What the Assistant does

Nothing changes before you apply. The Assistant reads the diagram you have open, answers with the elements it relied on, and prepares changes as ghosts on the canvas. Only you apply a change, in one step you can undo.

One box, the job worked out from your words

Press Ctrl J in a diagram and type in the box at the bottom of the panel: a question, a description of a system, a change you want. You do not choose a mode first. The Assistant reads your words, picks the job, and shows it on its answer. If it picked the wrong one, select the job on the answer and run it again as another job.

You can also type / to choose the job yourself before sending, and @ to point at an element.

What it can do

The panel's ⋯ menu has a page, What the Assistant can do, that lists the same jobs in the app's words:

• Answer questions about this diagram and cite its elements. See Ask questions about a diagram.
• Describe a view for executives or engineers, as alt text or as a walkthrough.
• Propose changes as ghosts on the canvas. See Ask, review, apply and Describe a system to get a first draft.
• Review the architecture and add its findings to the diagram's review. See Run checks and handle findings.
• Document: draft decision records, board summaries, risks and minutes for you to edit.
• Research across your library, and the web when you allow it.
• Threat-model a data flow with STRIDE. See Find threats with STRIDE.
• Bring in a photo, a sketch or a brief and turn it into a first model. See Bring images and PDFs.

Its promises

These are written in the app, on the same page, and they hold for every job:

• Only you apply a change, in one step you can undo. A proposal waits on its card until you select Apply or Discard.
• Removals, security changes, view edits and web searches ask you first. The Assistant only changes what your words ask for. When it held something back, its card says so and offers a button such as Remove it too.
• Answers cite only what was read. A statement the diagram does not support is marked not stated in the diagram.
• Secret-like values are removed before anything is sent.

Some answers need no AI

Some questions are answered in your browser, with nothing sent and no credits: describing a view, running the checks, STRIDE starting points, the changes since a version and the library search. Their cards are tagged Instant. See Instant answers, free and without AI.

Where it works

• In the editor, on the diagram you have open. Open it with Ctrl J, or from the Assistant menu: Ask the Assistant, Describe this view, Run the checks, Changes since…, Background runs and Assistant settings.
• On a phone, the panel opens as a half-height sheet. You can ask and prepare a change there; you apply it on a computer, where it waits in the conversation.
• In an organisation (Team, Enterprise), the Assistant is off until an owner turns it on. See Turn on the Assistant for your organisation.

What this means for you

• New to iyedy: start with a question about the sample or your own diagram; nothing you ask can change it.
• Architects: describe the change you want in plain words, check the ghosts and the list, then apply. Each Apply is one undo step.
• Admins: the Assistant reads only what its classification ceiling allows. See What the Assistant reads.