--- title: "Choose how to work with Chat Thing" description: "Compare the dashboard, Otto, the website widget, messaging channels, the JavaScript SDK, REST API, webhooks, MCP and WebMCP, and pick the right one." canonical_url: "https://chatthing.ai/docs/get-started/choose-your-tools" last_updated: "2026-09-25" --- # Choose how to work with Chat Thing There are two sides to Chat Thing: the ways **you** build and manage bots, and the ways **your customers or team** talk to them. Some tools are for everyone; others need a developer. Most teams use the dashboard and the website widget, then add one or two of the others as they grow. ## At a glance | Tool | Use it to | Who it suits | Plans | Start here | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Dashboard | Build, configure and monitor bots, read conversations, manage billing and your team | Everyone | All plans | [Build your first bot](https://chatthing.ai/docs/get-started/build-your-first-bot) | | Otto | Ask for changes in plain words inside the dashboard, and find out why an answer went wrong | Owners and admins | All plans | [Otto](https://chatthing.ai/docs/get-started/otto) | | Website widget and bot page | Let visitors chat on your site, or share a link to a full-page chat | Everyone (paste one snippet) | All plans | [Install the chat widget](https://chatthing.ai/docs/channels/website/install) | | Messaging channels | Answer on WhatsApp, Slack, Discord, Telegram or by email | Everyone, with admin access to the other app | Standard, Pro, Enterprise | [Channels](https://chatthing.ai/docs/channels) | | JavaScript SDK | Control the widget from your own page: open it, identify signed-in users, add page context, give the bot actions on your site | Developers | All plans | [JavaScript SDK](https://chatthing.ai/docs/developers/javascript-sdk) | | REST API | Chat with a bot from your own app or backend, and keep manual knowledge in sync from your systems | Developers | Standard, Pro, Enterprise | [API overview](https://chatthing.ai/docs/developers/api-overview) | | Webhooks | Tell your other systems when a conversation starts, is escalated or taken over, or a sync finishes; start a sync from your CMS | Developers, or no-code tools that accept webhooks | All plans | [Webhooks](https://chatthing.ai/docs/developers/webhooks) | | MCP (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and others) | Build and manage bots across your account by chatting with the AI assistant you already use | Anyone who uses an AI assistant; also scripts and CI | All plans | [AI assistants (MCP)](https://chatthing.ai/docs/mcp) | | WebMCP | Let the bot use tools your web page already exposes to AI agents | Developers, experimental | All plans | [WebMCP](https://chatthing.ai/docs/developers/webmcp) | Owners and admins can change a bot in the dashboard, with Otto and over MCP. Other roles can read conversations but not change settings. See [Teams and roles](https://chatthing.ai/docs/account/teams#roles). ## Building and managing bots **Start with the dashboard.** Everything is there, including things no other tool does: connecting channels, uploading files, choosing Notion pages, entering API keys, billing and team settings. **Use Otto when you know what you want but not where the setting is.** Otto works on the bot you have open. It can explain the setup, change settings, add knowledge and test answers, and it's the quickest way to find out why a particular conversation went wrong. It won't delete things, connect channels or handle credentials. **Use MCP when you'd rather work from your own AI assistant**, or want to manage several bots at once: "build a support bot from our help centre", "add our pricing page to every bot", "review last week's chats". It covers almost everything in the dashboard except uploading files, choosing Notion pages, connecting channels, billing and team settings. Scripts and CI jobs can connect with an API key. For step-by-step sequences an agent can follow, see [Recipes for AI agents](https://chatthing.ai/docs/mcp/agent-recipes). ## Putting the bot in front of people **The website widget suits most customer-facing bots.** Paste the snippet into your site and a chat button appears. The same web channel gives you a bot page at its own link, handy for sharing in emails or help centres, and an iframe for embedding the chat in a page. Live [human takeover](https://chatthing.ai/docs/manage/human-takeover) works here. **Add messaging channels to meet people where they already are**: WhatsApp for customers, Slack or Discord for your team or community, email for inboxes. It's the same bot, knowledge and power-ups on every channel. **Use the REST API when the chat lives in your own product**, such as a mobile app, your own chat UI or a backend process, or when you want to push content into the bot's knowledge from another system. ## Connecting to your website and systems **Use the JavaScript SDK when the widget is on your site and you want it to fit your product**: open it from your own buttons, tell the bot who's signed in, pass details about the page they're on, or let the bot run actions in the page (for example, add to basket). Changing the bot's instructions or giving it page actions needs **Advanced SDK features** turned on in the web channel. **Use webhooks to send events out**: log new conversations in your CRM, alert your helpdesk when a chat is escalated, or re-sync knowledge when you publish in your CMS. **Use WebMCP only if your site already exposes WebMCP tools.** The widget can pass those tools to your bot automatically. It's an experimental browser feature with limited support, so treat it as a preview. For power-ups that act on other services during a chat (booking, email, your own API, Zapier), see [Power-ups](https://chatthing.ai/docs/power-ups). ## Next steps - [See everything Chat Thing connects to](https://chatthing.ai/docs/get-started/integrations) - [Build your first bot](https://chatthing.ai/docs/get-started/build-your-first-bot) - [Connect your AI assistant](https://chatthing.ai/docs/mcp/connect) ## Related - [Integrations](https://chatthing.ai/docs/get-started/integrations): Everything Chat Thing connects to, from WhatsApp, Slack and Notion to Zapier, Cal.com, your own API and AI assistants like Claude and ChatGPT. - [Use Chat Thing from your AI assistant](https://chatthing.ai/docs/mcp): Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or another AI assistant to Chat Thing and build, test and manage your bots by chatting with it. - [Developers](https://chatthing.ai/docs/developers): Build on Chat Thing with the REST API, webhooks, the JavaScript SDK for the website widget, and WebMCP.