Current release: 2.2.01
Ask Site gives visitors a dedicated form for asking questions about your site's public content. It can return a cited excerpt or an optional AI-written answer with links to the original articles.
In 2.2.00, Ask Site and Semantic Search settings live together in Settings → Lumenare Search → Search & Answers. Start with the Search & Answers setup guide for search behavior, AI connectors, content analysis and results-page answer cards. This page covers the public Ask Site form.
How Ask Site Works
- A visitor submits a question.
- Lumenare searches using the assigned Ask Site profile and checks public passages from the retrieved content.
- The selected answer style returns a supported excerpt, or asks the WordPress AI Client to write an answer from those passages.
- Visitors can follow the source links to read the original content.
Ask Site does not browse the web or train an AI model on your site. A relevant title or a high search ranking alone does not establish that an article answers the question. When no supporting sources are found, the form can show “No supporting sources were found for that question.”
Answer Modes
Choose Default answer style under Search & Answers → Answers. These styles are shared with results-page answer cards; each surface's assigned profile can override the default.
| Style | What visitors see | Requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Sources and cited excerpts | A supported excerpt and source links, without AI answer writing | Public Ask Site enabled, a usable search index and a valid assigned profile |
| AI-written answers with citations | A short answer based on retrieved public passages, with source links | The base requirements, WordPress 7.0 or newer with active AI Client support, and a configured text-generation connector with any required approval |
Selecting AI-written answers and saving explicitly permits generation requests on enabled answer surfaces. The embedding model chosen for content analysis is a separate setting; it does not select the model used to write answers.
When AI writing is unavailable or its response fails validation, Lumenare can return a supported excerpt instead. AI writing can assess retrieved passages that the local excerpt matcher could not use, but it still needs evidence from your site. The form's no-support response and the results-page card's no-answer notice are separate outputs.
Enabling Ask Site
- Build or update the keyword index in Index Management.
- Open Settings → Lumenare Search → Search & Answers.
- Under Answers, choose the answer style and source/word limits.
- Under Placement, select Enable public Ask Site by default and review Requests per visitor and Rate-limit window in seconds.
- Save, then add the Ask Site shortcode or block to a page.
- Test the form as a logged-out visitor with a question covered by a published article, then try an unsupported question.
The Search behavior table shows the Ask Site profile and its effective choices. A profile can override public placement, so check that row if the global switch appears correct but the form is unavailable.
Content analysis is required for meaning reranking, rather than for every Ask Site answer. Keyword or question-understanding search with cited excerpts works without an AI connector or prepared embeddings.
Readiness Requirements
| Requirement | What to check |
|---|---|
| Public Ask Site enabled | Enable the placement switch, including any assigned profile override |
| Index available and populated | Select searchable post types and reindex public content in Index Management |
| Search profile resolves | Assign an existing profile to Ask Site in Search Profiles |
| Rate limiting configured | Keep a valid request cap and time window; defaults are five requests per 60 seconds |
| AI writing available, when selected | Check WordPress AI Client support, connector credentials and required Lumenare Search approval |
If base requirements are unmet, visitors do not see the form. Administrators with settings access can still see it for diagnosis. A configured connector alone does not prove that answer generation is working; test an actual question and inspect its citations.
Placing the Ask Site Form
Shortcode
[lumenare_ask_site]
Both attributes are optional:
| Attribute | Default | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
placeholder |
Ask this site a question |
Text inside the question field |
button |
Ask |
Submit-button label |
[lumenare_ask_site placeholder="What would you like to know?" button="Get an answer"]
Block
Search for Lumenare Ask Site in the block inserter. It provides the same placeholder and button-label controls, plus WordPress spacing, color and typography options.
The form and results-page answer cards have independent placement switches. You can use either one or both. For cards above ordinary search results, follow Answers on search results.
Settings Reference
| Setting | Default on a new install | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Public Ask Site placement | Off | Enables the public form; add its block or shortcode separately |
| Default answer style | Sources and cited excerpts | Shared with results-page cards; profiles can override it |
| Maximum sources | 5 | Between 1 and 10 |
| Maximum answer words | 120 | Between 40 and 240; also bounds excerpt answers |
| Requests per visitor | 5 | Ask Site requests allowed during the rate window |
| Rate-limit window | 60 seconds | Adjustable under Placement |
Upgrading preserves existing explicit placement and AI-writing choices. It does not turn on new public forms, cards or AI writing just because an older semantic-search mode was selected.
Rate Limiting
Ask Site accepts public requests, so its visitor request cap remains active for both answer styles. The default is five questions per visitor per minute. Results-page answers use a separate allowance with the shared cap and window.
Keep the default while testing, then adjust it for real usage. If visitors see “Please wait a moment before asking another question,” check traffic and the configured allowance before raising the cap.
REST And Abilities API
The public form uses:
POST /wp-json/lumenare-search/v1/ask
Supply the required question parameter. The endpoint uses the same readiness, question-length limits, profile routing and rate limiting as the form.
Ask Site is also available through the WordPress Abilities API. These requests use the same grounded retrieval and answer path; they do not give an agent unrestricted access to site content.
Search Intelligence For Ask Site
Review unanswered Ask Site questions in Settings → Lumenare Search → Search Intelligence. For a useful content gap, you can:
- Create a draft answer from the question.
- Find existing content before writing something new.
- Mark reviewed when no further action is needed.
- Dismiss noise or irrelevant questions.
Classifications help distinguish content gaps from imported noise, non-English queries, bare numbers and bot-like traffic. Review the question and existing articles before treating an unanswered question as a missing article.
Privacy And Content Visibility
Answers use live, publicly accessible passages from retrieved site content. Drafts, private or trashed posts and password-protected body text cannot support an answer. A protected post may remain findable by title in ordinary search, but that does not make it an answer source. Attachments must satisfy the applicable public-access and document settings.
Keyword or local question-understanding search with cited excerpts does not send the question to an AI service. If you separately enable meaning reranking, uncached questions can be sent to the embedding service even when the answer style is excerpts. AI-written answers send the question and selected public passages through the WordPress AI Client to a text-generation service. Content analysis sends eligible passages to the saved embedding service. Provider charges may apply to those operations.
Citations let visitors check the answer against its sources. They establish where supporting text came from; an AI-written answer still deserves review for accuracy.
Troubleshooting
The Form Does Not Appear For Visitors
Check Search & Answers → Placement, then the Ask Site row under Search behavior for a profile override. Confirm that the keyword index contains public searchable content and the assigned profile exists. Administrators can see an unavailable form while visitors cannot.
Answers Are Sources Only Even Though AI Mode Is Selected
Check the effective answer style for the Ask Site profile, WordPress 7.0 or newer, active AI Client support, connector credentials and any required approval. A service or validation failure can also trigger an excerpt fallback. The content-analysis model selector controls embeddings, not answer writing.
Answers Cite The Wrong Content
Review the Ask Site profile's searchable post types, weighting and vocabulary. Keep the index current and ask a question with a clear subject. See the Tuning Guide.
Visitors Hit The Rate Limit Too Often
Review the visitor cap and window under Placement and inspect traffic before changing them. Increasing a cap allows more requests during the window; increasing the window makes that same cap last longer.
No Sources Are Returned For Obvious Questions
Confirm that the relevant article is published, searchable and indexed. Ask with the full subject name and check that the answer is stated in its public body or excerpt, rather than only in a title or taxonomy. An unanswered question can also reflect retrieval or evidence limits. Rebuilding embeddings alone does not guarantee an answer; see the setup and troubleshooting guide.