Working with Argus
Argus is SCL’s AI research assistant. Based on the request you type in a conversation, it sets up populations and studies, and reads and interprets the responses of synthetic consumers (personas). This page explains how to use Argus in your day-to-day work; for an overview, see What is Argus?.
Working with Argus
Shows how to send a request with a file attached on the Argus page and how to read the cards in the reply and the approval card. You then see how to edit a message and switch between versions, search for and rename a conversation on the Conversations page, and open the Argus window from another page.
Starting a conversation
- Click Argus in the sidebar. If you come from another page, an empty conversation opens; your earlier conversations are on the Conversations page, linked at the top right.
- Type your request in the Tell me what you want to research… box (up to 5,000 characters).
- If needed, attach files with the paperclip icon (Attach a file).
- To send, press Enter or click the send button.
To start a new line, press Shift+Enter. On a phone, Enter starts a new line; tap the button to send.
While Argus works, a status line shows what it is doing (such as “Thinking” or “Fetching results”). After 8 seconds, the line also shows the elapsed time; if the work takes longer than a minute, the note “This is taking a while. You can wait or stop it.” appears below it. You can keep typing in the meantime; your message waits with the note “Queued — will send when the agent is free”. To interrupt the work, click Stop, which appears in place of the send button.
For a new topic, click the new conversation icon next to Conversations at the top right. If you’re continuing with the same topic, stay in the conversation; Argus knows the studies it has read and the information you’ve given it in this conversation.
The settings icon in the message box (Choose model) changes the AI tier: Luna, Medium (the default) and High. The menu shows only the tiers available at that moment.
Writing a good request
Argus asks for missing information, but a complete request means fewer questions and a study that is closer to your decision. Include these four things in your request:
| Information | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Context | Product, brand, pack size, current price | “Our brand’s 1 kg filter coffee, ₺450 on the shelf” |
| Target audience | Whose answers matter | “25–45-year-olds living in a big city who buy coffee at least once a week” |
| Decision | What you’ll do with the result | “We’ll decide whether to raise the price to ₺500” |
| Constraints | Number of personas, price range, population | “400 personas is enough; use the population we created last month” |
- If a new population is needed, Argus asks about the target audience once, offering example definitions. It asks at most two questions in a message.
- To leave a choice to Argus, write “you suggest” or “you decide”; Argus makes the decision and tells you what it chose.
- If the product and target audience haven’t changed, ask Argus to use an existing population; this is faster.
- Argus replies in the language of your last message (Turkish or English). It doesn’t answer requests unrelated to market research and SCL (such as code, homework or translation).
- You only need to tell Argus your brand, category and target audience once; it remembers them in later conversations. If you’re a member of an organisation, this information is shared with your organisation. To make Argus forget something, tell it.
Example requests
| Goal | Example request |
|---|---|
| Setting up a study | “Set up a 400-persona pricing study for our new plant-based milk. Price range: ₺60–90.” |
| Summarising results | “Summarise the results of my last pricing study; what was the optimal price?” |
| Breakdown | “Break down question 1 by income group.” |
| Comparison | “Compare my March and June surveys; which options changed?” |
| Desk research | “Research current shelf prices and leading brands in capsule coffee.” |
| Presentation | “Make a presentation from the studies you’ve read in this conversation.” |
| Research programme | “Run a research programme for the launch of our new energy drink.” |
| Past work | “What did we find in last month’s coffee pricing study?” |
For presentations and research programmes, see Strategy reports and presentations.
Attaching files
Click the paperclip icon (Attach a file) and choose one or more files; they are sent with your message.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Image types | PNG, JPG, JPEG, WebP |
| Document types | PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, CSV, TXT |
| Size | Up to 15 MB per file |
| Number | Up to 10 files per message |
- You can attach packaging and shelf photos, ad visuals, price lists, reports and survey data. Argus examines images and can read documents (up to about 120 pages) throughout the conversation. To have Argus read a long document in full, write “read the whole file”.
- Attach briefs longer than 5,000 characters as a file instead of pasting them in. You can’t attach video files.
