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

# Overview

> Otter is OpenLIT's AI chat assistant for observability - ask natural language questions about traces, costs, and tokens, and manage resources through conversation

**Otter** is OpenLIT's AI chat assistant for observability data. Ask questions in plain language about traces, costs, and tokens; create dashboards, rules, prompts, and Vault secrets through conversation; and run the same AI analysis you get from the telemetry detail views. Product copy describes it as: *Ask questions about your observability data using natural language*.

Open Otter from the **Otter** mode toggle in the sidebar (`/chat`), or from the floating Otter button on other playground pages (hidden while you are already on `/chat*`). Configure a provider first under [Chat Settings](/latest/openlit/chat/settings), then start chatting. Track spend on the [Otter usage](/latest/openlit/chat/usage) page.

Trends for narrow phrases like "AI copilot for observability" are low-volume; broader interest sits around AI chat assistants and natural-language querying - Otter is the observability-native version of that workflow.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Chat with Otter" href="/latest/openlit/chat/conversations" icon="comment">
    Conversations, SQL results, widgets, and resource actions
  </Card>

  <Card title="Chat Settings" href="/latest/openlit/chat/settings" icon="gear">
    Pick AI Provider, Model, and a Vault API key
  </Card>

  <Card title="Otter usage" href="/latest/openlit/chat/usage" icon="chart-column">
    Token and cost attribution by feature, provider, model, and date
  </Card>

  <Card title="AI Analysis" href="/latest/openlit/observability/telemetry/ai-analysis" icon="wand-magic-sparkles">
    Trace and span analysis Otter can also run from chat
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## What Otter can do

* **Natural language data questions** - Otter turns questions into read-only SQL against your telemetry tables and shows results as tables or charts.
* **Save as Widget** - turn a query result into a dashboard widget.
* **Resource management** - create and manage rules, contexts, prompts, Vault secrets, and custom models through conversation.
* **Dashboard generation** - describe a dashboard and import the generated layout.
* **Trace / span analysis and prompt improvement** - same capabilities as the telemetry AI Analysis and Prompt Hub Otter flows, reachable from chat.

## Get started

<Steps>
  <Step title="Configure Chat Settings">
    Open `/chat/settings` (gear in the Otter sidebar). Choose **AI Provider**, **Model**, and **API Key (from Vault)**, then **Save Configuration** (or **Update Configuration** if one already exists). Store the key in [Vault](/latest/openlit/developer-resources/vault/overview) first, or use **Create new** on the settings form.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Start a conversation">
    Open `/chat`, click **New Chat**, and try an empty-state example such as analyzing slow traces from the last 24 hours or breaking down token usage and cost by model.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review usage">
    Open **Otter usage** (`/chat/usage`) to see tokens and cost by provider, model, and where Otter was used (chat, trace analysis, span analysis, prompt improvement).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Frequently asked questions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Do I need Chat Settings before I can talk to Otter?">
    Yes. Until a provider, model, and Vault API key are saved, Otter prompts you to configure Chat Settings.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can Otter change my data or run destructive SQL?">
    Query tools run read-only against an allowlisted set of telemetry tables. Resource tools only change platform entities (prompts, rules, and so on) when you ask Otter to create or update them.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>