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

# AI Buddy

Buddy is the **app-wide assistant** you meet everywhere in the admin app. It knows your business, reads your current project configuration, and can change that configuration on your behalf when you ask it to.

<Screenshot name="essentials/buddy/input" alt="Buddy's empty composer card — a textarea reading 'Ask your Buddy anything…' with attach, command, and send icons" caption="Talk to Buddy like a teammate — describe what you want, and it goes to work" view="cutout" width="480px" />

<Frame caption="Talk to Buddy like a teammate — describe what you want, and it goes to work">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/frontic/gVwcU5CKuE7GsTwo/images/essentials/buddy/input-light.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=gVwcU5CKuE7GsTwo&q=85&s=9a66ca770a9d1a94dda0f4bb74b47cee" className="dark:hidden block mx-auto mt-5 mb-5" style={{ maxWidth: "480px" }} alt="Buddy's empty composer card — a textarea reading 'Ask your Buddy anything…' with attach, command, and send icons" width="1344" height="268" data-path="images/essentials/buddy/input-light.png" />

  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/frontic/gVwcU5CKuE7GsTwo/images/essentials/buddy/input-dark.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=gVwcU5CKuE7GsTwo&q=85&s=82f66cbdf984e4d4d00b60375710f436" className="hidden dark:block mx-auto mt-5 mb-5" style={{ maxWidth: "480px" }} alt="Buddy's empty composer card — a textarea reading 'Ask your Buddy anything…' with attach, command, and send icons" width="1344" height="268" data-path="images/essentials/buddy/input-dark.png" />
</Frame>

## What Buddy can do

Buddy handles the backend side of your project. You talk to it the way you'd talk to a teammate who already knows your setup.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Set up integrations" icon="plug">
    Connect Shopify, commercetools, a PIM, a CMS, or any REST source. Buddy
    walks the setup, fetches a sample, and gets data flowing.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Shape your data" icon="database">
    Define Data Storages and the schemas that make your data semantically
    meaningful — products, articles, categories, whatever your experience
    needs.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Wire Data Syncs" icon="arrows-rotate">
    Map incoming feed records into your Data Storages using the Value
    Composer. Buddy explains why a transformation looks the way it does and
    suggests alternatives.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Build the API" icon="sitemap">
    Create Detail Blocks, Search Listings, and Page URLs that expose exactly the
    data your experience needs.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Edit Context Base" icon="brain">
    Read and update Skills, Rules, and Commands in the
    [Context Base](/context-base/overview) — shaping how Studio and editor
    agents work on your project.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Answer questions" icon="circle-question">
    "Why is this record missing a title?", "What does this composer
    expression return?", "Which listings depend on this storage?" — Buddy
    can inspect your project to answer.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

<Note>
  Buddy works on your backend configuration — not on code. For writing and editing code, open a [Studio workspace](/studio/frontic-studio) or use [your editor](/ide/overview) where the right tools for building are available.
</Note>

## Open Buddy from anywhere

Press <kbd>⌘</kbd>+<kbd>B</kbd> (or <kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>B</kbd> on Windows and Linux) from anywhere in the admin app to toggle Buddy. The same shortcut closes it again. You can also click the Buddy icon in the top bar.

Buddy opens in two modes:

* **Sidebar** (default) — Buddy docks to the right of your current page, so you can keep working while you chat. Useful when you want Buddy to look at the screen you're already on.

  <Screenshot name="essentials/buddy/sidebar" alt="Frontic Product Card block configuration page with Buddy docked as a sidebar on the right, showing an active thread asking why the Product Card is missing the 'clearout' flag on some records" caption="Buddy as a sidebar — chat alongside the page you're working on" skip="true" />

* **Focus mode** — Buddy takes the full window for a distraction-free conversation. Switch with the expand icon in Buddy's header, or back with the dock icon. Best for longer setup conversations or when you want the chat to be the whole experience.

  <Screenshot name="essentials/buddy/focus-mode" alt="Buddy in focus mode — full-screen lavender gradient with an active thread asking why the Product Card is missing the 'clearout' flag on some records" caption="Buddy in focus mode — distraction-free for longer conversations" skip="true" />

## You stay in control

Buddy aligns with you on every change before acting. Your project role and permissions are delegated to Buddy, so it can work on your behalf — but with guardrails:

* **Creating new resources** (blocks, listings, storages) and **read-only operations** (inspecting, querying, previewing) are auto-allowed
* **Changing existing configuration** requires your approval before Buddy proceeds
* **Publishing a release** is always your call — Buddy can help prepare a release, but has no access to Release Control

Custom approval settings per tool are coming soon.

## How Buddy knows your business

Buddy has its own setup routine — similar to Studio's `/init-context`, it runs a short interview to understand your business, your products, and your goals. From that conversation, Buddy derives:

* a **system prompt** that shapes its general behavior — who it's working for and on what
* a **project context** that covers the basics Buddy needs on every session without having to rediscover them

This means Buddy understands your project not only from the shape and content of your data, but from your perspective — what matters to your business, how you think about your products, and what you're trying to achieve.

<Note>
  The [Context Base](/context-base/overview) (Skills, Rules, Commands) is designed for the build track — Studio and your editor. Buddy can read and edit context documents, but they aren't its primary source of knowledge since they're written for a different purpose.
</Note>