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Time: 8 minutes | Level: Beginner
Prerequisites: Understanding Widgets

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What You’ll Learn

  • What Ask Peanuts is and how it works
  • 10 starter questions to try
  • When to use Ask Peanuts vs. widgets
  • Understanding credit usage

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What is Ask Peanuts?

Ask Peanuts is your AI assistant that answers questions about your data. Instead of manually calculating or searching through entries, just ask in plain English. Examples:
  • “How much did I spend on food this week?”
  • “What was my longest workout?”
  • “Show me all expenses over $50”
Peanuts analyzes your entries and gives you a direct answer—often with a chart or summary.

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How to Use Ask Peanuts

1

From Home (Global) or inside a Helper (Scoped)

  • From Home: Type a question in the Unified Input — it spans all Helpers
  • From a Helper: Type a question in the Helper’s input — it focuses on that Helper’s data
2

Type your question

Write naturally, like you’re asking a person:
How much did I spend on coffee this month?
3

Input transitions to chat mode

The input expands, and the conversation appears inline below it.
4

Get your answer

Peanuts responds with:
  • A direct answer (“You spent $47.50 on coffee this month”)
  • Supporting details if helpful
  • Sometimes a chart or table

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10 Starter Questions to Try

Summaries

  • “What’s my total spending this month?”
  • “How many workouts did I do last week?”
  • “What’s my average expense amount?”

Lookups

  • “Show me all expenses over $50”
  • “What did I log yesterday?”
  • “Find my grocery expenses”

Patterns

  • “What’s my biggest spending category?”
  • “Which day do I spend the most?”
  • “Am I spending more or less than last month?”

Comparisons

  • “Compare this week to last week”

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What Peanuts Can Answer

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✅ Great For

Question TypeExample
Totals & sums”Total spending this month”
Averages”Average workout duration”
Counts”How many entries this week”
Filters”Expenses over $100”
Date ranges”What did I spend in January”
Comparisons”This month vs last month”
Finding entries”When did I last buy groceries”
Patterns”What day do I usually work out”

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⚠️ Not Great For

  • Predictions: “How much will I spend next month?” (Peanuts reports facts, doesn’t predict)
  • Advice: “Should I spend less on food?” (Peanuts doesn’t judge)
  • External data: “What’s the weather today?” (Peanuts only knows your logged data)

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Understanding Answers

Peanuts answers come with context: 
You spent $342.50 on food this month across 23 purchases.
That's 45% of your total spending ($761.00).

Top food expenses:
1. Whole Foods - $89.50
2. Chipotle - $45.00
3. Starbucks - $38.50
What to look for:
  • Direct answer first — The number you asked for
  • Context — Percentages, comparisons, counts
  • Details — Breakdown when helpful
If an answer seems off, check your entries! Peanuts can only work with what you’ve logged.

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Ask Peanuts vs. Widgets

When should you use which?
Use Widgets When…Use Ask Peanuts When…
You check the same thing regularlyYou have a one-time question
You want it visible at a glanceYou need a specific answer
It’s a standard metric (total, count)You need a custom calculation
You want to track trends over timeYou want to compare specific periods
Rule of thumb: If you’d ask the same question every day, make it a widget. For everything else, Ask Peanuts.

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Credit Usage

Each Ask Peanuts question costs 1 credit.
Make your questions count:
  • Be specific: “How much on food this week?” beats “How much did I spend?”
  • Combine related asks: “What’s my total spending and top category this month?”
  • Use widgets for things you check repeatedly

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Voice Responses

You can have Peanuts read answers aloud:
  • Tap the 🔊 speaker icon on any answer
  • Costs an additional 12 credits for text-to-speech
  • Great for hands-free situations

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Cross-Helper Questions (From Home)

When you Ask Peanuts from the Home screen instead of inside a Helper, you can ask questions that span all your data: 
How did my spending compare to my income this month?
This works if you have both an Expense Tracker and an Income Tracker. Other cross-helper examples:
  • “Am I working out on days I spend less?”
  • “Show me everything I logged yesterday across all trackers”

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AI Outputs Sync to Shoebox

When Ask Peanuts generates content (charts, reports, documents), it’s:
  1. Saved to AI Outputs (Settings → AI Outputs)
  2. Synced to your Shoebox automatically
This means generated invoices and reports appear alongside your regular captures in the Shoebox.

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Exercise

Practice: Ask 5 Questions

Using your Expense Tracker, ask these questions:
  1. “How much did I spend in total?”
  2. “What’s my biggest expense?”
  3. “How many purchases did I make?”
  4. “Show me all expenses over $10”
  5. “What’s my average expense amount?”
Bonus: Think of a question specific to your data that none of the widgets answer, and ask it!

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Key Takeaways

Remember:
  • Ask Peanuts answers questions about your data
  • Type questions in the Unified Input — it smoothly transitions to chat
  • Be specific for better answers
  • Use from Home for cross-Helper insights
  • Each question costs 1 credit
  • Widgets are better for things you check repeatedly

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🎉 Beginner Track Complete!

Congratulations! You’ve finished all 5 beginner tutorials. You now know how to:
  • ✅ Log entries in multiple ways
  • ✅ Create and customize Helpers
  • ✅ Read and interpret widgets
  • ✅ Ask questions about your data

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Next Steps

Customizing Helpers

Start the Intermediate track: Go deeper on fields, layouts, and settings

Voice and Hands-Free

Master voice logging and hands-free mode