AI Chat (Beta)

AI Chat lets you ask questions about your ClickTime data in plain language and get back a direct answer, a chart, or a sortable table — no report building required. For example, you can ask "Which projects had the most hours logged last month?" or "Show me a bar chart of hours by client for Q1."

Note: AI Chat is currently in a closed beta and isn't yet available to all ClickTime accounts. AI Chat can't be turned on from within your account. To ask about joining the beta, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or contact ClickTime Support.

Before You Begin

Your account must be part of the AI Chat beta.
AI Chat is available to Administrators only at this time.
AI Chat follows your existing ClickTime permissions. You'll only see data in AI Chat that you can already see in ClickTime — for example, if you can't view billing rates in ClickTime, AI Chat won't return billing data.
AI Chat is designed for desktop browsers and isn't optimized for mobile devices.

What You Can Ask About

AI Chat can answer questions about:

Hours and time by project, division, client, or over time
Labor costs
Billings, including billable vs. non-billable time and billable ratio
Budgets, including status, burn rate, and at-risk projects
Clients, including revenue, margins, and billing rates
Resourcing, headcount, and individual people

Every answer comes from your ClickTime data. AI Chat doesn't guess at numbers — it works out what you asked, pulls the matching data, and explains the result. AI Chat is also read-only, so it can't create, change, or delete anything in ClickTime.

Open AI Chat

Sign in to ClickTime as an Administrator.
In a new browser tab, go to ai.clicktime.com. You'll be signed in automatically with your ClickTime login, so no separate login is needed.

Ask a Question

Type your question in the box at the bottom of the page.
Press Enter or click the send button.

Tip: When you start a new chat, starter prompts such as "Show me hours by client this quarter" appear above the input box. Click one to send it right away.

Refine your question

You can make your question more specific by adding:

A team or division, such as "hours for the Engineering team"
A time range, such as "last month," "Q1," or "trailing 12 months"
Exclusions, such as "exclude contractors" or "drop the Cost column"
A chart type, such as bar, horizontal bar, line, pie, or donut. If you ask for a chart without naming a type, AI Chat picks one that fits the data.

You can also ask follow-up questions in the same chat, such as "What about Q2?" or "Make it top 15."

Understanding Your Answers

AI Chat returns answers in one of three formats:

Text: A short answer with one key takeaway. Detailed figures may be listed as bullets.
Charts: Displayed directly in the conversation.
Tables: Click any column header to sort, and click again to reverse the sort. Longer tables scroll, and the header row stays in place as you scroll.

Work with tables

Tables include a few extra options:

Show or hide columns: Click the column settings icon in the top-right corner of the table, then select or clear columns under Show columns.
Download CSV: Click Download CSV below the table to download the data as a CSV file.

To keep things clear, answers include related ClickTime details alongside the figures — for example, client names paired with project names, or a person's division shown next to their name.

Tip: Not sure where to start? Ask AI Chat what it can do, what charts it can make, or what data it can see.

Share Feedback on an Answer

Every answer includes thumbs up and thumbs down icons in its bottom-right corner.

Thumbs up: Click to let us know the answer was helpful.
Thumbs down: Click, enter a comment describing what wasn't right, and click Submit.

Our team reviews AI Chat feedback regularly, and it directly shapes how AI Chat improves during the beta, so we appreciate every response you share.

Save an Answer as an Artifact

An artifact is a saved copy of an answer — a chart, a table, or a text answer. Artifacts are saved exactly as shown, so they look the same when you come back to them, and they stay available the next time you sign in.

Below the answer you want to keep, click Save Artifact.
In the Label field, keep the suggested name or enter a new one. By default, a chart uses its chart title and a table uses its table title.
Click Save. A confirmation message reads Artifact saved.

View, Retrieve, or Delete Saved Artifacts

Click My Saved Artifacts in the top-right corner of the page. A panel opens listing each saved artifact with its name and the date it was saved.
Below the artifact, choose an action:
- Retrieve Artifact: Adds the artifact to your current chat as a new message.
- View Prompt: Shows the original question that produced the artifact.
- Delete Artifact: Permanently removes the artifact. When prompted, confirm the deletion, or click Cancel to keep it.

