Cookbook/Embed search & chat in an internal app

Embed search & chat in an internal app

Put permission-aware Glean search and chat directly inside an internal app with the Web SDK, so your team gets answers where they already work.

~15 minBeginner

Problem

Your team lives in an internal tool and context-switches to find answers. Instead of sending them elsewhere, bring Glean's answers into the app they already use — with permissions enforced per user, automatically.

Architecture

Internal appYour existing frontend

Glean Web SDKsearch + chat UI

AuthSSO or scoped token

Gleanpermission-aware index

Prerequisites

A Glean instance with content indexed

Your Glean web app domain (typically app.glean.com — see admin/about-glean)

A frontend app or page where you can install an npm package (or add a script tag) and a container element

For token auth only: an admin API key from the Token Management page

Steps

1

Install the Web SDK: add the npm package to your app. It ships TypeScript types for every component and option.

npm install @gleanwork/web-sdk

No build toolchain (CMS, portal, SharePoint)? Load the SDK from your Glean domain with a script tag instead — the same methods appear on window.GleanWebSDK. See the Web SDK overview.

2

Render search: add a search box and a results container, then render both components. Setting backend is recommended — it routes users straight to your instance instead of asking for their email. See the Autocomplete + Search Page guide for the full options.

import { renderSearchBox, renderSearchResults } from '@gleanwork/web-sdk';

renderSearchBox(searchBoxElement, {
  backend: 'https://{your}-be.glean.com',
  onSearch: (query) => {
    renderSearchResults(resultsElement, { query });
  },
});

3

Render chat: create a container element with position: relative, display: block, and an explicit width and height, then render Glean Chat into it.

import { renderChat } from '@gleanwork/web-sdk';

renderChat(containerElement, {
  backend: 'https://{your}-be.glean.com',
});

4

Authenticate users: with the default setup, users authenticate through your company's SSO — no extra configuration. To skip the SSO prompt (or support users without Glean accounts), use server-to-server authentication: your backend mints short-lived user tokens with an admin API key (SEARCH and CHAT scopes). Keep that key strictly server-side.

Try it with a query like "What is our PTO policy?" — results reflect exactly what the signed-in user is permitted to see.

Take it further

Hand off context between search and chat so a search result opens a grounded conversation (separate pages for chat and search).

Scope chat to your app's context by passing an AI App applicationId to the chat component.

Go tokenless for guests with the Web SDK's guest auth provider for public-facing deployments.

Add the Modal Search or Sidebar variants for search anywhere in the app.

Copies a prompt your AI assistant can build from.

At a glance

SurfacesWeb SDK

StatusProduction pattern

Time~15 min (minimal)

Required scopes

SEARCHCHAT