The Problem
Support tickets are repetitive. Your team answers the same questions over and over. Engineers can't find KB articles. Customers wait for answers that already exist in your documentation.
What Standard WHMCS Support Looks Like
Customer opens ticket: "How do I set up email forwarding?"
Your process:
1. Agent searches KB manually
2. Maybe finds relevant article
3. Copies answer
4. Edits for context
5. Sends response
Time per ticket: 5-15 minutes for questions already answered in your KB.
The waste:
- Same questions answered repeatedly
- Junior staff can't find documentation
- KB articles exist but nobody uses them
- Manual responses to routine questions
- No multilingual support without translators
What WHMCS Doesn't Have
Standard WHMCS:
- No AI
- No automatic KB search
- No knowledge synthesis
- No multilingual responses
- Manual everything
The Solution
AI Support Assistant connects Claude or OpenAI to your WHMCS. The AI reads your knowledge base, past tickets, and product descriptions. It synthesizes answers based on YOUR documentation.
How It Works
The AI has access to:
Your Knowledge Base:
- Reads all KB articles
- Searches by keywords
- Finds relevant content automatically
Your Past Tickets:
- Analyzes resolved tickets
- Learns successful solutions
- Applies them to new tickets
Your Products:
- Knows your product catalog
- Understands service descriptions
- References correct products
When customer asks question:
1. AI searches your KB for relevant articles
2. Searches past tickets for similar issues
3. Reads product descriptions for context
4. Synthesizes answer from YOUR sources
5. Responds in customer's language
Not generic ChatGPT. It knows YOUR business.
Core Features
Smart KB Search:
- AI finds relevant articles automatically
- Keywords extracted from ticket
- Searches past tickets too
- Works with non-Latin languages (Cyrillic, Japanese, etc.)
- No manual searching required
27 Languages:
English, Dutch, Russian, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, Czech, Danish, Swedish, Hungarian, Romanian, Finnish, Maltese, Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Slovenian, Irish, Greek, Croatian, Slovak, Bulgarian, Japanese
Customer writes in Dutch → AI responds in Dutch.
Customer writes in Japanese → AI responds in Japanese.
Autopilot Mode:
- Configure departments for auto-responses
- AI handles routine tickets automatically
- Configurable delay before sending
- Choose ticket status: Answered or Open for review
- Skips staff-to-staff tickets
Ticket Triage:
- Click triage button
- AI provides troubleshooting checklist
- Step-by-step guide for L1 engineers
- Escalation criteria
- References relevant KB articles
Reply Enhancement:
Write your response, then enhance it:
- Professional (formal)
- Friendly (warm)
- Direct (concise)
- Technical (detailed)
- Quick Fix (solution-focused)
Custom Instructions:
- Generate initial response
- Add specific instructions ("make this more apologetic", "add refund info")
- AI modifies based on your guidance
KB Article Generation:
- Select resolved ticket
- Click generate
- AI creates draft KB article from conversation
- Review and publish
Private Admin Notes:
- Include per-ticket admin notes as context (optional)
- AI sees internal troubleshooting notes
- Better context for complex issues
Real Usage
Routine Tickets
Hosting company gets 200 tickets/day. 60% are basic questions covered in KB.
Without AI:
- Staff answers manually
- 5-15 minutes per ticket
- Same questions repeatedly
With AI Autopilot:
- AI handles routine tickets automatically
- Staff reviews if needed
- Focus on complex issues
Multilingual Support
European company serves Dutch, French, German customers.
Without AI:
- Hire trilingual staff (expensive)
- Use translation service (slow)
- English only (lose customers)
With AI:
- Responds in customer's language automatically
- No translators needed
L1 Support
Junior engineer gets complex ticket.
Without AI:
- Search KB manually (doesn't find it)
- Ask senior engineer (interrupts them)
- Escalate (waste of senior time)
With AI Triage:
- Click triage button
- Get troubleshooting checklist
- Step-by-step guide
- Handle independently
KB Management
Same question asked 50 times, no KB article exists.
Without AI:
- Keep answering manually
- Eventually someone writes article
With AI:
- Generate KB article from best ticket
- Now AI references it for future tickets
- Self-improving knowledge base
Response Quality
Agent writes technically accurate but unfriendly response.
Without AI:
- Send as-is (customer unhappy)
- Senior rewrites (time-consuming)
With AI Enhancement:
- Click "Friendly"
- AI rewrites maintaining accuracy
- Better customer experience
How AI Uses Your Knowledge
Example: Customer asks "How do I set up email forwarding?"
AI process:
1. Extracts keywords: "email forwarding"
2. Searches KB articles
3. Finds "Email Forwarding Guide"
4. Reads article content
5. Searches past tickets with similar keywords
6. Finds 15 resolved tickets
7. Checks product catalog for email services
8. Synthesizes answer from:
- KB article instructions
- Past ticket solutions
- Product information
9. Responds in customer's language
Answer is based on YOUR documentation, YOUR solutions, YOUR products.
Supported AI Models
OpenAI:
- GPT-5, GPT-5 Mini
- GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 Mini, GPT-4.1 Nano
- GPT-4o, GPT-4o Mini
- o3, o3-mini (reasoning models)
Anthropic (Claude):
- Claude Opus 4.1
- Claude Sonnet 4.5 (recommended)
- Claude Haiku 4.5
Choose based on needs:
- Speed: Haiku 4.5, GPT-4.1 Nano
- Quality: Opus 4.1, GPT-5
- Cost: Haiku 4.5, GPT-4o Mini
- Balance: Sonnet 4.5, GPT-4.1
Installation
1. Purchase from ArkHost Store
2. Upload to /modules/addons/aiassistant/
3. Activate in Setup → Addon Modules
4. Enter license key
5. Add API key (OpenAI or Anthropic)
6. Done
Configuration
API Setup
OpenAI:
1. Get key from platform.openai.com
2. Enter in module settings
3. Select model
4. Test connection
Anthropic:
1. Get key from console.anthropic.com
2. Enter in module settings
3. Select model
4. Test connection
System Prompt
Default works well. Customize if needed for specific tone.
