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Working with the agent

Set up the agent

The agent has the same capabilities whichever path you choose — what differs is where the model runs and how you authenticate. Pick BYOK for provider control, built-in for zero setup, or MCP to drive Recense from Claude or ChatGPT.

The three paths #

BYOK
Your API key, calls go directly from your browser to the provider. Best for individual users who want provider and model control.
Hosted
Recense-managed agent, no key required. Best for teams who want zero-setup AI with usage metering.
MCP
External assistant (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, ChatGPT) controls your session. Best for users who want AI assistant integration from their desktop app or IDE.

What the agent can do #

  • Describe the dataset structure, variables, and metadata.
  • Build and modify tables on the canvas.
  • Apply filters, weights, and measures.
  • Interpret results and explain statistical output.
  • Assist with text coding workflows.

Proactive review (optional) #

Recense can also review a project in the background and surface findings — conflicts, stale assumptions, missing evidence, gaps, noteworthy changes, suggested next analyses — as cards you can act on or dismiss. It is off until you turn it on for a project in Settings → Proactive AI.

  • Turning it on requires consent to the specific provider and model it will use, either the hosted route or your own key.
  • Spend is bounded: proactive reviews can use at most a set share of your monthly hosted credits (20% by default, never more than your organisation allows), and each review reserves its worst case before it runs.
  • Choose a delivery cadence, or pause automatic review on this device without changing the project setting.

One behaviour model #

The in-app agent and MCP tools act on the same session. Prompts, tools, and visible state stay aligned regardless of which path you use.

Before you start #

  • Sign in so your plan and access level can be resolved.
  • Open a dataset before expecting useful AI output.
  • For MCP workflows, keep the Recense browser tab open — the AI assistant needs to connect to your live session.

Detailed setup #

  • BYOK setup — add your own Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, or Fireworks key.
  • Hosted agent — use the built-in agent with no key management.
  • MCP setup — connect Claude Code, Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, or custom clients.

Next steps