Overview

Compass is ARMS's AI chat assistant for observability data. Ask questions in plain language about traces, costs, and tokens; create dashboards and Vault secrets through conversation; and run the same AI analysis you get from the telemetry detail views. Product copy describes it as: Ask questions about your observability data using natural language.

Open Compass from the Compass mode toggle in the sidebar (/chat), or from the floating Compass button on other playground pages (hidden while you are already on /chat*). Configure a provider first under Chat Settings, then start chatting. Track spend on the Compass usage page.

Trends for narrow phrases like "AI copilot for observability" are low-volume; broader interest sits around AI chat assistants and natural-language querying - Compass is the observability-native version of that workflow.

What Compass can do

• Natural language data questions - Compass turns questions into read-only SQL against your telemetry tables and shows results as tables or charts.
• Save as Widget - turn a query result into a dashboard widget.
• Resource management - create and manage Vault secrets and custom models through conversation.
• Dashboard generation - describe a dashboard and import the generated layout.
• Trace / span analysis - same capabilities as the telemetry AI Analysis Compass flows, reachable from chat.

Get started

Configure Chat Settings

Open /chat/settings (gear in the Compass sidebar). Choose AI Provider, Model, and API Key (from Vault), then Save Configuration (or Update Configuration if one already exists). Store the key in Vault first, or use Create new on the settings form.

Start a conversation

Open /chat, click New Chat, and try an empty-state example such as analyzing slow traces from the last 24 hours or breaking down token usage and cost by model.

Review usage

Open Compass usage (/chat/usage) to see tokens and cost by provider, model, and where Compass was used (chat, trace analysis, span analysis).

Frequently asked questions

Do I need Chat Settings before I can talk to Compass?

Yes. Until a provider, model, and Vault API key are saved, Compass prompts you to configure Chat Settings.

Can Compass change my data or run destructive SQL?

Query tools run read-only against an allowlisted set of telemetry tables. Resource tools only change platform entities (Vault secrets, and so on) when you ask Compass to create or update them.