Option to self-host widget?

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The global outage yesterday happened at a critical time for us. This got me thinking that elf.site should offer a option so I can host the widget on my servers under my control.

How can we make this happen?

Thanks in advance.

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Hi there and welcome to the Community, @Gregory_Saumier-Finc :wave:

I completely understand your point and deeply apologize for the frustration caused by this outage!

Right now, it’s impossible to self-host widgets. However, I’d like to assure you that our team has already made the necessary system updates to prevent this from happening again.

Thank you for your patience and understanding :pray:

And if you have any further questions or any assistance is needed, we’re always here to help!

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Hi Max,

Thanks for your rapid answer. My company is looking into using many of your widgets, but without an option to self-host I don’t think we will be able to use your services.

Please help me understand your policy a little more. One of the advantages of React is that it can run entirely in the browser (excluding SSR). Wouldn’t it be interesting to offer a self-contained build file that could be self-hosted? I would then be able to host this file in one of my Amazon S3 buckets. It seems feasible from a technical viewpoint. So what is your strategic reason for not offering it?

I am willing to discuss with your engineering team if interested.

Thanks in advance,
Gregory

Gregory Saumier-Finch | CTO | La culture crée - Culture Creates | c. (514) 316-6973 | culturecreates.com

Nous reconnaissons que notre travail, ainsi que celui de nos partenaires, a lieu sur les territoires autochtones dans tout le Canada.
We recognize that our work, and the work of our partners, takes place on Indigenous territories across Canada.

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@Gregory_Saumier-Finc Please let me discuss it with our dev team. I’ll let you know once I hear back from them :slightly_smiling_face:

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Hi there and thank you for waiting @Gregory_Saumier-Finc!

Here are the main reason why we chose a cloud-based solution:

  • We provide a full service with extra features, not just a basic script

  • Widget settings are managed through our editor, which doesn’t require any programming skills. If you host it yourself, you’ll need to configure the widget through JavaScript code. The best part is, any changes you make in the editor are instantly applied to the widget on your site – it’s incredibly easy!

  • Many widgets have integrations and a powerful backend, essential for full functionality.

  • The cloud solution allows us to update widgets in real time, roll out new features, fix bugs, and more. All of this happens automatically for all widgets already installed on websites.

  • Most users don’t want to handle script installation or don’t know how to do this. With self-hosting, they’d have to hire devs for maintenance and updates.

  • Our service lets you manage widgets across multiple sites from one place, so there’s no need to log into each site separately

  • and more!


I hope these reasons shed light on why we opted for a cloud service.

If you have any further questions, feel free to let us know. We’ll be happy to help :wink:

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