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Connect AI Mode to your commerce store's domain

Connect AI Mode to your commerce store's domain.

Getting started with AI Mode

The Empathy Plaform AI Mode conversational search experience is available under a subdomain of your commerce store's domain, for example, chat.yourstore.com. Once connected, shoppers can access it directly through this URL or through the AI Mode button in your search experience.

interact

For a complete functional overview of AI Mode conversational search, see Discover AI Mode.

This guide covers how to connect AI Mode to your commerce store's domain to complete the integration process. Follow these steps:

  1. Create and configure your subdomain on your domain provider.
  2. Activate the new hostname in Empathy Platform.

Creating a subdomain

To set up your subdomain, go to your domain provider and add a new record. You need to create a CNAME type DNS record that points to experience-ai-chat.pages.dev.

Choose a subdomain, for example chat, and configure the DNS record as follows:

Setting Value
Record name / Host chat
Record type CNAME
Value / Target experience-ai-chat.pages.dev
TTL 60 seconds
Routing policy Simple

DNS record type

Do not create an A record or TXT record for this configuration. The subdomain must be configured as a CNAME type pointing to experience-ai-chat.pages.dev.

coding tip

Field names may vary depending on your DNS provider. AWS Route 53, Cloudflare, GoDaddy, and other providers may use slightly different terminology. TTL (Time to Live) controls how long DNS resolvers cache this record before checking for updates. Routing policy is specific to certain providers, such as AWS Route 53; if your provider doesn't offer this setting, you can skip it.

Example

If your domain is colbenson.com and you want to use chat.colbenson.com as the subdomain for your AI Mode experience, your DNS configuration should look like:

Record name: chat.colbenson.com
Record type: CNAME
Value: experience-ai-chat.pages.dev

Your DNS provider might automatically append your main domain. For this example, the record name is:

chat

The resulting hostname is:

chat.colbenson.com

DNS propagation note

DNS changes may not become available immediately. Depending on your DNS provider and TTL configuration, propagation can take some time. Most DNS providers show a status for the record, such as "Pending verification" or "Active," so you can check your provider's dashboard to confirm when the change has taken effect.

Only when the CNAME record is active and the hostname enabled on Empathy Platform, the AI Mode experience is available from your subdomain.

Activating the hostname in Empathy Platform

Once you have set up the DNS record for your subdomain, the resulting hostname needs to be activated in Empathy Platform as an AI Mode entry point. Thus, Empathy Platform can recognize your subdomain and serve your specific hostname.

Provide your hostname, for this example chat.colbenson.com, to your Empathy Platform key account manager or partner to get the activation done. Once activated, they notify you that the hostname is up and running.

note

If you require any help during the process, contact Empathy Support or your Key Account Manager.

Accessing your AI Mode experience

Once your CNAME record is active and your hostname is enabled in Empathy Platform, your AI Mode experience is available directly from the new subdomain created, for this example: https://chat.colbenson.com.

When shoppers select the AI Mode button in your search experience, the configured URL opens displaying the AI Mode conversational experience to interact with your commerce store's catalog. AI Mode can also be accessed directly through the corresponding URL.

Integration overview

The complete setup looks like this:

Customer's domain
        │
        │  CNAME
        ▼
chat.yourstore.com
        │
        │
        ▼
experience-ai-chat.pages.dev
        │
        ▼
     AI Mode
Checklist

Check this list to confirm all steps needed for connecting AI Mode to Empathy Platform:

  • Choose the subdomain you want to use (for example, chat.yourstore.com).
  • Create a CNAME record for that subdomain in your DNS provider.
  • Point the CNAME to experience-ai-chat.pages.dev.
  • Provide the new hostname to your Empathy Platform key account manager or partner to activate the hostname as an AI Mode entry point.
  • Check AI Mode is up and running by accessing the new subdomain.
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