The AI Chat Interface
Visitran AI lives in a chat drawer on the right side of the IDE. This is your command center for all AI-powered operations — generating models and running SQL queries.
Opening the Chat Drawer
Click the AI chat icon in the right sidebar of the IDE to open the chat drawer.
The Welcome Screen
When you open the chat for the first time, you'll see:
- Welcome Banner — A personalized greeting
- Onboarding Guide — A task checklist to walk you through key features (more on this below)
- Input Area — Where you type your prompts
- Past Conversations — Quick access to previous chat sessions
The Onboarding Guide
The onboarding guide appears automatically for new projects. It provides a set of guided tasks that walk you through each AI capability:
Each task has:
- Title — What the task covers
- Description — A brief explanation of what you'll learn
- Mode Tag — Color-coded label showing which intent the task uses (TRANSFORM or SQL)
- "Try This" Button — Click to auto-fill the prompt with an example
The onboarding tracks your progress (e.g., "Step 1 of 4") and you can skip individual tasks or the entire onboarding at any time.
You can always restart the onboarding later by clicking the Reset Onboarding button (rocket icon) in the chat header.
Chat Input Controls
The input area at the bottom of the chat drawer has several controls:
Intent Selector
Choose between two modes:
| Intent | Purpose | What it produces |
|---|---|---|
| Transform | Generate data models | YAML model configuration, materialized to database |
| SQL | Write and run queries | SQL query with executable results |
LLM Model Selection
A single model dropdown lets you choose which AI model powers your prompts. The selected model is used for both planning and code generation.
@Mention Autocomplete
Type @ in the input area to see a list of available tables and columns. This helps the AI understand exactly which data you're referring to.
For example, typing @raw_customers tells the AI to reference the raw_customers table specifically.
Chat Header Controls
The chat header provides quick actions:
- New Chat (+) — Start a fresh conversation
- Context Rules — Set personal or project-level AI instructions
- History — Browse past conversations
- Expand/Collapse — Toggle full-width mode for more space
- Close — Close the chat drawer
Now that you're familiar with the interface, let's build your first transformation.