DEV Community

Cover image for Build a Serverless FAQ Bot with Skapi + Vanilla JS (No Backend Needed!)
Skapi
Skapi

Posted on

Build a Serverless FAQ Bot with Skapi + Vanilla JS (No Backend Needed!)

#javascript #tutorial #beginners #programming

I remember the first time I wanted to add a simple FAQ bot to a website. My plan was:

I’ll just throw the FAQs in a database, write a quick API… how hard can it be?

Spoiler: it turned into a mini backend project with hosting, endpoints, and authentication before I even wrote a single line of UI code.

So when I joined Skapi — a serverless backend for frontend developers, no coders, and anyone who wants to save their time on backend — the first thing that I did, I decided to see if I could build the entire FAQ bot with just frontend code.

And you totally can. In this tutorial, I’ll show you exactly how.

By the end, you’ll have a:

  • Serverless FAQ bot running entirely in the browser
  • Zero backend setup (Skapi handles the data for you)
  • Frontend-only guidance using plain HTML + JavaScript

FAQ bot

FAQ bot dataset

Why Skapi Is Perfect for This

If you’ve ever spun up a backend just to store a few rows of data, you’ll appreciate this:

  • Serverless: No API endpoints or servers to maintain
  • Frontend-friendly: Works with plain HTML, React, Vue, anything
  • Data + Auth in one place: Store records, handle users, all from the browser

For this project, we’ll use it to:
1.Store FAQs in a Skapi table
2.Fetch them with getRecords()
3.Display answers based on user input

1. Setting Up Skapi

Sign up at Skapi → create a service → copy your Service ID and Owner ID.
Create an index.html and add:

<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>Serverless FAQ Bot</title> <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/skapi-js@latest/dist/skapi.js"></script> <script> // Replace with your real IDs from Skapi dashboard const skapi = new Skapi('your_service_id', 'your_owner_id'); </script> </head> <body> <h1>Serverless FAQ Bot</h1> <input id="questionInput" placeholder="Ask me anything..." /> <button onclick="getAnswer()">Ask</button> <div id="answerBox"></div> <div id="faqList"></div> </body> </html>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

2. Adding FAQ Data (One-Time Setup)

Here’s the fun part: instead of writing SQL or spinning up an API, you just run this once to store FAQs:

<script> async function uploadFAQs() { const faqs = [ { question: "What is Skapi?", answer: "Skapi is a serverless backend for your frontend apps." }, { question: "Is Skapi free?", answer: "Yes! It has a free tier perfect for small projects." }, { question: "Do I need a backend?", answer: "Nope. Everything runs in the frontend." } ]; for (let faq of faqs) { await skapi.postRecord(faq, { table: 'faqs' }); } alert("FAQs uploaded successfully!"); } uploadFAQs(); </script>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

It’s like having a mini Firebase, but simpler.

3. Building the FAQ Bot Logic

Now let’s make the bot actually answer questions:

<script> async function getAnswer() { let userQuestion = document.getElementById('questionInput').value.toLowerCase(); // Fetch all FAQs from Skapi let res = await skapi.getRecords({ table: 'faqs' }); // Naive matching: find the first question that appears in user input let bestMatch = res.list.find(faq => userQuestion.includes(faq.question.toLowerCase())); document.getElementById('answerBox').innerText = bestMatch ? bestMatch.answer : "Hmm… I don’t have an answer for that yet."; } </script>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Yes, it’s basic string matching, but it works surprisingly well for FAQs.

4. Showing All FAQs

I like showing all FAQs below the search bar so users can browse manually:

<script> async function showFAQs() { let res = await skapi.getRecords({ table: 'faqs' }); let container = document.getElementById('faqList'); container.innerHTML = "<h3>All FAQs:</h3>" + res.list.map(f => `<p><b>${f.question}</b><br>${f.answer}</p>`).join(''); } showFAQs(); </script>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

5. What I Learned Building This

  • Skapi is stupidly simple: Adding data feels easier than copy-pasting it.

  • Frontend-only apps are underrated: For small tools, backend code is often overkill.

Final Thoughts

We just built a serverless FAQ bot in under 100 lines of code — no backend, no database headaches.

Skapi turned out to be the perfect tool for this:

  • Simple CRUD from the frontend
  • Scales without extra work
  • Free tier to experiment with
  • Easy and fast deployment using Skapi’s File Upload

If you’re a frontend dev who wants to ship full-stack features without writing backend code, Skapi is worth a look.

Follow us on socials: X, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn. More tutorials, code drops, and dev hacks are coming soon.

Top comments (0)