Playground and SQLite
WordPress Playground, the WordPress.org plugin preview and WordPress Studio run WordPress on an SQLite database instead of MySQL or MariaDB. Geeky Bot works there well enough to try it, with a few differences from a real store, described on this page.
Live stores run on MySQL or MariaDB, where none of these limits apply. Use an SQLite site to explore Geeky Bot, and test on a copy of your real store before you go live.
What works
Section titled “What works”- Product search. Geeky Bot finds products by simpler word matching, because SQLite has no full-text search. Search works, but results are ranked more simply than on MySQL or MariaDB.
- Product and policy answers, the storefront widget and the admin screens.
- Health report. Since 2.1.3, the Product search index check doesn’t report a problem on SQLite. It says: “This site’s database has no full-text search (as on SQLite, which WordPress Playground and WordPress Studio use), so Geeky Bot finds products by simpler word matching. Product search works, with simpler ranking than on MySQL or MariaDB.”
Before 2.1.3, Geeky Bot first tried a full-text query that SQLite can’t run, and the admin showed Geeky Bot is answering from a degraded state. with the database error. Update to 2.1.3 or later if you still see it.
What doesn’t work
Section titled “What doesn’t work”- A full index rebuild. A full rebuild copies and renames database tables in MySQL syntax, which SQLite can’t run. Rebuild search index on Geeky Bot → Product Search doesn’t complete.
- Last index rebuild on the Dashboard stays at Never, because no full rebuild has finished.
Products still get into the index: Geeky Bot indexes a product each time it is saved. So products you add or edit after activating Geeky Bot are found straight away.
Index products added before Geeky Bot
Section titled “Index products added before Geeky Bot”If the site had products before you activated Geeky Bot, they aren’t in the index yet. The health report says “None of your … published products are indexed” or “Only … of … published products are indexed.” To index them, save each product again:
- Open Products → All Products.
- Tick the products, or the box at the top of the list to select the whole page.
- Choose Edit from Bulk actions and select Apply.
- Select Update without changing anything.
You can also open a product and select Update.
The WordPress.org preview
Section titled “The WordPress.org preview”The Geeky Bot page on WordPress.org has a preview that opens a ready-made demo store in WordPress Playground. It runs in your browser and needs no AI key. The preview:
- installs WooCommerce and Geeky Bot and signs you in as an administrator,
- imports WooCommerce’s sample products and names the site “Geeky Bot demo store”,
- turns off WooCommerce Coming soon mode so the chat is visible,
- saves every sample product, which puts it in Geeky Bot’s index,
- publishes WooCommerce’s Refund and Returns Policy page and selects it under Store Knowledge, so the chat can answer return and refund questions,
- opens the Shop page.
Geeky Bot answers in Local mode, its default: answers are built from the sample catalog and the policy page, and no language model is called. Open the chat on the Shop page and ask about a product, a price range or returns.
To try AI answers, Smart Catalog or Rescue, use a real test site. See Answer modes and Search levels.