When we first wrote about making your website answer back, AnswerRails was a promise in private beta: an AI assistant that answers customer questions from your content — and refuses to make things up. Since then it’s been running live, answering real questions from real visitors, and growing quickly. Today we can say it: AnswerRails is heading for public launch. Date to be announced — and it will be worth the wait.
Here’s what it does now, and why we think it’s the assistant your WordPress site has been missing.
The heart of AnswerRails hasn’t changed: every answer is built from your own pages, posts, product data and uploaded documents, with real source citations underneath. If the answer isn’t in your content, it doesn’t improvise — it says so, and offers to connect the visitor with your team instead. A structured escalation email means nothing gets lost on the way.
Grounded answers, not guesswork
You’ve seen AI chatbots confidently invent opening hours, prices and return policies. AnswerRails was built so yours never does.
A widget your visitors will actually enjoy
The front end has just had a complete overhaul:
Your brand, automatically. Set your accent colour and the widget themes itself — including a proper dark mode, with text contrast checked so it stays readable on every background.
At home on every screen. On desktop, visitors can move and resize the chat window like an app. On phones, it opens into a clean full-screen conversation that plays nicely with the keyboard.
Small touches that matter. A one-tap “new conversation” button, a considerate consent flow, and a launcher that stays out of the way until it’s needed.
Protected by default
A public chat endpoint is an invitation to bots — so AnswerRails ships with rate limiting built in, plus optional Google reCAPTCHA v3 protection with a tunable strictness threshold. It’s invisible to real visitors (no puzzles, no traffic lights), and privacy-conscious too: Google’s script only loads for visitors who actually open the chat.
Your choice of AI — including a genuinely free one
AnswerRails runs on OpenAI, Google Gemini, or Anthropic Claude, switchable in one click, on your own API key. New installs default to Gemini’s free tier, so you can go from installation to grounded answers without paying any AI vendor a penny. And if a provider announces it’s retiring your chosen model, AnswerRails now warns you in the dashboard well before anything breaks.
It listens as well as answers
Every conversation is a signal. AnswerRails Pro turns those signals into business intelligence:
Sales-lead detection spots buying intent mid-conversation, asks for contact details, and emails your team the transcript.
Idea capture files feature requests and suggestions your visitors volunteer.
Knowledge-gap analytics show you the real questions your content doesn’t answer well yet — a to-do list for your next content session.
Compliance is the foundation, not a feature
Configurable conversation logging (off, anonymised, or full), retention periods, consent prompts and disclaimer text are all built in — because an assistant that talks to your customers should meet the same standards you do.
Free and Pro, from day one
At launch there will be two editions, just as in beta: a free core — the widget, grounded answers with citations, and the anti-fabrication safety rails — and Pro, which adds unlimited knowledge, analytics, lead and idea capture, enforced citations, human-handoff escalations, and advanced privacy controls. Full details live at answerrails.com.
When can you get it?
The public launch date will be announced soon — here and at answerrails.com. Until then, the private beta is open: if you’d like AnswerRails answering questions on your site ahead of the launch, email sales@celtic3d.com and we’ll get you set up. Beta sites get hands-on help and a direct line to shape what ships.
You’ve already written the answers. Soon, every WordPress site will be able to make sure customers find them — reliably, responsibly, and without extra overhead.
AnswerRails is built and operated by Celtic3d Ltd in Aberdeen, and runs live on this very site — the chat in the corner is it. Ask it something.
