Where It Lives
The chatbot is hosted on Voiceflow, a platform that powers the conversational logic.
It is embedded directly on the website (https://askstellanow.org/) using a small script tag.
The script tag has been custom-modified so the chatbot blends seamlessly into the site.
What It Does
The chatbot's job is simple: answer questions from visitors quickly and accurately.
User asks a question
Visitor types their query into the chatbot interface.
The chatbot searches for answers
The system looks for relevant information to answer the user's question.
Step 1: Internal Sources (Preferred)
- Uses a retrieval process (called RAG – Retrieval Augmented Generation) to search a curated set of documents and FAQs provided by The Gear Foundation.
- If relevant information is found, the chatbot responds directly from these sources.
Step 2: External Search (Backup)
- If no internal sources match, the chatbot sends the query to the Perplexity API, which retrieves reliable information from the web.
Answer delivered
The answer is returned to the user in natural, conversational language.
Special Actions (Intents)
In addition to answering questions, the chatbot recognizes certain special requests:
"Contact Us"
Responds with the official contact link
"Donate"
Responds with the official donation link
These prescriptive messages give users the exact URL they need to take action.
Supportive Automations
There are supportive automations built on top of this system (both N8N and NocoDB are self-hosted):
1. Conversation Tracking
N8N automation workflow triggers Voiceflow transcript APIs to populate into a database which is client viewable (NocoDB).
2. Knowledge Base Updates
N8N automation workflow triggers when a Google Drive folder is updated with new / modified source material, which is then added to the chatbot Knowledge base on the backend.