Privacy & GDPR

Built with privacy as a priority — full control over what data is collected, stored, and shared. The GDPR gate also doubles as a lead capture tool to collect contacts before the chat begins.

Privacy Principles

Data stays on your server — Everything is stored locally in WordPress
No proxy servers — No intermediary servers from the plugin
Full control — You decide what gets logged and what doesn't
Transparency — You know exactly what data is sent to AI providers

GDPR Consent — Two Modes

AxiaChat AI offers two ways to handle GDPR consent. Choose the one that fits your use case in AxiaChat AI → Settings → GDPR Consent.

💡 Lead capture tip Use the Email Form mode to turn every chat session into a lead-capture opportunity. Visitors must submit their contact details before the conversation starts — you get qualified leads automatically, without any extra plugins.

Mode 1 — Classic Consent Message

The original flow. A consent notice appears as the first bot message with an Accept button. The user cannot type until they accept.

When the chat opens, a consent message is shown
The user clicks the Accept button
A cookie records the preference
The notice does not appear again on future visits

Configuration

Go to AxiaChat AI → Settings → GDPR Consent
Enable "Show GDPR consent"
Select "Consent message with accept button"
Write your consent text in the text area (HTML supported)
Optionally change the button label
Save

Mode 2 — Email Form (Lead Capture)

Instead of a plain accept button, the widget shows a small form that visitors must fill in before chatting. Their details are saved to your database as GDPR Contacts — with no usage limits.

What you can collect

Field	Required?	Setting
Email address	Always required	—
Name	Optional toggle	Also require name
Phone number	Optional toggle	Also require phone

Configuration

Go to AxiaChat AI → Settings → GDPR Consent
Enable "Show GDPR consent"
Select "Require email/name before chatting"
Write the form introduction text (shown above the fields)
Set the submit button label (e.g. "Start Chat")
Optionally enable Require name and set its placeholder text
Optionally enable Require phone and set its placeholder text
Save

How it works at runtime

The chat widget opens and shows your custom intro text with the form fields
The visitor fills in the required fields and clicks the button
The contact is saved silently to your WordPress database
The chat unlocks immediately — the visitor can start typing
A cookie records the consent; on future visits the form is skipped

⚠️ Data minimisation Only enable the fields you genuinely need. Collecting data you don't use may increase your GDPR obligations under the data minimisation principle.

GDPR Contacts — Admin View

Every submission via the Email Form mode is stored in a dedicated table (wp_aichat_gdpr_contacts) that is completely separate from the bot-captured Leads.

Accessing your contacts

Go to AxiaChat AI → Leads → GDPR Contacts
The table shows: Email, Name, Phone, Bot, Date
Use the search bar to filter by email, name, or phone

Available actions

Action	How
Delete a single contact	Click the trash icon on the row
Bulk delete	Tick checkboxes → Delete selected
Export all contacts to CSV	Click Export CSV — downloads immediately

📋 CSV export columns ID, Email, Name, Phone, Bot, Date — ready to import into your CRM or email marketing tool.

Data Control

Conversation Logging

Global ON/OFF toggle
When OFF, no conversations are stored at all
Chat still works normally — just without persistent records

IP Storage

Only stored when per-IP usage limits are active
Stored in binary format (VARBINARY) for efficiency
Option for anonymization/hashing
Disable entirely if you don't use per-user limits

What Gets Stored (when logging is ON)

Data	When
User message	Always (if logging on)
Bot response	Always (if logging on)
Timestamps	Always (if logging on)
Bot slug	Always (if logging on)
Session ID	Always (if logging on)
WordPress user ID	If user is logged in
IP address	Only if per-IP limits enabled
GDPR contact (email/name/phone)	Only if Email Form mode is enabled

Data Sent to AI Providers

When a user sends a message, the following is transmitted to the selected AI provider (OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini):

The user's current message
Limited conversation history (trimmed by token count)
System instructions
Selected context chunks (never full documents)

📘 About embeddings Embeddings are numerical vectors — they cannot be reverse-engineered back to text. The original content is stored locally for retrieval. API keys are encrypted in the database.

User Rights

Right of Access

Export a specific user's conversations. Identify users by session ID, WordPress user ID, or IP. GDPR contacts can be exported from Leads → GDPR Contacts → Export CSV.

Right to Erasure

Delete conversations individually or in bulk by date range
Delete GDPR contacts individually or in bulk from the GDPR Contacts tab
Delete associated leads and appointments

Data Export

Export conversation logs to CSV or export GDPR contacts directly from Leads → GDPR Contacts.

Compliance Recommendations

Update your Privacy Policy to mention:
- Use of an AI chatbot
- Which AI provider(s) are used
- What data is sent for processing
- Conversation retention period
- Contact data collected via the chat form (if using Email Form mode)
Enable GDPR consent if you operate in the EU
Use the Email Form mode when you want explicit consent linked to an identifiable contact
Review contacts periodically and delete data you no longer need
Disable logging if you don't need to review conversations
Inform users they are talking to an AI

Legal Bases

Depending on your use case, the legal basis may be:

Legitimate interest — Customer service, support
Consent — When using either GDPR mode (classic or email form)
Contract execution — If the chat is part of your service

⚠️ Legal advice Consult with a legal professional for your specific situation and jurisdiction. This documentation provides technical capabilities, not legal counsel.

Security Measures

API keys encrypted in the database
WordPress nonces for request validation
Capability verification on all admin actions
Prepared SQL queries (SQL injection prevention)
HTML output escaping
Local assets only (no external CDNs)
Honeypot field for spam prevention
Rate limiting and burst control
GDPR contact endpoint validates email format before saving