Using the agent

The agent is the AI assistant built into every page of the application. You can ask it about your data, have it explain what is on your screen, and — depending on your role — have it make changes for you.

The agent knows which page you are on and what you are looking at, so a question like “why is this line down today?” is understood in the context of the page in front of you.

Ask a question

The message box sits at the bottom of every page. Its placeholder reads Ask anything — or drag files here to attach them….

1. Click in the message box and type your question.
2. Press Enter, or click Send at the right of the box. Use Shift+Enter to start a new line without sending.

While the agent works, a Working line above the message box shows what it is doing right now and how long it has been going. To interrupt it, click Stop (in the same place as Send), or press Escape while the cursor is in the message box.

In a long conversation you may briefly see Summarizing earlier messages to make room. The agent is condensing the older part of the conversation so it can keep going; it then carries on by itself.

Follow-up messages while the agent is working

You don’t have to wait. If you send another message while the agent is still working, it is held as Queued above the message box and sent automatically, in the order you typed, when the current answer finishes. Click the ✕ on a queued message to cancel it.

If a queued message can’t be sent, it is returned to the message box so you can send it again; you’ll see Your queued message was returned to the composer.

When the agent pauses

On long tasks the agent stops after a set number of steps and shows Agent paused. Resume to keep going. Click Continue to let it carry on. Tick Auto-continue if you want it to keep going by itself each time it reaches that limit; this choice is remembered.

The conversation panel

The conversation opens above the message box. It has a few sizes:

• Closed — just the message box. Click in the box to bring back a slim bar with the conversation title.
• PEEK — the conversation fills part of the page, with the page still visible above it.
• FOCUS — the conversation fills the main area of the page.

Use PEEK and FOCUS in the panel header to switch between them, or drag the header up or down to resize. Click ✕ or press Escape to close the panel. Moving to another page also closes it. Your conversation is not lost — click in the message box and then PEEK to reopen it.

The panel opens by itself when you send a message, but never when an answer arrives. If you have closed it or moved to another page while the agent works, you are told when the answer is ready instead: a notice reading Agent finished — … with the start of the reply (click it to open the conversation), and a count on the Agent Sessions button.

To rename a conversation, click its title in the panel header.

Your conversations

Click Agent Sessions (the list button just left of Send) to see your conversations. The list shows each conversation’s title and when it was last active, with Working… on one the agent is still answering and Done on one that has finished. Use Search to filter the list by title, and click a conversation to return to it.

Click New Session (the + at the top of the list) to start a fresh conversation. Earlier conversations keep running in the background, so you can start a new one while the agent is still answering in another.

If you move to a different Live View board or chart than the one a conversation was about, you may see This chat is about another board or chart. Start a new chat for this page? Choose New Chat to start fresh, or Keep This Chat to carry on.

Attach files

You can give the agent files to read along with your message:

• Drag files onto the message box (it shows Drop files to attach…), or
• Click Upload at the left of the message box to choose files.

Attached files appear as chips above the message box; remove one with its ✕ before sending. Files are uploaded when you send the message.

The agent can read CSV, TSV, Excel (.xlsx), PDF, Word (.docx), PowerPoint (.pptx), images (PNG, JPG, GIF, WEBP), and any plain-text file. Older binary formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt) are not supported — save them in a newer format first.

Every file you send is kept on the Files page. See Uploading files.

Answering the agent’s questions

When the agent needs something from you, it shows its questions in a card just above the message box rather than in the conversation.

• With several questions, a strip of tabs across the top names each one, and {current} of {total} shows where you are. Use Previous and Next to move between them.
• Pick an answer, or choose Something else… and type your own.
• After the last question, Review reads back every answer, with Not Answered shown for any you skipped. Click Change to go back to one, then submit with the button at the bottom of the review page.
• Cancel closes the questions without answering.

Keyboard shortcuts work while the card has focus: the left and right arrows move between questions, number keys 1–9 pick an option, and Enter moves on.

You can also simply type a reply in the message box while the questions are showing. If the agent can use what you typed as an answer, the question counts as answered. Otherwise the questions close as You Moved On, Not Submitted. Questions you cancelled or moved past can be reopened with Revisit from the conversation.

To move the card beside the conversation instead of below it, use Dock Questions On The Right in the card header; this needs a wide enough panel.

Rate an answer

Under an answer you may see Was this helpful? with thumbs up and thumbs down. Your rating helps Sight Machine improve the agent.

What your role allows

The agent never does more than you could do yourself in the application.

• Viewers can ask questions and get explanations, queries and analysis, but the agent won’t make changes for them. Upload is unavailable, and the agent’s questions show You can see these questions, but answering them needs the Editor role.
• Editors and Admins can also have the agent stage and publish model changes and upload files.

If your administrator has switched AI off for the environment, the message box is replaced by AI is turned off for this environment by an administrator.

See Roles and user access for what each role can do.