Easy AI Assist is a visitor chat for Joomla. Answers come from the Knowledge Base, published articles, and the connector plugins you enable. Staff review unmatched questions and approve knowledge answers before visitors can receive them.

Live demo: demo.joomlax.com/demo/utilities/easy-ai-assist

What you can do

• Publish a floating chat with your logo, colours, and position
• Answer known questions from the Knowledge Base
• Keep other replies tied to articles and enabled tools
• Refuse when sources-only mode has nothing approved to say
• Search Easy Directory, Easy Events Calendar, Smart Search, or Searchly

Before you install

• Joomla: 4.4, 5.x, or 6.x
• PHP: 8.1 or newer
• Provider: an OpenAI-compatible chat endpoint and API key, or a model name that starts with claude

Optional

• Easy Directory and Easy Events Calendar for those connectors
• Smart Search with a built index
• Geek Elasticsearch or a Searchly endpoint for document search

Step 1: Download

After purchase, download EasyAIAssist_UNZIP.zip from your email or the Downloads section.

Step 2: Install the package

1. Extract EasyAIAssist_UNZIP.zip.
2. System > Install > Extensions
3. Upload the pkg_easyaiassist zip inside it.
4. System > Maintenance > Clear Cache

The package installs the component, the site module, and the connector plugins. Directory, Events, and Smart Search can be enabled on install when those extensions exist. Searchly, Users, VirtueMart, Events Booking, and NS Pro stay disabled until you turn them on.

1. Open Components > Easy AI Assist. Follow Set up the chat.
2. Open the chat button, set Status to Published, and save. Optional: write a line next to the button. It shows for a few seconds, then hides. The button stays.
3. Write one question and the exact answer. Save, then click Approve.
4. Add an AI key under Configuration only if the chat should write answers that are not in your list. The API keys and models tab has the steps.
5. Leave language on All. For another language, duplicate the chat button and set that copy's language.

The floating chat is a site module. Module position and menu assignment control where it appears.

1. Content > Site Modules > Easy AI Assist (or New > Easy AI Assist).
2. Choose the assistant, panel title, colours, launcher size, and left or right position.
3. Optional: write a short line next to the button. It shows briefly, then hides. The button stays.
4. Set Status to Published and assign menus. Clear the site cache.

Duplicate the module for another language or another assistant. Access on the module limits who can see the chat.

Approved Knowledge Base answers work with no key. Add a key when the chat should write replies that are not already approved. The key stays in Configuration. Your provider bills the account that owns the key.

1. Open Components > Easy AI Assist > Configuration.
2. Choose the provider. The address and the model fill in. Paste the key, click Connect to check that the provider accepts it, then click Save. Connect does not save the key.

OpenAI

1. Choose OpenAI. The address becomes https://api.openai.com/v1 and the model becomes gpt-4o-mini.
2. Open platform.openai.com/api-keys and sign in.
3. Create a secret key and copy it. OpenAI shows the full key only once.
4. Paste it into Secret key and click Connect. Save when it says connected.
5. Leave the model on gpt-4o-mini. You can type another chat model from the OpenAI list if your account can use it.

Claude

1. Choose Anthropic Claude. The model becomes claude-sonnet-5.
2. Open Claude settings, API keys and sign in.
3. Create a key and copy it. The key starts with sk-ant- and is shown only once.
4. Paste it into Secret key and click Connect. Save when it says connected.
5. Leave the model on claude-sonnet-5. For a smaller model, type claude-haiku-4-5. Any model name that starts with claude is sent to Anthropic.

Other providers

Choose the name. The address and the model below fill in. Create the key on that provider's site, paste it, and click Connect. Connected means the key works. Then save. Ollama and LM Studio have no website key. Connect checks that the program on this computer answers.

