Tutorials
Using the AI Assistant in Compass AI
The AI Assistant helps users get the most out of Compass AI. Learn how to set up widgets & alerts, create expert analyses, action plans and more through this guide.
October 31, 2025
7 min read
The AI Assistant in Compass AI gives you in-depth access to a wide spectrum of financial tools such as analyses, custom alerts, and actionable insights without needing to build dashboards manually or write excessively complex queries. Located right on your main dashboard, the AI Assistant is our version of a financial analyst that never sleeps and is always there to answer questions about your business.
Getting Started with the AI Assistant
You'll find the AI Assistant prominently displayed on your main dashboard. Click on it to open the chat interface, where you'll see several pre-made prompts to help you get started. These prompts cover common financial questions and analyses that most businesses need regularly.
If you're not sure where to start, try one of the suggested prompts. They're designed to demonstrate what the AI Assistant is capable of, as well as to give you a boost of creativity when creating your own prompts.
Your prompts and conversations with the AI Assistant are saved automatically. Click the arrow icon next to the prompt window to access your message history. This lets you revisit previous analyses, review recommendations, or pick up where you left off in earlier conversations.
Having access to your message history is particularly helpful when you're working on an ongoing project or when you want to compare how your financial situation has evolved over time.
What the AI Assistant Can Do
Financial Analysis
The AI Assistant is your go-to when you need to handle a variety of analytical tasks. Each solution it provides gives you specific insights into your business by offering four analysis options:
- Trend Analysis – Identify patterns in your revenue, expenses, or cash flow over time
- “Analyze our revenue growth patterns”
- Comparative Analysis – Compares different time periods, accounts, or categories
- “Compare outflows based on different accounts”
- Performance Analysis – Evaluate how your business is performing against targets and metrics or historical benchmarks
- “Analyze our profit margins in detail”
- Overview Analysis – General purpose analysis and comprehensive insights
- “Is my performance for this quarter better than the previous one?”
Each analysis generates detailed insights that help you understand what's happening in your business and why it matters. Use them to visualize your data and performance, as well as to plan your financial future accordingly.
Business Metrics Explained
The AI Assistant can also explain key business metrics and help you understand what they mean for your company. Whether you need to know how to calculate LTV to CAC ratio, your NRR, understand what a healthy metric looks like for your industry, or interpret other financial KPIs, the AI Assistant breaks down these complex concepts into practical insights. Example:" Analyze and explain my LTV to CAC ratio".
This is particularly useful when you might not be as savvy yet, but you still want to learn and find out what your metrics mean without leaving Compass or searching through external resources.
Custom Charts, Tables and Alerts
When you ask the AI Assistant for data, it can generate visual charts or detailed tables based on your request - including pie, line and multi-line charts, along with bar, multi-bar and stacked bar charts. Each of these charts created through the AI Assistant can be added to the main dashboard for easier accessibility.
For example, you might ask "Show me my top expense categories for Q2 & Q3" and receive a graph breaking down your spending. You can then further expand upon this prompt by asking for an action plan to cut down on needless expenses. This will provide you suggested actions and detailed steps that you can use to reach your goal.
The AI Assistant can also create custom alerts based on specific conditions you care about. Instead of manually checking your finances for important changes, you can set up alerts that notify you when specific triggers or conditions are reached.
Once created and saved, these alerts appear on your monitoring page where you can manage them alongside your other financial notifications. This keeps you informed about critical financial movements without constant manual checking.
Action Plans
Beyond analysis, the AI Assistant can help you create action plans toward specific financial goals or metrics. Tell it what you want to achieve—whether that's reducing burn rate, increasing cash runway, or hitting a revenue target—and it will outline specific steps to help you get there.
These action plans can be a great help when breaking down complex financial objectives into manageable tasks, making it easier to execute on your strategy.
Getting the Most from Your AI Assistant
The AI Assistant works best when you provide specific context in your questions. Being specific about time periods, categories, and metrics helps the AI Assistant pull the right data—instead of asking "How are we doing?", try "What were our top three expense categories last month?" You can also combine different components in your questions for comprehensive analysis, like "Compare my Q2 and Q3 marketing expenses and show me a trend analysis."
Don't hesitate to ask follow-up questions to dive deeper or request explanations if something needs clarification. The AI Assistant understands natural language, so ask questions the same way you'd ask a colleague.