An AI assistant for WooCommerce: how to connect it and what to look at

October 13, 2026

On WordPress with WooCommerce, connecting takes a few minutes if you know three things: where the bot gets the products, where to paste the code and why a price is sometimes not found. Let’s go through it in practice.

Where the bot gets products

The bot tries three sources and takes the most accurate one it finds.

The store’s open API. Current WooCommerce versions serve the product list at /wp-json/wc/store/v1/products. It has the name, price, availability, categories, description and photo.
Markup on product pages. WooCommerce outputs schema.org Product data, and the bot can read it via the sitemap.
An XML (YML) feed, if you export the catalog in that format.

Checking the API in a minute

Open in a browser:

https://your-site.com/wp-json/wc/store/v1/products?per_page=1

If you see JSON with product data, the API is open. The response also carries the total number of products in a header, so the bot immediately understands the scale of the catalog.

If you see an error, a redirect to a login page or an empty response instead, the API is closed. Most often security plugins or server settings do this. Open their settings and see whether the REST API is blocked for unauthenticated users. If it has to stay closed, the bot falls back to page markup, which is slower and works worse on big catalogs.

Where to paste the code

The line of code goes on every page before the closing </body> tag.

With a plugin (the safest way). Install a code-insertion plugin such as WPCode or Insert Headers and Footers. Create a footer snippet, paste the line and enable it.

With the theme. Appearance → Theme File Editor → footer.php, before </body>. Do it only in a child theme: a parent theme update would erase it.

With a page builder. If the site is built in Elementor or a similar builder, there is an “HTML” widget and global footer settings.

After pasting, clear the cache of the caching plugin and any page cache on the hosting side. Otherwise you will be looking at an old version of the page without the chat.

What to consider in the data

Variable products. If a product has sizes or colors, the price is often set on variations while the main product shows a range or nothing. The bot may not see a specific price. If that matters to you, check several such products in the test chat.

Hidden and draft products don’t get into the catalog. That is right, but make sure you haven’t hidden something you need.

Descriptions. If products have no descriptions, the bot knows only names. To “what material is it made of” it will honestly say it doesn’t know. Add composition and sizes to descriptions: the chat gains more from that than from any settings.

Availability. The bot states availability from the data at the time the site was read. If stock changes fast, keep that in mind and don’t promise the shopper through the bot what isn’t in the warehouse.

Checking before launch

Open the wizard on botnow.site, enter your address and wait for the result. Check the number of products found: it should be close to your real one.
Ask the bot 10 typical shopper questions: availability, price, shipping, budget recommendations.
Pay special attention to prices and products with variations.
Paste the code and make sure the status is “widget found”.

More on testing: How to test an AI chat before launch. The Integrations page describes the same steps in short.

Frequently asked questions

How can I check whether the WooCommerce catalog is open to the chat?

Open your-site.com/wp-json/wc/store/v1/products?per_page=1 in a browser. If you see JSON text with product data, the API is open. If there is an error or a blank page, a security plugin has closed the API and the chat will read page markup instead.

Do I need to install a separate plugin?

To connect, it is enough to paste a line of code. A dedicated BotNow plugin for WooCommerce, which would pass the catalog and update it when products change, is planned but doesn't exist yet.