Ask Contrast

Contrast is a data analyst for your workspace. It answers questions about your connected sources by finding the right tables, running read-only SQL against your warehouse, and replying with the result and where it came from. Ask it in Slack or on Home in Contrast. Set it up with the quickstart.

Ask a question

In Slack: send Contrast a direct message, or mention @Contrast in a channel it has been added to. Contrast reacts with 👀 when it starts and replies in a thread. Follow-up questions in that thread don't need another mention, and Contrast reuses what it already found.

On Home: type your question in Ask a question about your data at the top of Home. It opens the Chat page and answers there. Editors, admins, and owners can ask once your data has synced. Answers on Home use your own access, and follow-ups continue the same conversation.

Good questions name the measure, the time range, and the grouping you want:

• "How many new paying customers did we get each week this quarter?"
• "Which plans had the highest churn last month, and how does that compare with the month before?"
• "What does the status column in Stripe subscriptions mean, and which values show up?"
• "What data can I explore?"

If a question is ambiguous, Contrast asks a clarifying question before it runs anything. Reply in the thread; if nobody answers, the request is cancelled.

Read the answer

Each answer that uses your data ends with a Sources: line naming the sources it drew on. Answers can include a chart (line, area, bar, or pie) or a table when that's clearer than prose. See limits for chart and table sizes.

Select How Contrast answered to see each step and the formatted SQL Contrast ran. From Slack, opening it requires a Contrast account linked to your Slack user. Copy the SQL into SQL in Contrast to rerun or extend it.

If data is still syncing, Contrast says so; recent rows may be missing until the first sync finishes.

Correct Contrast

• In Slack, select 👍 Helpful or Incorrect answer on an answer, or react with 👍 or 👎. Incorrect answer opens a short form with What's wrong? and What should we use instead? Your report is saved even if you leave the details blank.
• Reply with the correction, such as "Use paid_at, not created_at, for revenue dates." Contrast uses it for the rest of the conversation.
• Contrast may ask you for a definition or caveat to remember. Corrections you give in conversation can become shared knowledge after review.
• Add definitions, caveats, and preferences for everyone in your workspace on the Knowledge page at app.contrastdb.com/settings/memories. Contrast reads them before it answers.
• Add table notes in the catalog so Contrast and your team know how a table should be used.

More than answers

• Recurring reports. In Slack, ask Contrast to send a result on a schedule, and it confirms where to deliver the report first. Contrast reruns the question fresh each time.
• Dashboards. Ask Contrast in Slack to build a dashboard from your warehouse tables. This needs your Slack user linked to a Contrast account with the editor role or higher; if Contrast can't build it, it tells you why.
• Insights. Contrast can post findings it spots in your data. Choose where they go in Slack settings.

What Contrast won't do

• Change your data. Its SQL is read-only, and it never asks for credentials in chat. Connect sources in Contrast instead.
• Answer in shared or Slack Connect channels.
• In Slack, answer from data the admin who connected Slack can't see. See whose access Contrast uses.

Each answer uses AI credits from your plan. When a workspace runs out, Contrast stops answering until the next month or a plan upgrade; see plan allowances.

Use Contrast from other agents

To work with the same warehouse from Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or another agent, connect the MCP server or the CLI. Like questions on Home, these run with your own access.