You will need the Reporting and Write AI Assistant permissions to build and refine reports with the AI Assistant. Users with Read AI Assistant can open and run saved AI reports but cannot send messages. Your church's account must be on the Core Plus plan.
The AI Assistant turns a plain-language request into a report you can run, refine, and save. This article walks through building your first report, refining it with follow-up messages, and what to do when the results are not what you expected. If you are new to the assistant, start with What is the AI Assistant in the Query Builder?
Building a report
Go to Reporting > Query Builder in the left-hand navigation menu and stay on the Designer tab.
Choose a Data Source: People, Contributions, or Groups. Pick the source that matches what each row of your report should be. A list of people belongs on People, a list of gifts on Contributions, and a list of groups on Groups.
Select AI Assistant on the switch above the builder. The chat panel opens on the left with the heading What report do you need?, and a How it works panel appears on the right.
Describe the report in the text box the way you would describe it to a colleague, then press Enter or select Send. Press Shift + Enter if you need a new line. You can also select one of the Try asking prompts below the box. Selecting a prompt fills in the text for you; you still press Send.
Wait while the assistant works. Your message appears as a bubble on the right, and small status chips below it show what the assistant is doing, such as Checking values, Testing the report, and Finishing up. A turn usually takes between ten seconds and a minute. Keep the tab open until it finishes; closing the tab cancels the turn.
Review the report card that fills in on the right. It shows a title the assistant chose, a one- or two-sentence explanation of who or what the report lists, and a list of Assumptions: the choices the assistant made, such as which date field it used and which records count. Select View SQL if you want to see the exact query. It is read-only.
Check the Results section below the card. The report runs automatically as soon as it arrives, and again after every refinement. Select Refresh to run it again or Export All Results to download every row as a CSV file. Results page 25 rows at a time. When a People report lists individual people, each row has a checkbox and the bulk action menu appears, so you can email, text, mail merge, or mass change the people it found.
Tip: The assistant can present results as a table, pie chart, bar chart, or a line, bar, or stacked chart over time. Ask for the format you want, for example "show giving by month as a bar chart."
When you are happy with the report, select Save as... above the switch to keep it. See How do I save and use an AI report?
Refining a report
You do not have to get the request perfect the first time. Reply in the chat and the assistant updates the report, keeping the columns it already has and changing what you asked for. An Updating label appears on the report card while it works. Each follow-up counts as one AI message.
Add or remove something - "Add their campus," "only members," or "make it a chart by month."
Correct an assumption - Read the Assumptions list first. If the assistant used the wrong date or definition, name the one you want: "use the Joined On date, not the custom field."
Ask for something unrelated - The assistant treats it as a new report and replaces the current one inside the same conversation.
Starting over or switching modes
New AI Report - clears the conversation after a confirmation so you can start fresh. Any report you already saved stays saved.
Query Editor - switches back to the classic builder. If your report is not saved, the page asks you to confirm because the report will be lost.
Data Source - choosing a different source starts an empty conversation for that source.
Tip: Your chat history is not kept after you leave the page. When you reopen a saved AI report, the assistant starts a new conversation that already knows the report and asks "What would you like to change?" The report, its explanation, and its assumptions are permanent; the earlier messages are not.
How messages are counted
Every message you send that the assistant finishes uses one AI message from your church's monthly allowance, whether it produced a report, answered a question, or explained that the data is not available. The assistant's own work behind the scenes never multiplies the count. Failures on our side, such as the AI service being busy, are not counted. Running, refreshing, scheduling, or exporting a saved report is always free. The meter below the text box shows how many messages your church has used this month. See How do AI Assistant messages, billing, and permissions work?
Troubleshooting
The report looks wrong, or people are missing. Check the Assumptions on the report card first. The choice is usually stated there, such as "People without a birthday are left out." Reply with the correction. If people are missing for you but not for a colleague, the difference is record visibility: the report runs as the person viewing it, so campus limits and people access apply.
The report came back with no rows. Zero rows is delivered as a report on purpose. Look for a date range or filter in the Assumptions that is narrower than you intended, then refine.
The assistant said the report belongs on another data source. This is expected. On Contributions it will not list people, on Groups it will not list members, and on People it will not list groups or gifts. Change the Data Source and ask again.
"I wasn't able to finish within this conversation's limits." The request was too large to finish in one turn. Narrow it with a shorter date range or fewer conditions, or split it into two reports.
"Reading the records this report needs is taking too long right now." Large attendance or giving histories can take a while. Narrow the request, such as a shorter date range or a single group, or try again later.
"The AI service is busy" or "Report data isn't available right now." Something on our side needs a moment. Nothing was counted against your allowance. Try again shortly, and contact support if it keeps happening.
Send is greyed out and a warning says this month's messages are used. Your church has reached its monthly allowance. An administrator can turn on overage billing, or you can wait for the reset date shown in the warning. Saved reports keep running in the meantime.