How Sequoia Applied Technologies built Chatena, an AI website assistant that makes sites conversational
Chatena turns static pages into an AI assisted experience. Visitors get fast answers grounded in your site content. Teams get clear insight into what people ask and where they come from.
Last updated: March 4, 2026
The challenge
Most websites present content in a linear way. People click through several menus to find what they want. Conventional chat widgets often collect details and hand off to a form. They do not understand the context of each page.
We set out to build an assistant that can read a site, answer questions with precision, and share what visitors care about.
The solution
Chatena is a plug and play website assistant. It reads your content, indexes key pages, and can include documents you choose to upload. The assistant answers with verified sources from your site and approved references so every reply stays on brand.
What visitors experience
- Clear answers to questions about your services and work
- Direct links to the right pages: AI and ML, Embedded, IoT, Life sciences, Mobile
- Fast responses with a typical time under three seconds
Technical architecture
Retrieval Augmented Generation
Chatena uses a retrieval first approach. Content is ingested and converted to embeddings. A vector store keeps these representations. When a question comes in, the system retrieves the best matches and the model writes a grounded reply based on those matches.
Stack
- Frontend widget: React and SolidJS
- Backend services: FastAPI with a microservice design
- Storage: MongoDB and Redis with a vector database for embeddings
- Observability: safety guard for prompts and response quality
- Performance: sub three second average latency
Website pages → Ingestion → Embeddings in vector DB → Query → Grounded answer → Analytics
This flow keeps answers tied to trusted content.
Key features
- Contextual question answering from your content
- Guided navigation to relevant pages
- Multi document support with uploads and approved links
- Conversation analytics with location insight
- Email capture with optional prompts
- Flexible prompts to match brand tone
Business impact
- Faster discovery of services and case studies like Digital transformation and Testing
- Lower support load for common questions
- Better content planning using real questions from visitors
- More qualified leads from on page conversations
Live examples
Chatena is live on SequoiaAT and Offrd. Typical visitor questions include service scope and industry depth. The assistant replies with links to the right page and a short answer.
Explore related pages:
Chatena AI website assistant FAQs
What is Chatena AI
Chatena is an AI website assistant built by Sequoia Applied Technologies that uses Retrieval Augmented Generation to deliver fast, contextual answers from trusted content.
How does it help visitors
It makes a site conversational. People ask questions in plain language and get grounded answers with direct links to relevant pages.
What powers Chatena
A RAG based design with a React and SolidJS widget, FastAPI services, and a vector database for embeddings with MongoDB and Redis for storage and cache.
Can it use documents beyond the website
Yes. Teams can upload files or add approved links. Chatena will include them in retrieval so answers reflect the full knowledge base.