=== Boreal Relay ===
Contributors: borealformstudio, scottnanc
Tags: customer service, chatbot, ai, openai, live chat
Requires at least: 5.8
Tested up to: 7.1
Stable tag: 2.1.2
Requires PHP: 7.4
License: GPLv2 or later
License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

A BYOK AI support assistant with approved answers, conversation history, feedback, and safe human handoff.

== Description ==

Boreal Relay adds an AI customer-support widget to WordPress. It uses your own OpenAI API key, answers with approved starter knowledge, records conversations and visitor feedback, and hands uncertain or sensitive questions to a person.

The free plugin is complete and useful without a licence:

* Customer-facing chat widget
* Your own OpenAI API key and choice of supported model
* 25+ approved starter answers for common support topics
* Create, edit, approve, pause, and delete knowledge-base answers
* Conversation history in WordPress
* Helpful and unhelpful response feedback
* Human escalation with email notification and a local follow-up queue
* Bot name, greeting, colour, tone, business name, and support-email settings
* No Borealform account, licence check, telemetry, or background vendor request

= Optional Boreal Relay Pro add-on =

Boreal Relay Pro is a separately installed commercial extension for teams that want the assistant to improve around their real products, policies, and support workflow.

Pro adds:

* Turn the first negative rating on an answer into a pending review draft automatically
* Commercial updates and priority product support

Removing or deactivating Pro does not disable the free chat, knowledge editor, history, feedback, escalation, or settings. Pro code and licence handling are not included in the WordPress.org download.

Learn more at https://borealform.com/boreal-relay

== Installation ==

1. Install and activate Boreal Relay from the WordPress Plugins screen.
2. Go to **Boreal Relay > Settings**.
3. Enter your own OpenAI API key and select a model.
4. Set the business name and support email used for human handoff.
5. Review and customize the answers under **Boreal Relay > Knowledge Base**.
6. Enable the widget when you are ready for visitors to use it.

No Borealform account or licence is required for the free plugin.

== External services ==

Boreal Relay connects to OpenAI only after a site administrator saves an OpenAI API key and enables the widget.

For each non-local chat response, the plugin sends the visitor's message, recent conversation messages, the current page URL, the configured business details, and approved knowledge-base text to OpenAI's Chat Completions API. OpenAI processes this data under the site owner's OpenAI account and settings.

Site owners are responsible for:

* reviewing OpenAI's terms and privacy practices;
* telling visitors that an external AI service processes chat messages;
* choosing an appropriate legal basis and retention policy; and
* avoiding sensitive personal information in approved knowledge or prompts.

OpenAI terms: https://openai.com/policies/terms-of-use/

OpenAI privacy policy: https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy/

Disabling the widget stops visitor chat requests. Removing the saved OpenAI API key prevents OpenAI requests while keeping the local administration screens available.

The free plugin does not contact Borealform, perform licence checks, load remote code, or use an external updater.

== Source code ==

The complete human-readable source for Boreal Relay Free is publicly available at:
https://github.com/scottjgd/boreal-relay

The repository contains the same Free plugin source used to build the WordPress.org submission package. Boreal Relay Pro is a separately distributed commercial add-on and is not included in the Free repository or WordPress.org ZIP.

== Privacy and local data ==

Boreal Relay stores conversations, response feedback, page URLs, escalation records, optional visitor contact details, and approved knowledge in the site's WordPress database. Escalation email uses the site's configured WordPress mail delivery.

Administrators can review conversations and escalations in WordPress. Deactivation retains data so reactivation does not erase the support record. Uninstalling the plugin deletes its three custom database tables and plugin options.

Site owners should update their privacy notice and establish a suitable retention process before enabling the widget.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= Does Free stop working after a trial? =

No. There is no trial timer, message quota, or licence requirement in the WordPress.org plugin. You continue to pay OpenAI directly for usage on your own account.

= What is the reason to buy Pro? =

Free gives visitors a working first line of support and gives administrators complete control over its knowledge. Pro saves review time by turning unhelpful responses into pending drafts automatically.

= Will it work with WooCommerce? =

The widget can appear on standard WordPress and WooCommerce pages. It does not read private order data or modify checkout.

= What happens when the assistant is not confident? =

It can ask the visitor for contact details, email the configured support address, and create a local escalation record for the team to resolve.

= Does the plugin train an OpenAI model on my website? =

No. Approved knowledge is added to each request as context. Boreal Relay does not fine-tune a model.

= Can Free users edit the included answers? =

Yes. Free users can create, edit, approve, pause, and delete knowledge entries without a licence or Pro add-on.

== Screenshots ==

1. The Boreal Relay dashboard with conversation, message, escalation, and confidence summaries.
2. Widget settings for OpenAI, brand voice, greeting, colour, and human handoff.
3. The customer-facing chat widget with feedback and escalation.
4. Conversation history stored in the WordPress administration area.
5. The editable knowledge base included in Free.
6. The separate Pro add-on’s automatic feedback-review workflow.

== Changelog ==

= 2.1.2 =

* Made knowledge-base creation, editing, approval, pausing, and deletion available in Free without a licence or Pro add-on.
* Limited the optional Pro add-on to automatic feedback drafts, commercial updates, and priority support.

= 2.1.1 =

* Added WordPress and PHP requirement headers so compatibility details appear during manual plugin replacement.
* Resolved WordPress Plugin Check database, translation, sanitizer, template-variable, and global-prefix findings.
* Replaced short global PHP identifiers with the collision-safe `BOREAL_RELAY_` and `Boreal_Relay_` prefixes.
* Deferred the public widget script while preserving the intentionally site-wide chat experience.
* Added automated Plugin Check validation and versioned deterministic submission packages.

= 2.1.0 =

* Prepared the free edition for WordPress.org distribution.
* Moved commercial licence verification and feedback-review automation into a separate Pro add-on.
* Kept chat, included knowledge, history, feedback, escalation, and settings permanently available in Free.
* Added explicit OpenAI external-service, privacy, local-data, and uninstall disclosures.
* Added a reproducible free-only packaging check that rejects Pro, licence, updater, hidden, and unexpected files.

= 2.0.0 =

* Independent release as Boreal Relay with a product-specific namespace and database tables.
* Added approved starter knowledge, BYOK OpenAI chat, conversation history, feedback, and human escalation.