Ask AI Analytics Assistant

Ask AI is an optional dashboard drawer for asking questions about the active site. It can stream an answer, show which aggregate analytics tools it is reading, cite those tool results, render small charts or tables, and offer safe actions such as opening another dashboard page or starting an export download.

Ask AI is off by default. Self-hosted instances need to enable both the shared AI provider route and the Ask AI feature flag:

HITKEEP_AI_ENABLED=true
HITKEEP_ASK_AI_ENABLED=true
HITKEEP_AI_PROVIDER=openai-compatible
HITKEEP_AI_MODEL=your-model-or-gateway-route

See AI Model Configuration for provider setup, credentials, budgets, and status checks. See the Configuration Reference for the HITKEEP_ASK_AI_ENABLED flag and environment variable.

Route production AI through a gateway

HitKeep has a rudimentary global AI request and token limiter. It is a coarse process-level safeguard, not per-user, per-site, per-provider-key, or a security policy engine. For production use, route model traffic through an AI gateway or provider policy layer that can enforce detailed quotas, model allowlists, key isolation, audit logging, redaction, and network controls. See GoAI’s supported provider options and generic OpenAI-compatible provider docs for the underlying base URL, token, header, and custom endpoint patterns.

Where It Appears

Ask AI appears in the dashboard only when:

• the active deployment enables HITKEEP_ASK_AI_ENABLED
• the shared AI route is enabled and configured
• the user has a dashboard session
• the user can view the active site

API clients and MCP tokens cannot use Ask AI. MCP remains read-only aggregate/tool access and does not get a dashboard-session assistant surface.

Ask AI opens as a chat drawer for the active site. Suggested prompts sit above the input until the user starts a chat.

Context And Date Scope

Ask AI is site-scoped. It does not use a fixed “last 7 days”, “last 30 days”, or “last 90 days” assistant context.

When the current dashboard route carries explicit date parameters, Ask AI passes that concrete range to the server. When no explicit dates are present, the server resolves context from the site’s observed analytics data bounds. If the observed span exceeds the server’s analytics range safety limit, Ask AI trims to the most recent allowed span instead of failing the question.

This keeps the drawer aligned with the current dashboard view without hardcoding a generic preset window into every question.

What Users Can Ask

Ask questions that can be answered from aggregate site analytics, such as:

• what changed in traffic
• which events drove conversions
• which referrers, pages, devices, countries, or campaigns stood out
• whether ecommerce, Web Vitals, AI visibility, or AI chatbot signals need attention

Ask AI uses follow-up context from the current drawer session. Starting a new chat clears that local conversation context.

Outputs

Ask AI can return:

• streamed answer text
• tool-call progress chips while it reads analytics
• citations to aggregate analytics tool results
• line, bar, or table charts
• dashboard navigation actions
• export-download actions

Navigation actions are limited to safe dashboard-relative paths. Export actions must point at safe HitKeep API export URLs. The broader export boundary is documented in Takeout.

Tool-call chips show which aggregate analytics sources were read before the demo answer, citations, chart, or action appears.

Privacy And Audit Boundary

Ask AI is designed to keep model traffic out of user-facing history:

• the drawer is for one-off chat sessions, not a saved history workspace
• raw prompts are not shown in a history tab
• full model responses are not shown in a history tab
• provider credentials, headers, raw provider error bodies, and unrestricted tool payloads are not persisted
• saved audit entries use hashes, counts, statuses, tool names, usage, and safe metadata
• audit exports will cover Ask AI audit events, but not raw prompts or full model responses

Budget And Availability States

The Ask AI trigger stays visible when the feature is enabled but temporarily unavailable. The drawer shows whether the model is ready, not configured, budget exhausted, or unavailable.

Local budgets come from the shared AI model settings:

• HITKEEP_AI_REQUEST_LIMIT
• HITKEEP_AI_TOKEN_LIMIT
• HITKEEP_AI_BUDGET_WINDOW

When a budget is exhausted, Ask AI will stop sending provider calls until the budget window resets or an operator changes the limit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Ask AI use MCP?

No. Ask AI is a dashboard-session feature. MCP remains a separate read-only aggregate API client surface.

Does Ask AI show a saved history tab?

No. The drawer is for one-off chat sessions. Starting a new chat clears the visible conversation context.

What date range does Ask AI use?

Ask AI uses explicit dashboard route dates when they are present. Without explicit dates, the server derives context from the site’s observed analytics data bounds.