> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.tiny.plus/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.tiny.plus/guides/everyday/ask-and-ai-assistants.md). # Ask & AI Assistants Search your records in plain English, and connect Claude and other AI assistants to tiny+. Search your records in plain English, and connect Claude and other AI assistants to tiny+. {% hint style="success" %} This is a Pro plan feature {% endhint %} tiny+ has two AI features. **Ask** is included with your Pro plan, and lets everyone in your account search and filter records and news feed posts by describing what they're after. It also suggests where each column of a spreadsheet goes when you import one. **AI Assistants** let your team members connect an AI assistant to tiny+, write news feed posts with AI, and design reports and automated actions with AI, and are sold as AI licences in packs of five. Both are switched off until an Account Admin turns them on, so nothing changes in your account until you're ready. A new account is asked on its first sign-in, on the **Turn on tiny+ AI** screen of the [setup wizard](/guides/getting-started/your-first-session.md): three switches, on unless you say otherwise, and *Not now* leaves them all off with the item waiting on the Dashboard. Letting assistants change records is never switched on there; that stays an admin's decision under **Settings → AI Usage**.
The Turn on tiny+ AI screen in the setup wizard
## Ask Type what you're looking for into the search box, the way you'd say it to a colleague: *"won jobs over 50k on my team this month"* *"what did Maya say about Kennards last month?"* tiny+ turns it into filters, shows you the matching records, and lists the filters it applied so you can see exactly what it understood and adjust it if you need to. Ask works in the search box on the web and in the tiny+ app, and every Table page has a *Filter with AI* box that sets the filter panel for you in the same way. ![](https://1957838173-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-LnoXYnzHXoSKmkXmIHw%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-35848ce74b64baa8740b538e2d5f10b02481123e%2Fask-search.png?alt=media) Ask is included with your Pro plan for everyone in your account. No licences are needed. ### How Ask works 1. **You type a question.** Ask steps in when what you type reads like a question rather than a name. It looks for words like *won*, *last month* or *my*, and for your own statuses, tags and team members' names. Press **Enter** to ask straight away, or pause for a moment. The ordinary name search still runs beside it, so *"10 Downing Street"* still finds the company. 2. **Ask picks the kind of record.** Mention posts, or what someone *said*, *wrote* or *mentioned*, and Ask searches the news feed. Mention companies, clients, contacts or people, and it searches those. Otherwise it searches your projects. To choose yourself, tick one type under **Options**. 3. **Claude turns your words into filters.** Claude sees your question and your account's *structure*: the names of your fields, statuses, tags and team members. It never sees your records. 4. **tiny+ runs the search.** tiny+ checks every filter against your account, then runs an ordinary search of your own database, with your own permissions. You only ever see what you could see anyway. 5. **You see what it understood.** A one-line summary says what was searched for, and each filter appears as a chip, such as *Project Status: Won*, *Project Fee > 50,000 AUD* or *Mine*. Anything Ask had to assume is listed under the chips. Anything it couldn't apply is marked *Couldn't apply*, so a filter never goes missing without you knowing. The first 25 matches are shown. If there are too many, add to your question: *"...only the ones I'm on"*. ### What you can ask about | Ask about | For example | | ---------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | Statuses and phases | *"proposals we lost last year"* | | Money | *"jobs over 50k"*: an amount on its own means the fee | | Dates | *"projects starting next month"*, *"companies added this year"* | | People | *"projects Laurence is on"*, *"contacts I added"* | | Tags and custom fields | *"projects tagged commercial or retail"* | | Order | *"biggest first"*, *"newest first"* | | News feed posts | *"posts about hospitals in Ballarat from Sarah this year"* | Dates are worked out from today, in your account's timezone. *This month* runs from the 1st to today, and *recently* means the last 30 days. ### Searching the news feed Ask can find posts by who wrote them, when, what they say and which records they're about: * *"what did Nick say about Hotel Hotel?"* * *"posts about hospitals this year"* * *"my posts on the news feed this week"* (Monday to today) * *"has anyone posted about budget overruns?"* The posts come back newest first, looking just as they do on the News Feed. Click a post's date to open it. A few things worth knowing: * **Words.** Ask looks for your words and for a few alternatives a colleague might have written instead, so *hospitals* also finds *health*, *medical* and *clinic*. Name two subjects and a post has to mention both. Words need at least three letters, so *AI* on its own can't be searched. * **Records you name.