Skip to Content
Formula Foundry Docs is in beta — content is being added regularly.
AI Assistant

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 platforms — “Convert this to Excel syntax” (though the dedicated translator in the Editor is usually faster).

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.
  • Your target platform (Google Sheets or Excel).

The rest of your spreadsheet is not sent. Cells outside your variables are not read by the AI panel.

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 has a monthly AI token budget set by its plan (tokensPerUser in the workspace config). Free trial workspaces and paid tiers each have their own allowance; see Billing & Plans for the current figures.

Last updated on