Explorer is a streamlined entry point for starting AI conversations without first creating a diagnostic. It provides a single textarea on the Compass landing page — type a question and start chatting immediately. Under the hood, Explorer uses a dedicated per-user diagnostic that is automatically created from a diagnostic definition.
How It Works
Navigate to Compass or click the Explorer icon (the first item in the sidebar). The page presents a textarea where you describe what you'd like to investigate. Click Start Chat to begin. Compass creates a new session in your Explorer diagnostic and immediately starts the AI conversation — you are taken directly into the session workspace.
Each submission creates a separate session. The AI's behavior, available tools, and system prompt are all determined by the selected persona's diagnostic definition.
Personas
By default, Explorer uses the Analyst Assistant persona — a built-in diagnostic definition configured by an administrator. Users can add additional personas by starring diagnostic definitions from the Diagnostic Definitions list or detail page.
When one or more definitions have been starred, a Persona dropdown appears on the Explorer page. The dropdown always includes Analyst Assistant as the default, plus any starred definitions. Selecting a different persona changes which diagnostic definition is used when starting a new chat.
Each persona maintains its own separate diagnostic and session history. When you switch personas, the Previous Sessions link updates to show sessions for the selected persona.
To star a definition, click the star icon next to it in the Diagnostic Definitions list or click Add as Persona on a definition's detail page. The Analyst Assistant star is always filled in and cannot be removed.
The Explorer Diagnostic
The first time you use a persona, Compass automatically creates a personal diagnostic from that definition. All subsequent sessions with that persona are added to this same diagnostic. The diagnostic is private and owned by you.
To view your previous sessions, click the Previous Sessions link on the Explorer page, or follow the breadcrumb link from any session workspace back to the diagnostic. From the diagnostic detail page you can review, rename, or continue any past session.
Setup
Explorer requires an administrator to create a diagnostic definition named Analyst Assistant in the Explorer domain. This definition defines the default system prompt, tools, and other configuration. If the definition does not exist, users will see an error message when attempting to use Explorer.
Access Control
- Architects (and above) can use Explorer to start conversations.
- Authenticated users below Architect level do not have access to Explorer.