FAQ

Do I need to know how to code?#

No. You ask Claude in the Code tab of the Claude desktop app, and it writes the files and runs the commands. It is useful to know your data: which tables hold what, and how your figures are counted.

Where does it run, and what does Claude see?#

The app and your data stay on your computer. The app runs at http://localhost:9923 while you work, reads your files and your database from there, and sends nothing to a Silvi server: there is none.

Claude runs at Anthropic, and sees what it works with: table and column names, sample rows, query results, and the files it writes. So use a read-only database user, and follow your company’s rules for AI tools. Anthropic’s terms are in its Privacy Policy and Commercial Terms.

Does the app change my database?#

No. A report’s SQL must be a select or a with query; anything else is refused. Give the app a read-only database user as well.

Where do my passwords go?#

In app/.env, on your computer. It is never saved to git. Claude can open the file for you to paste them in yourself.

Can I start without a database?#

Yes. A new app has three example reports, Events, Members and Website visitors, which read sample CSV files that come with it. The csv connector reads files you drop in a folder with no setup, so export a table to CSV and start there.

Why does the date filter not change my chart?#

The chart’s query has no week or month column, or its grain is all, the default. Ask Claude to make it follow the date filter.

Why do the figures not change right away after new data arrives?#

Results are kept for ten minutes, so pages open fast. They refresh after that, or when Claude restarts the app.

Can a report read two databases?#

A report reads one connector. Two reports can read two databases; each one’s meta.connector names its own.

Can I write the SQL myself?#

Yes. Give Claude the query and ask it to make a report from it. Claude saves it as a .sql file with its title line, names its columns in report.tsx and builds the components.

Do I have to read report.tsx?#

No. It is a short React file Claude writes and checks for you; the Report files page shows what is in it, so you know what to ask for. The SQL is in plain .sql files beside it, and the “(i)” dialog shows it on the page.

Can I have a chart Silvi does not have?#

First ask Claude whether a prop of an existing component does it; most of the time one does. If not, a visual only one report needs can be drawn in its own report.tsx with Custom. One many reports need is better added to the kit: the new component joins it, and every report can use it.

Why is there no text on the report page?#

Text goes in the “(i)” dialog, so the page stays figures and every explanation has one place. A report’s components holds only components.

Can colleagues use my app?#

Not at your address: the app runs on your computer, and localhost means “this computer”, so a colleague’s browser cannot open it. Silvi has no hosting. What you can do:

• Send what it shows. A report can get a Download HTML button that saves the page as one file anyone can open in a browser; ask Claude to add it. A table can be copied, or downloaded as an Excel file. A wiki page downloads as PDF, Word or Markdown from the download button at its top.
• Let them run their own copy. Share the app’s folder through a git repository your company uses; ask Claude to set that up. Your colleague then needs Node.js, git and Claude, as you did, and their own app/.env with their own read-only user: git never takes app/.env with it, while a zipped copy of the folder would. Files in app/data/ are part of the folder, so sharing it shares them too.

Everyone who runs a copy sees the same reports.

How do I undo a change?#

Ask Claude to put the last change back. Your app is a folder kept in git, so every saved version can come back.

What happens when Silvi improves?#

Ask Claude for a kit update. Your reports, wiki and data are never touched, and a file you changed is kept. See Kit updates.