---
doc_version: "1.0.0"
last_updated: "2026-07-14T15:00:57.718Z"
title: "How to Create and Manage Bots"
description: "Create a new AI chatbot in ChatbotIQ, configure its model and personality, manage multiple bots, and delete bots you no longer need."
keywords: [create bot, manage bots, chatbot setup, AI model, personality, ChatbotIQ]
---

A bot is your AI chatbot, the thing your visitors talk to. Each bot has its own AI model, personality, knowledge sources, and settings. You can create multiple bots for different purposes (e.g., one for customer support, another for product docs).

---

## Create a new bot

1. Go to **Bots** in the sidebar.
2. Click **"Create Bot"**.
3. The creation wizard walks you through six steps:

| Step | What you do |
|------|-------------|
| **Name & Description** | Give your bot a friendly name (e.g., "Support Bot") and an optional description. |
| **Knowledge Sources** | Choose which sources your bot should know about, or leave it on "All sources" to use everything in your knowledge base. |
| **AI Model** | Pick the language model that powers your bot. Each model shows a description to help you choose. See [Choose and Switch AI Models](/how-to/switch-ai-models/) for guidance. |
| **Behavior** | ChatbotIQ detects the language of your content and suggests a base prompt (tone and style). Accept the suggestion or write your own. Configure suggested questions and citation settings. |
| **Support** | Optionally enable human handoff and/or a contact form. Configure trigger modes, agent labels, and notification emails. See [Enable Human Handoff](/how-to/enable-human-handoff/). |
| **Review** | Confirm your choices and create the bot. |

4. Click **Create** and your bot is ready to test in the [Playground](/how-to/use-the-playground/).

---

## The Bots table

All your bots appear in a table showing:

- **Name and description**
- **Sources** - how many knowledge sources are attached
- **AI model** - which model powers the bot
- **Conversations** - total conversation count
- **Status** - Active (accepting messages) or Inactive (paused)
- **Created** - when the bot was created

---

## Manage your bots

For each bot, you can:

- **Design & Deploy** - open the Playground to customize the widget, test conversations, and get the embed code.
- **Edit** - change the bot's name, description, model, sources, or any other setting. Opens a quick-edit panel.
- **Delete** - permanently remove the bot and all its conversation history. This can't be undone.

> **Tip:** You can also access bot settings directly from the Playground by clicking the **gear icon** (⚙) in the header.

---

## Activate or deactivate a bot

Toggle the **Active** switch on a bot to control whether it accepts messages:

- **Active** - the bot responds to questions through the widget and API.
- **Inactive** - the widget won't load and API calls are rejected. Useful when you're making changes and don't want visitors to see an incomplete bot.

---

## Related

- [Use the Bot Playground](/how-to/use-the-playground/) - test and customize your bot
- [Bot Settings Reference](/reference/bot-settings/) - every configuration option explained
- [Choose and Switch AI Models](/how-to/switch-ai-models/) - which model is right for your use case
- [Embed the Widget](/how-to/embed-the-widget/) - put your bot on your website

## Sitemap

Full documentation index: [sitemap.md](/sitemap.md) and [llms.txt](/llms.txt).