Build a Layout with Canvas Mode

Canvas Mode lets you collect multiple charts and tables on one screen, arrange them how you like, and export the result as a PDF. It's a good fit when you want to put together a quick report to share with someone else.

In Canvas Mode, the canvas appears on the left and a chat panel appears on the right. Answers you ask for in the chat panel are added to the canvas as cards instead of appearing in the conversation.

Turn on Canvas Mode

Below the input box, turn on the Canvas Mode toggle.
Switching modes starts a new chat. Your previous chat, including any canvas cards, is saved in the chat sidebar so you can reopen it anytime.

Add cards to the canvas

In the chat panel on the right, ask a question or click a starter prompt.
The chart or table is added to the canvas as a card, and the chat panel confirms what was added.
Repeat to add more cards. You can also add a saved artifact from My Saved Artifacts.

Tip: Each card shows the question that created it just below its title, so it's easy to tell your cards apart.

Arrange and manage cards

Move a card: Click and drag the handle icon in the top-right corner of the card.
Resize a card: Click and drag the resize handle in the bottom-right corner of the card. Charts adjust to fit the new size.
Download CSV: Download the card's data as a CSV file.
Save Artifact: Save the card as an artifact to use later.
Remove: Remove the card from the canvas.

Export the canvas

At the top of the canvas, click Export Canvas.
In the Export canvas to PDF window, review the page list. Each card gets its own page, and cards are never split across a page break.
Click Export PDF.

Each page of the PDF includes your company name, your name, and the date it was exported.

Note: Export Canvas is available once at least one card has been added to the canvas.

Manage Your Chats

AI Chat saves your conversations automatically, so there's no Save button. A chat is saved as soon as you send your first message and is updated as you continue. Your past chats are listed in the sidebar on the left, titled by the first question you asked.

Show or hide the sidebar: Click Hide Sidebar or Chat Sidebar at the top left of the page.
Start a new chat: Click New Chat at the top of the page.
Reopen a chat: Click the chat in the sidebar. The full conversation is restored, including charts and tables. A chat from Canvas Mode reopens in Canvas Mode, with your cards where you left them.
Rename or delete a chat: Right-click the chat in the sidebar, then select Rename or Delete.

Note: Chats are kept for 90 days.

Common Questions

Why can't I open AI Chat?

AI Chat is currently in a closed beta and is available to Administrators only. If your account isn't part of the beta, or you're signed in as a Manager or standard user, you won't be able to open AI Chat yet. AI Chat can't be turned on from within your account. To ask about joining the beta, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or contact ClickTime Support.

Can AI Chat change my ClickTime data?

No. AI Chat is read-only. It can look up and summarize your data, but it can't create, edit, or delete anything in ClickTime.

Why isn't AI Chat returning certain data for me?

AI Chat uses your ClickTime permissions exactly. If you don't have access to certain data in ClickTime, such as billing rates, AI Chat won't return it either.

How current is the data in AI Chat?

AI Chat data is synced periodically, so very recent changes in ClickTime may not appear right away. As noted below the input box, AI can make mistakes, so we recommend verifying important information.

What's the difference between a saved chat and a saved artifact?

A saved chat is the full conversation and is kept for 90 days. An artifact is a single answer you chose to save so you can bring it back into any chat. The two are separate, so deleting a chat doesn't delete any artifacts you saved from it.

Will a retrieved artifact show the same dates as when I saved it?

It depends on how the original question was asked:

Specific dates stay fixed. For example, "Show me all expenses submitted on Jan 1, 2026" always shows Jan 1, 2026.
Relative date ranges update. For example, "Show me a cost breakdown from the past 3 months" shows the 3 months before the day you retrieve it.

Can I use AI Chat on my phone?

AI Chat isn't designed for mobile devices at this time. For the best experience, use a desktop browser.

What's Coming

We're actively building on AI Chat. Upcoming features include:

Manager access: Managers will be able to use AI Chat, seeing only the data their existing ClickTime permissions allow.
Saved dashboards: Save a Canvas Mode layout as a dashboard on your Company Dashboard.
AI Chat inside ClickTime: Open AI Chat as a side panel from within ClickTime pages, plus a direct link from the ClickTime interface.

Features and timing may change as the beta continues. We'll update this article as new features become available.

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