Beginner ~6 min read

Chatting with AI

SiteCAD's built-in AI assistant can answer questions about your site, create and modify entities, query your data, and even write scripts. Learn how to have a productive conversation with it.

1

Open the AI Panel

The AI assistant lives in the Agent panel on the right side of the editor. It knows about your current scenario — entities, terrain, properties, and structure — so you don't need to describe your site from scratch.

  1. Look for the chat icon in the right-side toolbar, or press the keyboard shortcut to toggle the Agent panel.
  2. The panel opens with a text input at the bottom. Type your message and press Enter to send.
  3. The assistant responds with text, data tables, or actions depending on your request.
Conversations persist

Your chat history is saved locally. Close the panel or navigate away — your conversation is still there when you return. Click the new-conversation button to start fresh if things get cluttered.

2

Ask a Question

The simplest way to use the assistant is to ask it something about your site or about SiteCAD itself. It can query your scenario database to answer factual questions.

"What entities do I have?" "How many boundaries are in this scenario?" "What's the total area of all my boundaries?" "How do terrain layers work?"

The assistant runs read-only SQL queries behind the scenes and returns the results as formatted tables or summaries. You can expand the tool results to see exactly what query it ran.

It can look things up

The assistant can fetch SiteCAD's built-in reference documentation on demand. Ask things like "How do I use terrain brush tools?" or "What parameters does a solid have?" — it'll pull up the right docs without you searching.

3

Create Entities with AI

The assistant can create, move, and modify entities through natural language. Describe what you want, and it translates your request into the right database operations.

"Add a boundary around the north side of the property" "Create a trace for a fence along the east edge" "Place a solid for a 3m × 4m equipment pad" "Move the shed 10 meters north" "Rename the boundary to 'Garden Zone'"
Approval workflow

When the assistant wants to change your scenario, it shows a preview of the SQL mutation. Click Approve to apply or Reject to discard. You can also enable automatic execution for read-only queries in settings. Either way, every change is undoable with Ctrl+Z / ⌘+Z.

4

Query Your Site Data

Your entire scenario is a SQL database. The assistant can run queries to help you analyze your design — areas, distances, counts, elevations, and more.

"Show me all entities with elevation above 500m" "What's the total length of all my traces?" "List all solids and their parameters" "Which boundaries overlap?"

Results come back as interactive tables you can expand, collapse, or copy. The assistant shows the SQL it used, so you can learn the query patterns or run them yourself in the command console.

5

Tips for Better Results

The AI assistant works best when you give it clear, specific instructions. Here are some approaches that help.

Be specific

"Add a 10m × 5m concrete pad at the north corner" works better than "add something near that point."

Ask before changing

Query first, then modify. "What entities are within 50m of the boundary?" before "Move all entities 50m north."

Reference entities by name

The assistant works through data, not visuals. Say "move the Main House component" rather than "move that thing on the left."

Use the site prompt

Set a site prompt in settings — like "40-acre homestead in Texas, elevations in feet" — so every message carries that context automatically.

Iterate on solids

When editing a solid, the assistant sees your code. Say "make the walls thicker" or "add a window opening on the north face."

Let it write scripts

The assistant can write operations scripts for complex tasks. Try "write an operation that calculates cut/fill volumes."

Good to know

The assistant can't see the 3D viewport — it works through your scenario database. If you need help with something visual, describe what you see or reference entities by name. Start a new conversation if the assistant seems to lose earlier context.

6

Practice Exercise

Try this conversation sequence to get comfortable with the AI assistant.

Have a Conversation

  1. Open the AI panel and ask: "What entities do I have?"
  2. Ask it to create something: "Add a boundary called 'Garden Area'"
  3. Approve the mutation when prompted.
  4. Verify it worked: "Show me all boundaries"
  5. Ask it to modify: "Rename 'Garden Area' to 'Vegetable Garden'"
  6. Try a data question: "How many entities does this scenario have now?"
  7. Ask for help: "What can you help me with?"

Next Steps