• Google Gemini: model gemini-2.5-flash. Create the key in Google AI Studio, API keys.
• Groq: model llama-3.3-70b-versatile. Create the key at console.groq.com/keys.
• OpenRouter: model openai/gpt-4o-mini. Create the key at openrouter.ai/keys. Keys start with sk-or-.
• Mistral: model mistral-small-latest. In Mistral Studio, open API keys and create a key. Steps: Mistral, create an API key.
• DeepSeek: model deepseek-chat. Create the key at platform.deepseek.com/api_keys.
• xAI Grok: model grok-3-mini. Create the key in the xAI console.
• Qwen (Alibaba): model qwen-plus. In Alibaba Model Studio (international), open API keys. The filled address is the international endpoint.
• Moonshot Kimi: model moonshot-v1-8k. Create the key at platform.moonshot.ai, API keys.
• Together AI: model meta-llama/Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct-Turbo. Create the key at api.together.ai, API keys.
• Fireworks: model accounts/fireworks/models/llama-v3p1-8b-instruct. Create the key at Fireworks, API keys.
• Perplexity: model sonar. In console.perplexity.ai, open API keys and generate a key.
• Cerebras: model llama-3.3-70b. Create the key at cloud.cerebras.ai.
• SambaNova: model Meta-Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct. Create the key at cloud.sambanova.ai/apis.
• NVIDIA: model meta/llama-3.1-8b-instruct. Sign in at build.nvidia.com and use Get API Key.
• GitHub Models: model openai/gpt-4o-mini. Sign in at GitHub Models and create a token for that catalog.
• Azure OpenAI: model gpt-4o-mini, or the deployment name in your Azure resource. Replace YOUR-RESOURCE in the address with that resource name. Copy the key from the Azure portal for the same resource.
• Ollama on this computer: model llama3.2. No website key. The preset writes ollama into Secret key. Ollama must be running on the same server as the site, with that model pulled.
• LM Studio on this computer: the preset writes lmstudio into Secret key. Change the model to the name loaded in LM Studio. The local server must be running.

Each assistant has instructions, a welcome message, suggested prompts, a model, and a tool list.

Instruction starter

On the assistant edit screen, choose a starter to copy a prompt into Instructions. You can edit the text after. The starter is not saved by itself.

• Site assistant: answer only from the Knowledge Base and retrieved pages
• Directory and events: use those tools before saying nothing was found
• Reply in the visitor language: answer in the language of the question

Leave Tools empty to use site search plus every enabled connector. List tool names when an assistant should only use some of them.

1. Components > Easy AI Assist > Knowledge > New
2. Write the question, similar phrasings, and the answer.
3. Choose Bypass for an exact reply, or Grounded to let the model use the answer with retrieved pages.
4. Set the language to All or to one site language.
5. Save. New answers stay unpublished until they are approved.
6. Select the row and click Approve.

Approve is a separate permission under Configuration, Permissions. Unpublish is still available to users who can edit state. Each approval is stored with the user and the time.

Open Components > Easy AI Assist > Review inbox.

Rows appear when a chat had no Knowledge Base hit, or when a visitor gave a negative rating. Select a thread, then Create KB from thread to draft a knowledge item, or Mark done when you have finished with it.

Open Components > Easy AI Assist > Connectors to turn plugins on or off. You can also use System > Plugins and filter by the group easyaiassist.

• Easy Directory: search listings by words in the title, address, or description
• Easy Events Calendar: search upcoming events
• Smart Search: search the Finder index
• Searchly: search an Elasticsearch index. Set the endpoint on the plugin, or leave it empty when Geek Elasticsearch is installed and already has a host

Users, VirtueMart, Events Booking, and NS Pro are installed disabled. Enable one only when that extension is on the site.

Toolkit can copy assistants and knowledge from Chat Assistant Pro. Existing titles and questions are skipped. API keys are not copied.

Chat matches knowledge marked All, plus knowledge in the language of the current page. Article search uses the same rule.

For a fully separate assistant per language, duplicate the site module, set each copy's language, and point it at that language's assistant.

• No launcher: publish the module and assign it to the pages you want. Clear the site cache.
• Offline reply: open Toolkit and click Test provider. Check the key, base URL, and model in Configuration.
• Knowledge never answers: the item must be Approved, published, and either All or the page language.
• Connector missing: enable that plugin. An empty tool list uses only enabled plugins.
• Searchly says it is not configured: add the endpoint on the plugin, or install Geek Elasticsearch and save its host.

Open a ticket at support.joomlax.com.

Include the Joomla version, PHP version, the assistant model, whether Sources only is on, and which easyaiassist plugins are enabled. Do not paste the API key.