README

Add your KolossusAI chat assistant to a CodeIgniter 4 site with one command. Works with CodeIgniter 4.0 and newer (PHP 7.4+; CodeIgniter 4.4 needs PHP 8.1, 4.7 needs PHP 8.2). On CodeIgniter 4.0 and 4.1, which have no Content-Security-Policy nonces, the script tag goes out without one.

Install

Run this in your CodeIgniter project folder (the one with spark):

composer require kolossusai/chat-codeigniter

CodeIgniter finds the package by itself (auto-discovery) and it adds the chat bubble to every page; nothing in your project changes. With no token set, the chat is the free FAQ assistant.

Then add your widget token (from Kolossus: your website widget's Plugins → CodeIgniter) to your environment variables (usually the .env file, or your server's settings):

KOLOSSUS_CHAT_WIDGET_TOKEN=wt_YOUR_TOKEN

That's it: every page now shows your own chat. Also add your site's domain to the widget's allowed domains in Kolossus, or the chat will not open there.

No .env yet? Copy the env file CodeIgniter comes with to .env.
If .env already has a KOLOSSUS_CHAT_WIDGET_TOKEN line, change it rather than adding a second one (CodeIgniter uses the first).
On your live server, set your token the same way. Without a token there, the live site shows the free FAQ assistant.

Free FAQ assistant (no Kolossus account needed)

No Kolossus account yet? Use the free FAQ assistant. It answers your visitors' questions about your website: products, prices, policies, opening hours, contact details and more.

composer require kolossusai/chat-codeigniter

That's it: every page now shows the chat bubble.

What you get

Answers based on your website's public pages.
10 free messages per visitor.
Visitors chat anonymously.

Good to know

It works on your live website. On localhost it can't answer yet.
It can't answer about orders, accounts or anything behind a login.
You can change the colour, layout, bubble corner, size and more: see Look below.

Need more? For more messages or your own trained agent, contact the KolossusAI team at kolossusai.in, then add your widget token to your environment variables (usually the .env file): KOLOSSUS_CHAT_WIDGET_TOKEN=wt_YOUR_TOKEN

Put the chat where you want it

The bubble is added to every HTML page just before </body>, by a filter (kolossusChat) the package appends to Config\Filters::$globals['after'] when the app starts; your own filter list is kept as it is. To place the chat yourself instead, load the helper and use it in your views:

helper('kolossus_chat');   // or list 'kolossus_chat' in app/Config/Autoload.php $helpers

<?= kolossus_chat() ?>                                  <!-- the chat bubble -->
<?= kolossus_chat_button('Chat with us', 'btn btn-primary') ?>   <!-- a button that opens the chat -->
<?= kolossus_chat_script() ?>                           <!-- only the widget script -->

A page that uses one of them never gets a second, automatic bubble. To turn the automatic bubble off everywhere, set KOLOSSUS_CHAT_SITEWIDE=false.

Pages are left untouched when they are not full HTML pages (JSON, files, downloads, errors, redirects), and for AJAX requests and htmx, Turbo or Inertia partial updates. To skip more pages, add app/Config/KolossusChat.php:

<?php

namespace Config;

class KolossusChat extends \KolossusAI\ChatCodeIgniter\Config\KolossusChat
{
    public array $excludePaths = ['admin', 'admin/*', 'checkout/*'];
}

php spark filter:check does not list kolossusChat: it is added when a page is served, not in the config file.

Logged-in users

With CodeIgniter Shield, set your widget secret (from the same widget in Kolossus) to let the chat know who a logged-in user is:

KOLOSSUS_CHAT_WIDGET_SECRET=ws_YOUR_SECRET

The secret stays on your server. Only a signature (HMAC-SHA256) of the user's email is sent to the browser, with their email and username.

Look

These override the widget's own settings from Kolossus; leave them out to keep those.

`.env` key	Values
`KOLOSSUS_CHAT_THEME`	`light`, `dark`
`KOLOSSUS_CHAT_PRIMARY_COLOR`	a hex colour, like `#aaf684`
`KOLOSSUS_CHAT_LAYOUT`	`bubble`, `sidebar`, `bottom_bar`
`KOLOSSUS_CHAT_OPEN_ON_LOAD`	`remember` (default), `open`, `closed`
`KOLOSSUS_CHAT_POSITION`	`right`, `left` (bubble corner)
`KOLOSSUS_CHAT_OFFSET_X` / `KOLOSSUS_CHAT_OFFSET_Y`	0–1000, pixels from the side / bottom edge
`KOLOSSUS_CHAT_BUBBLE_SIZE`	`small`, `medium`, `large`

Invalid values are ignored and logged as a warning in your CodeIgniter log.

If your app turned on CodeIgniter's Content Security Policy (Config\App::$CSPEnabled), the widget script gets the page's nonce. Your policy must also allow your Kolossus Host URL in script-src and connect-src (with its wss:// address, for the live chat connection).

Remove

composer remove kolossusai/chat-codeigniter

The package changes no file of yours, so that's all. Delete the KOLOSSUS_CHAT_ lines from .env too if you like.

Self-hosted Kolossus

On a Kolossus server other than the cloud, also set its address:

KOLOSSUS_CHAT_HOST_URL=https://kolossus.example.com

https:// only (plain http:// works for localhost while testing).

Tests

composer install
vendor/bin/phpunit

The tests run real requests through CodeIgniter (its own test bootstrap).

kolossusai / chat-codeigniter

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