Autopilot
Enable per department:
- Choose which departments auto-respond
- Set delay (e.g., 3 minutes - allows staff to respond first)
- Choose ticket status after AI reply: Answered or Open
- Skip staff tickets: Enabled
Knowledge Base
What AI accesses:
- KB articles: ✓
- Past tickets: ✓
- Product information: ✓
- Private admin notes: Optional (per ticket)
Search settings:
- Number of items to analyze: 6 (default)
- Language-specific filtering: ✓ (improves non-English)
Greeting and Signature
Custom greeting: Optional
Custom signature: Optional (or use admin's signature)
Usage
Manual Mode
1. Open ticket
2. Click AI button
3. Review response
4. Edit if needed
5. Send
Time: 30 seconds vs 5-15 minutes manual
Autopilot Mode
1. Customer opens ticket
2. Configured delay passes (e.g., 3 minutes)
3. If no staff response → AI responds
4. Ticket status updated
5. Staff reviews if Open status selected
Custom Instructions
1. Generate initial response
2. Click custom instruction button
3. Add instructions ("make more apologetic", "add refund policy")
4. AI modifies
5. Send
Reply Enhancement
1. Write your response
2. Click enhance button
3. Select style (Professional/Friendly/Direct/Technical/Quick Fix)
4. AI improves
5. Send
Works in new ticket editor too.
Ticket Triage
1. Open ticket
2. Click triage button
3. Get troubleshooting checklist
4. Follow steps
5. Escalate if needed
Helps junior engineers handle complex tickets.
KB Article Generation
1. Open resolved ticket
2. Click KB generate button
3. AI creates draft from conversation
4. Review
5. Publish to KB
How AI Finds Information
Smart keyword search:
- Extracts keywords from ticket
- Searches KB articles
- Searches past tickets
- Handles non-Latin languages properly
- Language-specific stop word filtering
Not just keyword matching:
- AI reads found articles
- Understands context
- Synthesizes information
- Creates coherent answer
Example:
Customer ticket: "Mijn e-mail werkt niet meer na domeinverhuizing" (Dutch: "My email stopped working after domain move")
AI process:
1. Detects Dutch language
2. Extracts keywords: "email", "domain move"
3. Finds KB article: "Email Configuration After Domain Transfer"
4. Finds past ticket: Similar issue with DNS propagation
5. Reads both sources
6. Synthesizes answer in Dutch
7. References DNS propagation time
8. Provides step-by-step fix
Technical Details
Database:
- Module settings stored in WHMCS config
- No additional tables required
- Uses WHMCS ticket system
API Integration:
- Direct connection to OpenAI or Anthropic
- Streaming responses supported
- Error handling and fallbacks
- Rate limiting respected
Security:
- API keys encrypted
- Client data stays in WHMCS
- No third-party storage
- Logs activity in WHMCS
Performance:
- Async API calls
- Configurable timeout
- Caching where appropriate
- Minimal WHMCS impact
Hooks:
- Ticket view hooks for buttons
- Admin interface hooks
- Client area hooks (none - admin only)
Language Support
27 languages with proper handling of non-Latin scripts:
Latin scripts:
English, Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, Czech, Danish, Swedish, Hungarian, Romanian, Finnish, Maltese, Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Slovenian, Irish, Croatian, Slovak
Cyrillic:
Russian, Bulgarian
Other:
Greek, Japanese
Automatic detection:
- AI detects language from ticket content
- Responds in same language
- No manual selection required
Troubleshooting
AI not responding:
- Check API key valid
- Verify model selected
- Check WHMCS activity log
- Test API connection in settings
Wrong language responses:
- Check ticket language detection
- Verify customer wrote in supported language
- Review system prompt language settings
KB articles not being used:
- Verify "Include KB articles" enabled
- Check KB search returns results manually
- Review search keyword extraction
Autopilot not working:
- Check department configured for auto-response
- Verify delay hasn't been interrupted by staff reply
- Check "Skip staff tickets" setting
- Review WHMCS activity log
Enhancement buttons missing:
- Clear browser cache
- Check module activated
- Verify WHMCS version 8.9+
- Check jQuery compatibility
When You Need This
Required if:
- High ticket volume with repetitive questions
- Multilingual customer base
- Junior support staff need guidance
- KB articles exist but underutilized
- Want to scale support without hiring
Not required if:
- All tickets require human judgment
- No KB articles exist
Technical Specifications
Requirements:
- WHMCS 8.9+
- PHP 7.4+ (PHP 8.3 supported)
- MySQL 5.7+
- OpenAI or Anthropic API key
File Structure:
modules/addons/aiassistant/
├── aiassistant.php Main module
├── hooks.php WHMCS hooks
├── license.php License validation
└── lang/ 27 language files
Security:
- API keys encrypted in database
- No client data sent to third parties
- Activity logging in WHMCS
- License validation per install
Performance:
- Async API calls
- Configurable timeouts
- Minimal WHMCS overhead
- No additional database tables
Support
Purchase: ArkHost Store
Before contacting support:
1. Check WHMCS activity log
2. Verify API key valid
3. Test API connection in settings
4. Check module version current
When reporting issues:
- WHMCS version
- PHP version
- Module version
- API provider (OpenAI/Anthropic)
- Error from activity log