Rapls AI Chatbot – Self-Hosted RAG Chatbot & MCP Server (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, OpenRouter)

Add an AI chatbot that answers visitors from your own content — and admits when it doesn’t know. Rapls AI Chatbot searches your posts, pages, and knowledge base first, then replies in natural language, in the visitor’s own language. With Grounded Answers Only mode, if your content has no answer, the bot says so instead of making something up.

You can be live in about five minutes, for free, with no credit card. On first setup a guided “Start for free” panel hands you a free key from OpenRouter or the Google Gemini free tier, tests it, auto-selects a working model, and switches the chatbot on — no AI or API experience needed.

Watch the setup, start to finish:

No monthly SaaS fee — and no runaway bill. It runs on your own API key with no markup, and built-in Usage Control caps daily usage per visitor, so you can open the bot to the public without worrying about your API spend. A Monthly Cost Guard lets you set a hard budget, and Model Fallback keeps the bot answering on a lightweight model when your main model hits its quota. Conversations and keys stay on your own server.

Built for site owners, agencies, and developers who want control over the model, the data, and the cost. Connect OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, or OpenRouter, and switch anytime.

Why site owners pick Rapls

• Free to try, fast to launch. Guided onboarding gets you from install to a working chatbot in minutes, with a no-credit-card OpenRouter or Gemini key.
• Grounded answers, or an honest “I don’t know.” RAG hybrid search grounds replies in your actual posts, pages, and knowledge base — and Grounded Answers Only mode keeps the bot from inventing answers your site doesn’t contain.
• Your bill can’t run away. Self-hosted and BYOK with no markup, plus per-visitor daily caps (Usage Control) so public traffic can’t drain your API budget.
• Replies that don’t sound like a robot. An optional AI-smell score reviews the bot’s Japanese replies for machine-sounding wording, so you can tune the tone. (Detection only — replies are never altered.)
• No lock-in. Switch between OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, and OpenRouter whenever you want.
• Speaks your visitors’ language. Automatic multi-language replies, so one bot serves an international audience.

What it does

• Bring your own key: OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, or OpenRouter, switchable per site.
• Site learning: indexes your posts and pages so the bot answers from your content.
• Knowledge base: add Q&A or upload PDF/DOCX files, with priority over general answers.
• RAG hybrid search: combines keyword and semantic retrieval for grounded replies.
• Grounded Answers Only: an optional mode that makes the bot reply “I couldn’t find that” instead of inventing an answer your content doesn’t support.
• Web search: lets the bot pull current information when configured.
• MCP tools: exposes 5 Model Context Protocol tools, so agents such as Claude or ChatGPT can read and act on your site through conversation.
• Usage dashboard: tracks conversations, messages, and API cost.
• Usage Control: optional per-visitor daily caps so public traffic can’t run up your API bill.
• Unanswered Questions: records what the bot could not answer, with one-click “Add to knowledge” and an AI-drafted FAQ page.
• AI-smell score: an optional read-only score that flags machine-sounding wording in Japanese replies (detection only — replies are never altered).
• Industry starter templates: one click applies a ready-made system prompt and preset questions for hotels, shops, clinics, professional services, or company sites.
• Gutenberg block: drop the chatbot into any page or post.

Turns visitor questions into content

The bot doesn’t just answer — it tells you what your site is missing. Questions it could not answer from your content are recorded on the dashboard, one click turns them into a knowledge entry, and another click drafts an FAQ page from the last 30 days of real visitor questions. Answer gaps become content, content improves the bot, and the same pages work for SEO and AI search (LLMO).

Self-hosted and private

Conversations and keys stay on your own WordPress install. You are billed by your AI provider directly, so cost is transparent and there is no markup. Visitors can delete their own chat history from the widget (optional), and retention is configurable — GDPR-friendly by design.

Free and Pro

Free — not a trial. The free version is the full product: chatbot, site learning, knowledge base, RAG hybrid search, Grounded Answers Only, MCP server (5 tools), a usage dashboard (conversations, messages, and cost), and per-visitor daily caps. Run it forever at no cost on a free-tier key.

