Getting Started

Use the In-App Chat Assistant

Chat with the ClearSpan AI engineer agent to read, create, and run calculations from your browser.

ClearSpan includes an AI engineer assistant you can chat with right inside the web app. It works against your live ClearSpan workspace, so it can read your projects, create and update calculations, and run the solvers for you — no MCP setup required.

Who can use it#

The engineer assistant is for organization members (engineers and other org staff), not clients. Your account also needs to be associated with a firm — firm-assigned staff, plus individual and beta engineers, are supported. If your account has no firm, the assistant returns an error asking for a firm-assigned account.

What it can do#

The assistant runs a Claude model with ClearSpan's calc tools wired in server-side, so it can take real actions rather than just answer questions:

  • Read your projects and calculations.
  • Create projects and calcs.
  • Run the wood beam and wood post solvers.
  • Work within your existing projects to get a calc moving.

Its tools run server-side and are scoped to your firm, so it only ever touches work you have access to.

Note

The assistant works within existing projects and calcs. For full manual control over a calculation — member selection, the section sweep, deflection limits — use the editors described in Beam Design & Analysis.

Start a conversation#

  1. Open the chat assistant from the ClearSpan home page or the Assistant History page.
  2. Type what you want in plain language — for example, "Create a wood beam calc on the Maple St. project and run a 14-foot 4x12."
  3. Send the message. The assistant streams its response, showing the tools it calls and the text it writes as it works.

You can attach files (drawings, PDFs, spreadsheets) to a turn so the assistant can read them. See Chat Attachments for accepted file types and limits, and Chat Streaming for how live responses render.

Where your history lives#

Every conversation is saved. Open Assistant History (the /chat-history page) to:

  • Browse past conversations, grouped into Today, This Week, and Earlier.
  • Open a conversation to view its full transcript and resume it.
  • Start a fresh conversation with New chat.

See Chat History for the full details.

Warning

Resuming a conversation replays the whole transcript to the assistant, which uses more of your AI allowance than starting fresh. When you do not need the prior context, start a new chat to save usage.

Usage and limits#

Assistant usage draws on your AI allowance, and conversations have a per-message length cap and a turn limit. If you hit a budget or rate limit, the assistant tells you and you can try again shortly. See AI Budget for how allowances work and AI Troubleshooting when something goes wrong.

Next steps#