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.
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 Session to begin. Compass creates a new session 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.
Personas
Personas define the AI's behavior for Explorer sessions. By default, Explorer uses the Analyst Assistant persona. Users can add additional personas to their personal favorites from the Personas tab.
The Personas tab (under Explorer) lists all available personas in a sortable, searchable table. Each persona has a star icon — click it to add the persona to your favorites. Click again to remove it. The Analyst Assistant star is always filled in and cannot be removed.
When one or more personas have been favorited, a Persona dropdown appears on the Explorer new session page. The dropdown always includes Analyst Assistant as the default, plus any favorited personas. Selecting a different persona changes which configuration is used when starting a new chat.
Each persona maintains its own separate session history. When you switch personas, the Previous Sessions link updates to show sessions for the selected persona.
Creating and Editing Personas
Compass Authors can create new personas by clicking New Persona on the Personas tab. The persona editor provides:
- Name — A unique name for the persona.
- Description — Optional context about the persona's purpose.
- System Prompt — Instructions defining the AI's role and focus area.
- Tools — Which capabilities the AI has access to.
Personas also support a Markdown View for full-text editing, toggled via the Form/Markdown buttons.
Personas do not have sessions, disposition schemas, or dependencies — they define only the AI's prompt and tool configuration.
Persona Detail
Click a persona's name to view its detail page, which shows the system prompt and selected tools. From here you can:
- Add to Favorites / Remove from Favorites — Toggle whether the persona appears in your Explorer dropdown.
- Edit Persona — Open the persona editor.
Previous Sessions
Click the Previous Sessions tab on the Explorer page to view your session history. From this screen you can click any session to continue the conversation, or use the pencil icon to expand an edit panel where you can:
- Rename the session or update its description.
- Share the session by adding Editors (Compass Authors or above who can modify the session) and Viewers (any user who can view it).
- Delete the session.
You can also reach your previous sessions by following the breadcrumb link from any session workspace back to the diagnostic detail page.
Shared Sessions
Click the Shared Sessions tab on the Explorer page to view sessions that other users have shared with you (as an editor or viewer). Each session displays the name of the user who shared it. Click any session to open it.
Shared sessions are read-only from this listing — the edit panel is not available. To modify sharing or session details, the session owner (or an editor) must use their own Previous Sessions tab.
Setup
Explorer requires an administrator to create a persona named Analyst Assistant. This persona defines the default system prompt, tools, and other configuration. If the persona does not exist, users will see an error message when attempting to use Explorer.
Access Control
- Compass Authors (and above) can use Explorer to start conversations and create or edit personas.
- Authenticated users below Compass Author level do not have access to Explorer.