> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.oncanary.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# About Ask Canary

> Search maintenance records and documents, analyze history, and approve prepared changes.

Ask Canary is the product's conversational maintenance assistant. It can search supported organization data, use asset-scoped documents, build visualizations, and prepare changes through governed tools.

## Choose the right Ask Canary surface

| Surface            | Context                                                                                                           | Write behavior                                                        |
| ------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Global Ask Canary  | Work orders, requests, assets, locations, parts, meters, automations, templates, identifiers, and broader history | Enabled tools can prepare changes that require explicit user approval |
| Work-order copilot | The current work order and documents attached to its asset                                                        | Read-only job assistance                                              |

## What global Ask Canary can do

* Search work orders, requests, assets, meters, templates, and automations
* Review request and automation history
* Analyze asset maintenance, status, failure, downtime, and uptime records
* Resolve exact scannable identifiers
* Search completed document processing results in an attached or mentioned asset context
* Create charts and other visualizations from supported query results
* Prepare enabled changes to equipment, work, meters, readings, teams, custom fields, identifiers, and automations

Available results depend on the user's role, work-order visibility, enabled modules, and configured tool access.

## Approval boundaries

Every Ask Canary write tool requires explicit approval. The approval card names the proposed operation and explains what will change. Choose **Approve**, **Reject**, or revise the instruction.

Administrators have the complete write-tool set and can enable selected write tools for non-admin users in agent settings. Admin-only operations retain their organization role requirement. Read access continues to follow the same record visibility rules as the product.

## Search an asset document

1. Confirm that the PDF or DOCX processing state is **Completed**.
2. Mention or attach the asset in global Ask Canary, or open the work-order copilot for a job on that asset.
3. Ask a precise question.
4. Open the cited source and verify the page before acting.

## Safety

Ask Canary avoids inventing specifications and safety-critical procedures. Use its answers to reach the relevant record or document, then follow approved site procedures, manufacturer instructions, and required safety controls.

## Conversation lifecycle

Canary preserves messages, tool results, and approval decisions within a conversation. Deleting a conversation permanently removes its stored messages and tool state.

## Related pages

* [Best prompts](/help/ask-canary/best-prompts)
* [Asset documents](/help/assets/documents)
* [Custom fields](/help/admin/custom-fields)