** Name a project, company or contact, and Ask finds the posts linked to it. A record with exactly that name wins. If the name could mean up to three records, Ask includes them all and lists them in the chip. If it matches no record, or too many, Ask looks for posts that mention the name instead, and tells you so. * **Posts written by people.** Ask searches the posts your team has written, whether they were shared to the News Feed or only posted on a record. It leaves out the updates tiny+ writes automatically, such as *"created a new project"*. Say *"on the news feed"* to see only the posts shared there. * **Confidential posts.** Confidential notes never appear. Posts on a confidential project appear only for the people who can open it: its team, whoever created it or has it assigned, its subscribers, and Records Admins. Searching the news feed works in the search box on the web, and assistants you connect can search posts in the same way. ### Matching an import's columns When a Records Admin [imports a spreadsheet](/guides/getting-started/importing-your-content.md), columns named like a tiny+ field are matched straight away, with or without Ask. With Ask on, tiny+ also suggests a field for each of the other columns from its heading: *Job No.* is the Project Number, *PM* is probably Assigned To, *Suburb* is the town of the project's address. Suggestions it's sure of are matched and marked **suggested**; the others are offered on their column for you to take or leave. Nothing is imported until you click **Import**. ## AI Assistants An **AI licence** lets a team member do four things: * **Connect an AI assistant.** Claude Desktop, Claude Code, claude.ai and any other assistant that supports MCP can connect to your tiny+ account and read your projects, companies, contacts and news feed, and search your posts by what they say — seeing only what that team member can see. If you choose to allow it, assistants can also add and update records and post to the news feed, on behalf of the team member who connected them. Nothing can be deleted through an assistant. With [relationship plans](/guides/everyday/relationship-plans.md), an assistant can also list your plans, and log a follow-up or start a plan if it may make changes. It can read your [lists](/guides/everyday/building-lists.md) and target lists too, and make a list or add records to one if it may make changes. * **Write AI posts.** With the AI posts switch on, the post box has a **Write with AI** button. They write what happened in their own words, and tiny+ suggests the records to link, new contacts, companies and projects, tags, tasks and meetings, a project's new stage and fee, a follow-up on a relationship plan, and tidier wording, to accept or change before posting. See [Writing with AI](/guides/everyday/news-feed.md#writing-with-ai). * **Create a report with AI.** A Reports Admin can describe a report on any Reports page — *"won projects this year with client, fee and close date, grouped by month, with total fees"* — and check the design before it is created. The result is an ordinary custom report. * **Describe an automated action.** An Account Admin can describe one on the Automated Actions page — *"when a project moves from Proposal to Won, create a kickoff task for whoever it's assigned to, due in a week"* — and check it before it is created. It starts switched off. AI licences come in **packs of five**, which your Account Admin manages. | | Included with Pro | AI licence | | --------------------------------- | :---------------: | :--------: | | Ask in the search box and the app | ✓ | | | Ask about news feed posts | ✓ | | | Filter with AI on Table pages | ✓ | | | Suggested matches when importing | ✓ | | | Connect an AI assistant | | ✓ | | Write AI posts | | ✓ | | Create a report with AI | | ✓ | | Describe an automated action | | ✓ | ## Switching on Ask {% hint style="info" %} You must be an Account Admin to switch on the AI features. {% endhint %} Navigate to [Account Settings -> AI Usage](https://crm.tiny.plus/account/ai) and flick the **Ask** switch. ![](https://1957838173-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-LnoXYnzHXoSKmkXmIHw%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-fa7b95d6be666dc3088c0411e537ce22e9812fbf%2Fai-usage.png?alt=media) That's it! Everyone in your account can use Ask straight away. ## Setting up AI Assistants ### 1. Have AI licences [Account Settings -> AI Usage](https://crm.tiny.plus/account/ai) shows how many AI licences your account holds. The Account Admin who adds the first pack is given the first licence automatically. ### 2. Assign licences to your team members Navigate to [Account Settings -> Users](https://crm.tiny.plus/account/users). You'll see how many AI licences you have and how many are assigned, and a new *AI Assistants Seat* column. Tick it against each team member who should have one. Account Admins need a licence too. ![](https://1957838173-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-LnoXYnzHXoSKmkXmIHw%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-e4fe701daad27fbce2d4cd160ac7f635997fbc7f%2Fusers-ai-seats.png?alt=media) A team member will see their licence from their next sign-in. ### 3. Let assistants connect Back on [Account Settings -> AI Usage](https://crm.tiny.plus/account/ai), switch on **Let AI assistants connect (MCP)**. If you'd like assistants