.co. Customers click the link and get a full-screen chat surface that works without your main site.
  2. App store listings. App Store and Google Play require a support URL. Point it at your hosted page.
  3. QR codes on printed material. Physical shops, conference booths, business cards. The QR encodes the hosted page URL. Customers scan and chat.
  4. Internal SSO support portals. Your IT team can host the link behind SSO so only employees see it.

The hosted page runs the same agent as your widget. Same knowledge base, same skills, same answers. Different surface.

Setup, step by step

  1. Open Channels > Hosted Page in AskVault.
  2. Pick a slug. This becomes part of your URL: askvault.co/c/[slug]. Pick something brand-recognizable like acme or acme-support. Slugs must be unique across all AskVault customers.
  3. Click Publish. The page is live straight away. Visit askvault.co/c/[your-slug] to confirm.

That's the minimum setup. The page works as-is with default branding.

Customize branding

Under Channels > Hosted Page > Customize, set:

  • Page title. Appears in the browser tab and on the page header.
  • Primary color. Hex picker. Pair with your brand.
  • Welcome message. First message visitors see. Keep it under 100 characters.
  • Logo. Replaces the AskVault icon at top-left.
  • Footer text. Optional. Use for legal disclaimers or contact info.
  • Show branding. Toggle the "Powered by AskVault" footer. Free tier shows it; Growth and above can hide it. Growth+

Preview before publishing. Published changes show on the public URL on the next page load.

Custom domain

The default URL is askvault.co/c/your-slug. To use your own domain (like support.acme.co):

  1. In AskVault, Channels > Hosted Page > Custom Domain > Add.
  2. Enter the subdomain you want to use (e.g., support.acme.co).
  3. AskVault shows two DNS records to add: a CNAME that routes traffic to AskVault, and a TXT record proving you own the domain.
  4. Add both records in your DNS provider (Cloudflare, Route 53, Namecheap and so on) and wait for them to propagate.
  5. Click Verify in AskVault. Once the TXT record matches, our team issues the HTTPS certificate; the page works on your domain once that is done.

Your hosted page is now at https://support.acme.co. The original askvault.co/c/your-slug keeps working too, but you can redirect it to the custom domain.

Custom domains are on Growth and above. Growth+

SEO considerations

The hosted page renders the chat UI but no static content per page. That means it's not great for SEO; search engines see an empty page. If you need SEO-friendly support content, build it on your main site and link to the hosted page for live chat.

If you want SEO from the hosted page specifically, enable the Public FAQ feature: AskVault renders static HTML for common questions alongside the chat interface, with proper meta tags. Growth+

Identity verification

Same HMAC flow as the widget. Pass ?token=hmac_value&user_id=user_42 in the URL when you link to the hosted page, and AskVault verifies the user before opening the chat. Without a valid token, the page falls back to anonymous mode.

Identity verification is on Growth and above. Growth+

Limits

The hosted page is included on every plan. There's no extra cost beyond the messages it uses against your monthly quota.

You can have one hosted page per workspace. To run multiple hosted pages with different branding (e.g., separate customer brands), create separate workspaces.

Common pitfalls

Custom domain verification fails. DNS hasn't propagated yet. Wait 30 minutes and try again. Use a DNS checker like dnschecker.org to confirm your CNAME is live globally.

TLS certificate provisioning fails. Usually because your domain has a conflicting CAA record that blocks Let's Encrypt. Add 0 issue "letsencrypt.org" to your DNS CAA records.

Page shows but chat doesn't work. Your AskVault workspace has no indexed content, or the message quota is exhausted. Check Knowledge and Billing > Usage.

Visitors get a different experience than the widget. They're testing the wrong slug.

FAQ

Can I embed the hosted page in an iframe?

No. The hosted page can only be framed by pages on its own origin, so it will not load inside an iframe on your website. Link to it, or put the chat on your site with the web widget.

Does the hosted page support file uploads?

Visitors can paste short text passages and ask questions about them. For full file uploads (PDFs, images), use the website widget which has the file-attachment UI enabled by default.

Can I A/B test different greetings?

Not within one workspace. Each workspace has one hosted page, so an A/B test needs two workspaces with different welcome messages. Split your traffic between them and compare engagement under Analytics.

Is the hosted page accessible (WCAG AA)?

Yes. Keyboard navigation, screen-reader labels, sufficient color contrast. Tested against WCAG 2.1 AA.

Can I disable the hosted page after enabling it?

Yes. Under Channels > Hosted Page > Unpublish. The URL returns a 404. Custom domains continue to point at AskVault's infrastructure but show a 404 page.

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