Make the assistant sound like you
Set your assistant's identity, give it your notes and rules, write the questions readers tap, and control ratings and comments. Each domain has its own settings.
On this page
Overview
Your site's assistant (Pico by default) answers from your recipes, your notes, and the rules you set. The settings on this page control:
- its name, tagline, logo, persona, and the people it may name
- what it knows: a site background, per-recipe author notes, and optionally your approved reader comments
- how it adapts recipes: servings, scaling rules, and warnings shown word for word
- the suggested questions and headline readers see on each recipe
- rating prompts and the comments they send to WordPress for your approval
For what the assistant can do for readers, see Pico chat. For how the widget looks and where it appears, see Widget configuration.
Chat settings are live in the chat within about an hour of saving.
Where settings live
Chat settings live in two places in the Publisher Portal:
- Site-wide: Integrate → click your domain → General tab. This holds Agent identity, Site background, Recipe adjustments, Chatbot logo, Recipe ratings, Answer source explanations, Content source, and the Pico chat and Allspice search switches.
- Per recipe: Recipes in the sidebar → choose your domain → open a recipe. This holds Recipe Context (author notes), your questions, generated questions, and the Headline.
Agent identity
The Agent identity card sets how the chat introduces itself on this domain. Click Update identity to save the name, identity, and people.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Chatbot name | The assistant's name, up to 16 characters. Defaults to Pico. |
| Chatbot subtitle | The tagline under the name in the widget header, up to 40 characters. Defaults to “Your personal recipe assistant”. |
| Chatbot page link | Optional. A page on your site about your assistant; the name in the widget header links to it (opens in a new tab). |
| Identity | Who the assistant is: backstory, voice, quirks, up to 1,500 characters. It answers in the first person from this when readers ask who it is. If empty, it introduces itself as this site's kitchen assistant. |
| People on this site | Up to 3 people the chat may name when a reader asks who runs or writes the site: a name (up to 40 characters) and an optional short bio (up to 300). For anyone not listed, the chat says it doesn't know rather than guessing. |
Chatbot logo
The separate Chatbot logo card sets the mark shown in the chat header, exactly as uploaded. Use PNG, JPG, WebP, or GIF under 2 MB. If you upload a GIF, also add a Still image (under 500 KB).
Site background
The Site background card is a short write-up about your site that the chat uses for context. Allspice fills it in automatically from your About page; edit it to say what you want the assistant to know.
The chat uses it when readers ask about your site or the people behind it, and as background when helping readers find recipes.
Keep it short and specific: who your audience is, what your cooking is known for, and anything readers commonly ask about you. Put rules for adapting recipes in Recipe adjustments instead.
Recipe adjustments
The Recipe adjustments card controls how freely the chat adapts your recipes: servings, scaling, and substitutions.
Readers can change servings
Shows the + / − servings buttons on recipes in the widget. Choose Yes (default) or No.
Chat scaling
How the chat scales a recipe when a reader asks for more or fewer servings. Default: Linear.
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Off | The chat never scales recipes on its own. |
| Linear | Multiplies every amount by the serving ratio. Nothing else. |
| Linear + notes | Multiplies, then adjusts amounts using your site-wide scaling notes and each recipe's own scaling notes. |
| Notes only | Like Linear + notes, but declines to scale any recipe that has no scaling note of its own. |
Site-wide scaling notes (up to 1,500 characters) are rules for every recipe, such as “don't scale leavening past double”. They're only used in the two notes modes. Notes for a single recipe go on that recipe (see Recipe context).
Reader warnings
- Scaling warning (up to 500 characters) - shown to readers word for word whenever the chat scales a recipe, in every mode except Off.
- Substitution warning (up to 500 characters) - shown under substitution answers the chat worked out itself. Answers taken directly from your own notes never carry it.
Warnings are added after the answer is written, so the assistant can't reword or drop them.
Recipe context (author notes)
Open a recipe in Recipes to see its Recipe Context: the notes the assistant answers from for that recipe. Allspice collects them from your post, its FAQs, and its comments, and labels where each came from: Author, FAQ, Author reply, or Reader comment.
Notes are grouped into Substitutions, Storage, Reheating, Make ahead, Scaling, and Cooking tips. You can add, edit, or delete any note.
