Asking good questions
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Ask Querri the way you’d ask a colleague who knows your data, and get an answer you can check and build on.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”- Permissions: anyone signed in can ask the Librarian. Asking in a project adds steps, so you need to be able to edit the project.
- Data you need: tables in your Library. The examples use Curio, whose data runs from January 2024 to September 2025. See Explore the sample company.
- Credits this uses: each message to the Librarian uses a credit, and so does each message in a project.
1. Ask in the right place
Section titled “1. Ask in the right place”| Where | Good for |
|---|---|
| Librarian chat, beside the Library | Quick questions: a number, a short list, what’s in your data |
| A project’s chat | Deeper work: trends, charts, comparisons across several cuts, forecasts |
| The Dashboard tab on a dashboard | Questions about that dashboard, and changes to how it looks |
Not sure which? Ask the Librarian. When a question needs more than a quick answer, it gives a short one and offers a This needs a project card. Nothing is created until you click Create project.
2. Check which workspace you’re in
Section titled “2. Check which workspace you’re in”The switcher at the top of the app rail decides what the Librarian can find, and where anything it makes is saved. Set it before you ask. Work the chat creates while you’re looking at Everything is saved to Private. See Workspaces and privacy.
3. Name the number, the split and the dates
Section titled “3. Name the number, the split and the dates”A vague question makes Querri guess what you meant. A specific one says what to measure, how to split it, over what dates and with which filters.
| Instead of | Try |
|---|---|
| ”How are sales?" | "What was Shopify net revenue by month, January to September 2025?" |
| "Top products" | "Which 10 products sold the most units on Shopify in 2025?" |
| "Recent refunds" | "How many Shopify refunds were there each week in September 2025, and for what reasons?" |
| "Inventory?" | "What is our current finished-goods inventory by warehouse?” |
If your team tracks the number as a KPI, use the KPI’s name. When you ask about a KPI’s number, the Librarian quotes the value the KPI has already calculated, so you get the same figure everyone else sees. See KPIs.
Give dates rather than “this year” or “recently”, which can each be read more than one way.
Know the table or column you mean? Name it. Plain words work too, but a name leaves less to guess.
4. Ask one thing at a time
Section titled “4. Ask one thing at a time”Put one question in each message, then build on the answer. Four questions at once are harder to check, and in a project each request becomes a step you can look at before the next.
5. Check what it read
Section titled “5. Check what it read”Every Librarian answer starts with a route row: Read from a view or KPI, Queried one or more tables, or Searched your library when it read nothing. Under it are the rows and Show the query, the SQL that ran.
Not sure how a number was worked out? Ask, for example “Which table and date range did that use?”, and compare the reply with Show the query, which is what actually ran.
Check an answer before you share it walks through the whole check.
6. Follow up and correct
Section titled “6. Follow up and correct”Keep going in the same chat, in plain words: “Now split that by channel.” “Leave out refunds.” Options may appear under an answer, and clicking one sends it as your next message.
If Querri measured the wrong thing, say what the number should mean, like “revenue means paid orders only”. The Librarian records a settled rule like that as a fact, so later answers follow it. See Facts & Rules.
In a project, Refine changes one step without starting over. It counts as a Step refinement, half a credit. See Refining a result.
Check your work
Section titled “Check your work”- The route row names the table you’d have used.
- The dates in the query match the window you asked about.
- The number is split the way you asked.
- You can say in one sentence what the number means.
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”The answer reads Query declined. Nothing in your Library matched the question. Name the table or KPI you mean, or check that the data is in the workspace you’re in.
It measured the wrong thing. Say what the number should mean. The Librarian may build a table with the right measure and offer Save this table as a view. Saving it is your call.
The dates are off. Give exact dates. Curio’s data stops in September 2025, so a question about this month finds nothing.
It can’t find data you know is there. Check the workspace switcher. The data may live in a workspace you’re not looking at.
You wanted a chart, not a paragraph. Ask in a project, or click the Librarian’s offer to take it to one.
Next steps
Section titled “Next steps”- Check an answer before you share it: make sure a number is right before it leaves Querri.
- How Querri answers a question: why an answer reads from a view, a KPI or your tables.
- Chat and the Librarian: everything in the chat panel.