Agent Modes

Global Agent offers three modes that balance speed and depth of analysis: Fast, Default, and Investigate. Choose the mode based on your question's complexity and how quickly you need an answer.

Fast mode

Fast mode delivers quick answers to straightforward questions in 2-10 seconds.

When to use Fast mode

Use Fast mode for:

• Quick lookups and simple questions.
• Reading data from existing charts without modifications.
• Basic context queries (event names, properties, definitions).
• Checking current metric values.
• Simple comparisons on existing data.

How Fast mode works

Fast mode uses direct data queries with minimal exploration. It's limited to 2-4 tool calls and focuses on answering your immediate question. This mode performs minimal taxonomy exploration, which keeps responses fast but less comprehensive.

Limitations

Fast mode has several limitations:

• It doesn't create new charts or complex analyses.
• It's less thorough in exploring alternative interpretations.
• It may not discover related insights.
• It works best for straightforward, well-defined questions.

Example questions for Fast mode

• "What's the current DAU?"
• "How many users are in this cohort?"
• "What does this metric measure?"

Default mode (recommended)

Default mode is the recommended choice for most use cases. It balances speed with analytical depth, typically responding in 30-60 seconds.

When to use Default mode

Use Default mode for:

• Most analytical questions.
• Creating new charts and analyses.
• Modifying existing charts (filters, segments, time ranges).
• Multi-chart comparisons.
• Questions requiring data exploration.
• Understanding trends and patterns.

How Default mode works

Default mode balances speed with analytical depth. It uses 4-6 tool calls on average and searches for existing relevant work before creating new content. This mode can create charts, run queries, and explore your taxonomy while providing context-aware insights.

Capabilities

Default mode can:

• Create new visualizations from natural language.
• Modify chart parameters (metrics, intervals, segments).
• Compare data across dimensions.
• Discover and use relevant events and properties.
• Suggest logical follow-up questions.

Example questions for Default mode

• "Show me weekly active users for the last quarter."
• "Compare conversion rates between mobile and web."
• "Why did retention drop last month?"
• "Create a funnel from signup to first purchase."

Investigate mode

Investigate mode performs deep research on complex questions. It takes 4-5 minutes to deliver comprehensive analysis.

When to use Investigate mode

Use Investigate mode for:

• Complex analytical investigations.
• Root cause analysis.
• Multi-dimensional trend analysis.
• Anomaly investigation requiring extensive exploration.
• Questions needing thorough, comprehensive research.
• Strategic decision support.

How Investigate mode works

Investigate mode performs comprehensive, multi-step analysis using up to 10 or more tool calls. It conducts extensive taxonomy exploration, tests multiple hypotheses, explores data from multiple angles, and synthesizes findings into detailed insights.

Capabilities

Investigate mode can:

• Deep-dive into complex patterns.
• Explore multiple potential explanations.
• Perform comprehensive segmentation analysis.
• Identify non-obvious correlations.
• Provide strategic recommendations.

Trade-offs

Investigate mode requires a longer response time (4-5 minutes). Use it sparingly for truly complex questions. Simple queries don’t require the same level of analysis that Investigation mode provides.

Example questions for Investigate mode

• "Conduct a deep analysis of why our conversion rate dropped 15% in Q3."
• "Investigate what's driving the spike in churn among enterprise customers."
• "Thoroughly analyze user engagement patterns across all platforms and segments."
• "What are all the factors contributing to our retention improvement?"

Mode comparison

Choosing the right mode

Start with Default mode if you're unsure. It handles most questions and provides a good balance of speed and depth.

Use Investigate mode when

• Default mode's answer prompts deeper questions.
• You need comprehensive analysis for important decisions.
• The question involves "why" with multiple potential factors.
• You're investigating unexpected changes or anomalies.

Use Fast mode when

• You just need a quick number or fact.
• You're already looking at the right chart.
• Time is critical and you need immediate answers.
• The question is purely informational (no analysis needed).

Decision guide

Follow this decision process to choose the right mode:

1. Is your question simple and factual?

   • If yes, use Fast mode
   • If no, continue to step 2

2. Does it require creating charts or moderate analysis?

   • If yes, use Default mode
   • If no, continue to step 3

3. Does it require deep investigation across multiple dimensions?

   • If yes, use Investigate mode
   • If no, use Default mode (safest choice)

How modes behave

All modes share these characteristics:

• They respect your current context (chart, dashboard, page).
• They provide evidence-based answers with links to supporting data.
• They follow your organization's AI context settings.

You can switch modes mid-conversation if you need different depth. To improve efficiency, Amplitude recommends being intentional about using Investigate mode. Not every question requires the depth it provides.