- Readers don't see notes as a list. The chat answers from them and cites them, which is what earns an answer the “Found on this page” label (see Answer source labels).
- Notes that come only from reader comments are treated as less authoritative than your own.
- A Scaling note is what the Linear + notes and Notes only modes read for that recipe.
On your most popular recipes, add a note or two in your own words, such as a substitution you've tested or how long it keeps. The chat will answer from them.
Suggested questions
Readers see suggested questions as tappable chips in the widget. Each recipe has two kinds, both managed on the recipe's page in Recipes.
Your questions
Questions you write, with your own answers. Readers get your answer word for word when they tap the question.
- Up to 10 per recipe. Questions up to 300 characters; answers up to 2,000.
- Tag each with a type: Substitution, Storage, Cooking tip, Make ahead, Reheating, Scaling, Difficulty, or General.
Generated questions
Written by Allspice from your recipe and notes. Edit one to put it in your own words (it's marked Edited by you), or delete any you don't want readers to see. Your edits are kept when the recipe is updated.
Tapping a suggested question returns a stored answer, so it doesn't use any of the reader's monthly chat allowance.
Recipe headline
The Headline card on a recipe's page is a short hook readers see about 15 seconds after landing on that recipe, before any suggested question. Tapping it opens the chat with your supporting line as the answer.
| Field | Limit |
|---|---|
| Headline | Up to 125 characters. |
| Supporting line | Optional, up to 250 characters. Shown as the chat answer when readers tap the headline. |
| Call to action | Up to 40 characters. Defaults to “Tap to find out”. |
- You can edit the headline once the recipe is linked to a page on your site.
- Under your supporting line, readers get follow-up chips: a summary of the comments, a 30-second recipe summary, and your recipe's most-tapped questions.
- Add a Recipe promo photo on the General tab to show next to headlines: square, at least 160 px, under 500 KB.
- Headlines need a current version of the WordPress plugin and appear after the next sync.
Answer source labels
Every chat answer carries a label telling readers where it came from:
- Found on this page - taken from your recipe or notes.
- Partly from this page - your content plus general knowledge.
- General cooking knowledge - not from your content.
Readers can tap the info icon on a label for an explanation. In the Answer source explanations card you can replace each explanation with your own text (up to 280 characters each). Leave a field empty to use the standard text.
Ratings & comments
The Recipe ratings card controls a small rating prompt readers see after clear cooking signals: a long stay on the recipe, using Cook Mode, or printing.
- Ask readers to rate recipes - on by default.
- Ask for a comment after a good rating - on by default. A 4 or 5 star rating invites the reader to leave a public comment.
- Unanswered prompt dismisses after - how long the prompt stays if ignored, separately for desktop and mobile (5 to 3,600 seconds; defaults 240 and 15).
How comments reach your site
- Comments are submitted as regular WordPress comments, so your normal moderation, spam protection, and notification emails apply. Nothing is published without your approval (unless your WordPress settings auto-approve comments).
- Approved comments from the rating prompt carry the star rating, so they count toward your WP Recipe Maker star rating.
- Ratings of 1 to 3 stars aren't posted. The reader gets a thank-you, and the rating stays in your private analytics.
- If comments are closed on a post, no comment is offered.
Your site must allow Allspice's WordPress REST route (/wp-json/allspice/v1/rating-comment). If you use a firewall or security plugin that blocks REST requests, allowlist it (see Plugin compatibility).
On domains with advanced processing, the chat can also offer to post something a reader said, like a tip or a question for you, as a comment. Those comments go through the same approval flow and carry no star rating. The Chat comment prompts card on the General tab lets you rewrite the line the chat uses for each kind of offer (question, tip, praise, or problem report; up to 80 characters each). Leave a field empty to use the standard line.
Include reader comments
In the Content source card, Include comments lets the assistant draw on the conversation under each recipe: approved reader comments, including your own replies. Unapproved and spam comments never leave your site.
It's off by default, and appears when the content source is set to WordPress Direct.
Chat & AI search switches
- Pico chat - turns the chat on or off, on by default. This applies to the full-page (overlay) widget only; floating and inline widgets are unaffected.
- AI search (in the Allspice search card) - turns AI search on or off, on by default. AI search name sets what readers see it called (up to 30 characters, default “Advanced Search”). See Search.