To understand Niwa, start with what it can access and change. It is an AI assistant installed on your WordPress website. It can answer questions using your site’s content and carry out tasks, including changes to the site itself.
Before you give an assistant access to your website, you should know what it can read, where that information goes and how changes are handled. This guide explains each part of that process.
Start with how Niwa worksSuppose a customer asks whether a product comes in a particular size. Niwa can look up the product information in WordPress and include it with the question sent to your AI provider.
The provider generates a response using that information. Niwa receives the response and displays it to the customer. The conversation history is stored through your WordPress installation.
A task may need more than an answer. Updating a product description, for example, requires reading and saving a WordPress record. Niwa uses software tools to carry out those steps. Which tools it can use depends on the session’s permissions and the connections available to it. A request can involve several exchanges with the AI provider as Niwa gathers information and reports the results.
Niwa stores its working records on your hosting. To use an external AI model, it sends information to the provider you connect. Both parts matter when deciding how to handle your business and customer data.
Messages and conversation history are stored through WordPress.
Messages and relevant conversation history are sent to the AI provider to generate a response.
Your pages, products and customer records remain in your website’s existing storage.
Information retrieved for a task can be included in an AI request. Depending on the task, this may include personal information.
Working copies and saved originals for supported file edits are kept on your hosting.
Code, file contents or images may be sent to the AI provider when needed to understand or make an edit.
Task records and any enabled diagnostic logs are kept locally. They can contain information from a task.
Results returned by a tool can be included in subsequent AI requests so the assistant can continue the task.
The built-in AI connection sends requests directly from your website to the configured provider. Niwa does not operate a separate hosted conversation store in that path. Account and licensing services are separate and may process account or site information.
The provider receives the information included in each request. Its terms and your account settings determine how that information is processed, how long it is retained and whether it may be used for training. These conditions can differ between providers and plans.
You manage WordPress users, hosting access, connected accounts and backups. How long Niwa keeps a local record depends on the record type and configuration. Include saved files and diagnostic logs when reviewing who can access data and when it should be removed.
When a task uses a connected service, that service receives the information needed for the action. An email service, for example, receives the recipient and message. Its permissions and data policies apply to that information. Review each connection separately, including which account it uses and what access it grants.
Some requests update content in WordPress. Others, such as changing how a theme displays a page, require editing files. File edits use a separate working copy before the new code is placed on the site.
For example, if you ask Niwa to adjust a product page layout, the process below preserves the original files while it prepares the changes.
Niwa inspects the code involved in the request. The tools and permissions available to the session determine which files it can work with.
Niwa keeps an original version and prepares a separate copy for editing. These files are linked to the task record so a later recovery can identify the version to restore.
The old and new versions can be compared, and PHP files can be checked for code syntax errors. Before applying the edit, Niwa checks that the prepared files match their recorded state. If this check fails, the changes are not applied.
Niwa places the selected files on the site. When the automatic site check is enabled and available, it then requests a page to check for connection failures, server errors and recognizable fatal errors.
The task record includes the applied changes and the check result. An error during application or a failed site check triggers an attempt to restore the saved files. The outcome of that recovery is recorded as well.
Niwa’s automatic check and file recovery mechanism is called Watchdog. After a code change, it checks the site’s response. If the check reports a failure, Niwa attempts to restore the files saved for that change.
This helps with failures such as a code error that prevents a page from loading. The check makes a real request to the site and uses a limited number of retries. If it is disabled or cannot run, the task records that the check was skipped.
A page can load successfully while a button, booking form or layout still needs attention. Those problems require a functional or visual check. Watchdog also depends on the hosting and saved files being available, so recovery can take time or fail.
This example expands a shop’s product image across the page. Follow the edit through a successful check, or see what happens when a check fails.
Interactive illustration. Your website is not changed. The timing and successful recovery shown here are examples.
You may also want to undo a change that worked as requested. Perhaps you preferred the previous wording or layout. For a supported action, Niwa can use the saved record to restore its earlier state.
File changes made through the working-copy process can be restored from their saved originals. Supported edits to content, products, settings and Elementor pages use their own recovery records. Ask Niwa to undo the relevant operation and check the reported result.
The saved record must still be available. Before restoring an older version, account for any edits made since then. The time needed depends on the action, the amount of data and your hosting.
Restoring a website file cannot recall an email that has already been delivered. Payments and changes in connected services depend on the recovery options offered by those services. An action without a saved recovery record may need a manual correction.
Keep regular hosting backups alongside Niwa’s saved versions. For substantial changes, use a test copy of your site first and check the functions your customers rely on, such as checkout and bookings.
Your hosting, AI provider and connected services each affect how Niwa operates. These are some of the details to review for your own setup.
The records Niwa stores locally remain on your hosting. Information included in an AI request is sent to the provider you connect, and connected services receive data when you use them. For a privacy review, consider both where information is stored and where it is processed.
That depends on the AI provider, the type of account and the settings under which a request is processed. Review the terms for the connection you plan to use. Storing a conversation on your own website does not, by itself, determine how an external provider handles its copy of a request.
Local WordPress records and saved files are hosted wherever you host your website. AI processing and connected services may use other locations. Check those locations with each provider if your organization has regional data requirements.
Local retention varies by record type, communication channel and configuration. Diagnostic logs and hosting backups may have separate lifetimes. Review these alongside the retention terms of your AI provider and any connected services.
Access depends on your WordPress roles, hosting accounts and connected credentials. Your hosting provider and people you authorize may be able to access stored information. Review those accounts and permissions as part of your normal website administration.
Keep both. The automatic check can detect certain failures after a file change and start recovery. It does not test every customer journey or protect against every hosting failure. Independent backups and checks of forms, checkout and other important functions remain part of maintaining your site.
Start with the terms and privacy information, then review the providers and connections your team plans to use. A product demo can help you see how a task, its saved version and recovery work together.
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