Deployment Surfaces
The same AI answer engine can show up on a client's site five different ways. Picking the right one is a client-experience decision, not a technical one — make it with them, not for them.
The Five Surfaces
| Surface | What It Is | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Knowledge Box | An AI-generated answer inserted directly above a client's existing search results | A client who already has a search page and wants an AI upgrade without replacing anything |
| Modal Dialog | A popup AI search triggered by a button, without leaving the current page | Fast AI answers anywhere on the site, including a welcome-screen or multi-panel CTA experience |
| Search Results Page | A dedicated, full-page AI search experience, combining natural-language search, quick answers, and categorized results — can add facet search (include/exclude tags by region, product line, department, etc.) | Portals, knowledge bases, and internal search where structured filtering matters alongside AI answers |
| Bot | The full conversational assistant — multi-panel welcome screens, guided journeys, quick actions, multilingual and multimodal input, mobile-friendly and expandable to full screen | The primary engagement surface for most Walk and Run deployments |
| APIs | REST and WebSocket access for fully custom applications | Developers building the AI experience directly into their own app, portal, or product |
These aren't mutually exclusive — a Run-tier client might run a Knowledge Box on their support portal and a full Bot on their marketing site and a custom app built on the API. Match the surface to where the client's actual visitor traffic and intent live, not to a single "pick one" decision.
How This Maps to Tiers
See the Engagement Tiers capability matrix for the full breakdown, but as a starting point: Knowledge Box and Modal Dialog are the natural Crawl-tier surfaces (minimal change to what already exists); the full Bot is the default Walk/Run surface; Search Results Page with facet search and the raw APIs tend to show up once a client's needs are specific enough to be Walk-or-Run regardless of surface choice.
Related Documentation
- Engagement Tiers — The full capability matrix these surfaces map into
- Guided Experiences — What makes a surface feel personalized once it's chosen
- Your Working Session — Demoing the right surface live