AI Assistant

The AI Assistant turns plain-English prompts into spreadsheet formulas, and can explain, fix, or rewrite whatever is already in the Editor.

How it works

1. Click the sparkles icon on the editor’s side rail to open the AI panel.
2. Type a description in the prompt box, e.g. “Average column B where column A equals ‘Sales’”.
3. Press Enter to send (Shift + Enter for a newline). Escape aborts a streaming response.
4. The AI streams back an explanation and can update the editor’s formula directly. Review the result, then click Insert in the bottom toolbar to write it into the cell.

Per-tab conversations

The AI chat is scoped to the tab you’re in. Switching tabs gives you a fresh conversation bound to that tab’s formula; switching back restores the earlier history. This lets you work on several formulas in parallel without cross-talk.

What the AI can help with

• Writing formulas from scratch — describe the logic in your own words.
• Explaining existing formulas — ask “what does this do?” and it reads the formula currently in the editor.
• Debugging errors — paste the error message, or ask why a formula isn’t behaving.
• Optimising formulas — ask it to simplify or speed up a long expression.
• Translating between Excel and Google Sheets — “Convert this to Excel syntax”. The Editor’s own translator converts toward the spreadsheet you’re in (to Sheets in Google Sheets, to Excel in Excel), so ask the assistant when you need a formula for the other platform.

What gets sent

The AI request contains:

• The current formula in the active tab.
• The conversation history for that tab.
• The names and current values of your custom variables, so the model can reason about them.
• The active sheet’s name and its header row (the column titles), so the model can refer to your columns by letter.
• Your target platform (Google Sheets or Excel).

The rest of your spreadsheet (data rows, other tabs) is not sent. Formula Foundry doesn’t store the request: it’s passed to the model, and only its token count is recorded against your budget.

Tips for better results

• Be specific about your data layout: “Column A has dates, column B has amounts”.
• Mention the platform if it matters: “Google Sheets, please”.
• Ask follow-up questions in the same thread — the conversation history is included in each request.

Availability

Every workspace member has an AI budget per 30-day period, set by the workspace’s plan (tokensPerUser in the workspace config): Free 30,000 tokens (around 20 generations), Pro 500,000, and Business 1,000,000 per seat. Your question, the context sent with it, and the reply all count. When the budget runs out, the assistant pauses until the period resets; the rest of the add-on keeps working. See Billing & Plans for the full plan comparison.