to be able to add and update records and post to the news feed on behalf of the people who connect them, also switch on **Let connected assistants change records**. Leave it off and every connected assistant is read-only. ### 4. Switch on AI posts On the same page, switch on **AI posts: write it your way** to give everyone with a licence the **Write with AI** button in the post box. ## Connecting Claude to tiny+ Each team member with an AI licence connects their own assistant, with their own tiny+ login. In Claude Desktop, Claude Code or claude.ai, add a new connector (Claude calls this an MCP server) and give it the address: ``` https://api.tiny.plus/mcp ``` Claude will open a tiny+ sign-in in your browser and then ask you to allow the connection. Tick *Allow it to add and change records* only if your Account Admin has switched that on and you want your assistant to be able to make changes. Click **Confirm**, and you're connected. Then just ask: *"which of my projects haven't been updated in the last month?"* Claude reads your records through your own tiny+ login and sees only what you can see. {% hint style="info" %} Some older desktop apps only support assistants that run locally. These connect through a small bridge called `mcp-remote`. If you're not sure, get in touch and we'll walk you through it. {% endhint %} You can disconnect an assistant at any time from [My Settings -> External Apps](https://crm.tiny.plus/settings/external), which logs it out of tiny+ immediately. ## Creating a report with AI On any Reports page, a Reports Admin with an AI licence will see a **Describe it** button next to **New report**. Describe the report you'd like — which records, which columns, how it's sorted or grouped, any totals, how a date should be written, whether it opens as a summary, or a chart — and click **Design my report**. ![](https://1957838173-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-LnoXYnzHXoSKmkXmIHw%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-9a429295b26265881c61c0c21e4dde8990acf8c0%2Fcreate-report-with-ai.png?alt=media) You'll see the design before anything is created: the columns, filters, layout and totals, along with any assumptions that were made and anything that couldn't be included. Happy with it? Click **Create this report** and it's saved as a custom report you can edit like any other. ## Describing an automated action with AI At the top of [Account Settings -> Automated Actions](https://crm.tiny.plus/account/triggers), an Account Admin with an AI licence will see **Describe an automation**. Say when it should run and what it should do, choose the record type under **For** if tiny+ hasn't picked it from your words, and click **Design it**. You'll see it before anything is created: when it runs, its conditions and its actions, written just as they will appear in the list, along with any assumptions that were made and anything that couldn't be included. Click **Create it, switched off**, check it in the list, and turn it on when you're ready. The AI uses only your account's own fields, statuses, tags and team members, and emails only your team or addresses you typed. See [Automated Actions](/guides/reports/automated-actions.md) for what an automated action can do. ## Fair use Ask is included with your plan, with a daily allowance: ten requests per day for each team member while your account holds no AI packs, and a shared pool for the whole account once it does. Questions about posts count in the same way, and asking the same question again on the same day doesn't use any of your allowance. Import suggestions have an allowance of their own, twenty a day for each person, and so do AI posts, sixty a day for each person. Report and automation designs share a limit per pack per day. ## What is shared with Anthropic? Each Ask request, import suggestion, report design and automation design is sent to Anthropic's Claude along with your account's *structure* — the names of your fields, statuses, tags, lists and team members — so that it can name them back to you. Your records (projects, companies, contacts and news feed posts) are never sent. When tiny+ suggests matches for an import, Claude sees the spreadsheet's column headings, never its rows. When you write an AI post, Claude sees what you typed in the AI post box, with your team members' names, your project stages and your tags. It never sees your records: tiny+ looks up the companies, contacts and projects you mention itself, and checks every suggestion against your own words before showing it. A confidential note is never sent. When you search the news feed, Claude never reads a post. It turns your question into filters, and tiny+ finds the matching posts in your own database. If you name a record in your question, that name is part of what Claude sees, because it's part of what you typed. tiny+ looks the record up itself. Assistants you connect read your records through your own tiny+ login. You approve each connection on a consent screen that names the assistant and what it may do, and you can take that back at any time from [My Settings -> External Apps](https://crm.tiny.plus/settings/external). ## More questions? If you have any queries or would like support in the use of these features, please contact our [support team](https://crm.tiny.plus/help).