Pro — for sites that run the bot as a business tool:

• Lead capture automation — collect contacts from conversations, with Google Sheets and Slack sync.
• Analytics — conversation, cost, and quality metrics at a glance.
• Usage Control suite — role-based limits, per-user monthly credits with auto-reset, and a usage-control dashboard to grant and track credits, so members and guests each get a fair share of your API budget.
• Extra MCP tools — product-search and analytics tools for AI agents, on top of the five in Free.
• Context & embedding controls — reprocess embeddings and shape the context retrieved for each reply.
• LINE integration (add-on) — connect the chatbot to LINE messaging, the dominant messenger in Japan.

Up and running in about 5 minutes (free, no credit card)

You do not need an API key or any AI experience to start. On first setup the plugin shows a “Start for free” panel with two no-credit-card paths: an OpenRouter free key or a Google Gemini free-tier key.

1. Pick OpenRouter or Gemini.
2. Click through to get a free key (about a minute) and paste it in.
3. Press Test Connection — the key is validated and saved, a working free model is auto-selected, and the chatbot is switched on.

That’s it. Each option states its data-handling trade-off up front (the Gemini free tier may use submitted content to improve Google’s models), so you choose with eyes open. You can switch to your own OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini key at any time.

Learn more: Plugin details | Source code (GitHub)

See it in action

Watch the full setup — from install to first reply — in about 5 minutes, no credit card required:

See it answer from your own content, and how that differs from plain ChatGPT:

External Services

This plugin connects to the following external third-party services. No data is sent to any service until you configure an API key and enable the feature in the plugin settings. Each service requires the site administrator to create an account and obtain API credentials. By using these services, you agree to their respective terms and privacy policies listed below.

1. OpenAI (GPT models): AI Provider

Used when you select OpenAI as your AI provider. User messages and optionally site content are sent to generate AI responses.

• Service URL: https://api.openai.com/
• Terms of Use: https://openai.com/terms/
• Privacy Policy: https://openai.com/privacy/

2. Anthropic (Claude models): AI Provider

Used when you select Anthropic Claude as your AI provider. User messages and optionally site content are sent to generate AI responses.

• Service URL: https://api.anthropic.com/
• Terms of Use: https://www.anthropic.com/terms
• Privacy Policy: https://www.anthropic.com/privacy

3. Google (Gemini models): AI Provider

Used when you select Google Gemini as your AI provider. User messages and optionally site content are sent to generate AI responses.

• Service URL: https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/
• Terms of Use: https://policies.google.com/terms
• Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

4. OpenRouter: AI Provider

Used when you select OpenRouter as your AI provider. OpenRouter is a unified API gateway that routes requests to various AI models.

• Service URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/
• Terms of Use: https://openrouter.ai/terms
• Privacy Policy: https://openrouter.ai/privacy

5. Google reCAPTCHA v3 (Optional)

Used only if you enable reCAPTCHA in the plugin settings for spam protection. The visitor’s IP address and interaction data are sent to Google for verification.

• Service URL: https://www.google.com/recaptcha/
• Terms of Use: https://policies.google.com/terms
• Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

6. LINE Messaging API (Pro Add-on, Optional)

Used only if you enable the LINE integration via the Pro add-on. Connects to the LINE Messaging API for chatbot-to-LINE messaging.

• Service URL: https://api.line.me/
• Terms of Use: https://terms.line.me/
• Privacy Policy: https://line.me/en/terms/policy/

Cross-Site Embed

The plugin includes an optional embed loader script (embed-loader.js) for embedding the chatbot on external websites via an iframe. This script does not load any external CDN resources or third-party scripts. It creates an iframe pointing back to your own WordPress site, and all data processing occurs on your server.

Data Transmitted to External Services

• User messages: Chat messages entered by visitors (sent to the configured AI provider only)
• Site content (if Site Learning is enabled): Excerpts from your published posts/pages (sent to the configured AI provider)
• Knowledge base (if configured): Custom Q&A entries you create (sent to the configured AI provider)
• IP address (reCAPTCHA only): Sent to Google for spam verification

Data Storage

• Conversation history: Stored locally in your WordPress database (can be disabled)
• Visitor IP: Stored as SHA-256 hash (not plain text) for rate limiting
• Retention: Configurable auto-deletion period (default 90 days)

User Controls

You can disable these features in the plugin settings:
* Conversation history saving
* Site content crawling/learning
* Google reCAPTCHA verification
* Web search