This article covers how Noda Assistant works, walks through a few example workflows, and answers common questions.
How it works
When you ask a question, the Assistant gathers the context of what you're looking at: your company, portfolio, and building, plus the specific equipment, project, task, or insight if you have one open. It uses your own account permissions to retrieve data, so it only ever shows you information you already have access to.
It can look at:
Equipment lists, attributes, and relationships
Points and their current values
Insights for a building or a specific piece of equipment
Projects and tasks, not including comments
Historical operating data, for trend analysis
Building schedules
Historical weather
Utility rates
Workflow examples:
Triage a tenant complaint
A tenant reports a room is too cold. Type the complaint the way you heard it, for example, "AV room is too cold." The Assistant finds the associated equipment, checks for open insights, and reviews the last 7 days of operating history, then summarizes what it finds.
Prep for a site visit
Before a controls contractor arrives for a monthly PM, ask something like, "Our controls contractor is here for the monthly PM, are there any sensor issues they can address while they're here?" The Assistant scans all of the building's insights for sensor-related issues instead of you checking each one individually.
Build and refine a chart mid-investigation
Ask for a chart, for example, "chart plant thermal efficiency for the last 7 days." Once it's built, keep going in the same conversation, for example, "add each chiller's efficiency to that chart," to compare staging without starting over.
Pull up equipment details without losing your place
While reviewing a chart, ask a follow-up like "what are the cooling capacities of the three chillers?" The Assistant answers inline so you can keep your chart open and keep investigating.
Working with context
The Assistant is available on building pages only. A context chip shows exactly what it's using to answer you: the building, or a specific piece of equipment, project, or task if you have one open. That context updates automatically as you click through different pages in Noda.
Navigating to a dashboard or your homepage pauses the Assistant, since it can't yet answer questions across multiple buildings. It's still there when you navigate back. Going into Settings ends the session entirely.
If your next question isn't related to what you were just discussing, clear the chat rather than continuing the thread. This keeps its answers focused.
Good to know
Read-only. The Assistant can answer questions and generate charts, but it can't create or update a project, write a comment, or change a setpoint. Changes still need to be made directly in the product.
No persistent history. Your conversation clears if you log out, refresh the page, or start a new chat. Closing the side panel without refreshing keeps it intact.
7-day default lookback. If you don't specify a date range, it reviews the last 7 days of data. Ask for more or less time if you need it.
Building-focused. It's built to answer questions about your buildings, equipment, and energy, not to serve as a general-purpose assistant.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use it at the portfolio or dashboard level?
Not yet. It currently works within a single building. Portfolio-wide search is on the roadmap.
Will it remember my past conversations?
Chat history is on the way. For now, each conversation is fresh, so starting a new chat, logging out, or refreshing gives you a clean slate to work with.
Can it make changes in my building, like adjusting a setpoint?
No. It's read-only. It can't create or update a project, write a comment, or change a setpoint.
What happens if I lose my session?
Refreshing the page, logging out, or starting a new chat clears the conversation. Closing the panel without refreshing keeps your place.
What if I don't get a good answer?
Try narrowing your question to a specific piece of equipment or a date range. The Assistant performs best with focused, specific prompts rather than broad ones.
Support & Feedback
If you need help or have questions about Noda Assistant or any other Noda feature, send a message through the in-app chat in the bottom right corner, or email support@noda.ai.