---
title: Ask CloudMonitor
canonical: "https://cloudmonitor.ai/docs/using-cloudmonitor/reports/ask-cloudmonitor/"
description: "Ask a question about your costs in plain English and get an answer from your own data, without building a report."
---

:::note[Not everyone has this]
**Ask CloudMonitor** is set up for your workspace when CloudMonitor is installed. If it isn't in
your menu, it hasn't been set up for you — contact support and we'll take a look.
:::

Type a question about your spend and get an answer from your own data. It's the shortcut for the
question you'd otherwise spend ten minutes building a report to answer.

You'll find it in the **Inform** group, and there's a launcher in the top bar from any screen.

## Asking well

The single most important thing: **the question carries its own scope.** Unlike every other screen,
Ask CloudMonitor ignores the top-bar filters — so put the period, the provider, the cost group and
the cost basis into the sentence.

> Not: *what did we spend?* (with Last 30 Days set at the top)
>
> But: *what did we spend on storage last month, for the Platform cost group?*

That's not a limitation so much as a different contract. A conversational answer that silently
depended on a filter you set on another screen twenty minutes ago would be worse.

Ask for billed or amortised cost explicitly if the distinction matters —
see [effective cost vs billed cost](/docs/using-cloudmonitor/effective-vs-billed-cost/).

## What it's good and bad at

**Good at** the specific factual question: what did X cost, which service grew most, how does this
month compare to last.

**Less good at** anything you intend to act on directly without checking. Treat an answer as a
pointer, not a citation. If a number is going in a report, open
[The Ledger](/docs/using-cloudmonitor/reports/the-ledger/) with the same scope and confirm it — that
takes thirty seconds and the two should agree.

## Two states you might hit

**In demo mode:**

> Answers come from your organisation’s cost data, so there is nothing honest to show on sample data. Switch demo mode off to ask.

That's deliberate. Answering questions about a fictional company would teach you nothing about your
own spend and would be easy to mistake for real. Turn demo mode off on
[your profile page](/docs/using-cloudmonitor/profile-and-preferences/).

**Not set up:**

> Ask CloudMonitor isn’t set up for this workspace

The assistant is bound to your workspace at installation, so an admin can't switch it on from
Settings. Contact support.

## Where to go instead

If you're exploring rather than asking one question,
[The Explorer](/docs/using-cloudmonitor/reports/explorer/) is the better tool — you can shape the
analysis and save it. Ask CloudMonitor is for the one-off.