AI assistant
The assistant works with the open project through Phasor’s tools. It can inspect inputs, stage supported edits, run studies and read the results. Page assistants also have the context and controls of supported workbenches.
The engine performs the numerical calculations. The assistant helps choose and explain actions; its prose is not an independent validation of the answer.
Configure a provider
- Open Settings → Assistant.
- Add a key for Anthropic or OpenAI.
- Save the key and select a model from the picker in the assistant panel.
- Open the relevant project and workbench before asking it to work.
The inspected app stores configured keys locally in assistant.json with file permission 0600. Keys are not stored in the project. A provider key supplied by the environment takes precedence over the stored key and disables that provider’s manual field.
Requests use the configured provider’s API. Model input, selected context, tool results and supported attachments can leave the computer as part of a turn. Review the provider and data you intend to use before submitting it. Do not treat the assistant as an offline feature.
Work through a plant design
Give the assistant a concrete objective, the evidence you have and the limits that matter. For example:
Inspect this saved plant version. Confirm the load and weather basis, then run it and explain any unmet demand. Keep assumed costs visible.
It can help with the plant workflow: location, load synthesis, weather acquisition, design versions, simulation, sizing, sensitivity and financial scenarios. It can also operate supported network design controls, review routes and inspect completed findings.
Supply known coordinates and a real boundary. A building count is not an energy demand, and a typical equipment value is not a measured input. Ask the assistant to identify those gaps before calculation.
Review actions and results
- Read the tool activity and the proposed changes.
- Check the design, version, selected run and model revision.
- Review any approval card for model changes, network access or file actions.
- After a study, inspect its status and numerical results in the workbench.
- Verify important claims against the input, result table and cited source. A generated answer can omit or misinterpret a source; citations are not guaranteed merely because you requested them.
Page tools can stage unsaved edits. A field marked as set by the agent remains a draft until the workbench’s save or apply action records it.
Understand what can be undone
| Action | Behaviour to check |
|---|---|
| Model edits through the command gate | Normal model changes with the supported undo history. |
| Draft edits on a page | Follow that workbench’s save/discard controls. |
| Financial scenario save, refresh or delete | Stored outside model undo; the model Undo command does not reverse them. |
| Weather or site fetch | External access under the configured grant and approval policy. |
| Export | Writes a file through the supported export action; this is not a model edit. |
Do not assume that approving one action grants permission for every later action. Read the approval requested by the current app policy.
Follow long network runs
An in-app network-design run can retain a monitor after the immediate assistant turn ends. The app checks job status and can queue a review in the original conversation when the run finishes. Closing or leaving a panel is therefore not a general promise that all future assistant activity stops.
Use cancellation when you intend to stop the run and its follow-up. A queued or running job is not a completed design.
If the assistant cannot proceed
A missing weather channel needs data. A stale sizing proposal needs a new run. A route failure needs the reported geometry to be checked. An approval refusal needs the configured action policy to be satisfied. Repeating the same request without resolving its cause does not fix these conditions.
External clients can use the shared engineering tool surface through MCP automation. Page tools and external MCP tools have different context and export capabilities; do not assume every desktop action has the same external call.
This guide describes the September 2026 development application. Confirm feature availability in your installed build.