- You can still send a document marked “no text extracted”, but Argus can’t read the text inside it.
Reading replies
- The collapsed line above a reply (such as “4 steps · Fetched results, Computed crossbreak …”) lists the work Argus did; click it to expand it.
- Data cards such as breakdowns and comparisons arrive collapsed. To open one, click its title row starting with “▸”. The “n=” in the title is the count the card is based on.
- When Argus asks a question with options, click one of the answers below it; that text is sent as your answer.
| Card | What it shows | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Breakdown | Splits the answers to a question by a dimension such as income group or age; shows the 5 most-chosen options in each group. | “low n” means the group has fewer than 30 personas; read these percentages as directional only. The first 6 groups are visible; the rest are in the “+N more groups” row. |
| Comparison | Places two studies run with the same method side by side, question by question; shows two bars and a difference for each option. | The difference is in percentage points: the percentage in the second study named in the title minus the percentage in the first. The number has no % sign; ↑ means higher in the second study, ↓ means lower. The bars are labelled with the first letter of each study’s name. Only questions with exactly the same text are compared; 5 questions are visible, the rest are in the “+N more questions” row. |
| Segment comparison | Gives the average willingness to pay (WTP) of each segment across multiple Price Analysis studies in one table; each study is a column. | The title reads “Segment comparison — …”, and the first column is headed with a technical name (e.g. “income_group”). “—” means no one in that group took part in that study. This card has no “low n” flag. |
| Study summary | Shows up to 6 key figures for a study in tiles. Multiple-Choice Survey studies also show Distribution bars, and Price Analysis studies show Price acceptance bars. | Tiles use technical names (e.g. “avg_wtp” for average WTP, “optimal_price” for the optimal price). Price acceptance shows only the 5 highest prices; open the report to see all prices. |
| Chart and table | A chart or table that Argus draws from the study data. | If it says “illustrative”, Argus wrote the numbers itself; ask it to redraw it from the study data before you make a decision. Truncated charts and tables say “Showing … of … rows”. |
| Task list | Argus’s to-do list for multi-step work; completed steps are ticked off. | On the Argus page on wide screens, it opens from a button at the top right such as “Tasks 2/5” (completed/total steps) instead of in the conversation. |
Results are the responses of personas, not of real consumers. Keep Accuracy and limitations in mind when you interpret them.
Actions Argus proposes
During setup, Argus shows draft cards that update as it works: Population draft and Survey design. The Missing: row shows the information Argus is waiting for. In Fashion and Ad Testing drafts, the Estimated cost row also shows the study’s credit estimate; General Research drafts don’t have this row. As a draft updates, its earlier versions fold into a “Design updated (N times)” row.
For multi-step work, Argus also keeps a Task list card; completed steps are ticked off. As the card updates, its earlier versions fold into a “Task list updated (N times)” row.
Before Argus creates a population or starts a study, it shows an approval card above the message box. The card’s title names the action, such as Create the population or Launch the study. For Fashion and Ad Testing studies that Argus starts from the conversation, the card also has a Credits to spend row showing the estimated cost; cards for General Research studies show no amount.
- Approve and launch or Approve runs the action.
- Not now closes the card.
- The card is valid for 30 minutes.
- After you approve, a status card appears in the conversation; View → on the card opens the population or study.
For approval rules and Autopilot, see Approvals and Autopilot.
Chatting, having Argus read results, and asking for charts and tables don’t spend credits. Credits are spent on actions you approve, for example when you start a study; see Credits for details.
Getting notified when work finishes
Population generation and studies run in the background. When the work finishes, Argus tells you in the same conversation (for example, “Background job finished: …”); this message is posted to the conversation even if you’ve closed the page or the browser.
- On wide screens, while background work is running, the In the field N button at the top right of the Argus page lists the work in progress.
- On other pages, the Argus button in the bottom-right corner shows the status: Needs approval, Working in the background, N studies running or the study’s progress percentage. A dot on the button means there’s a new message you haven’t read.
- When one study is running, the button opens that study’s progress screen; when more than one is running, it lists the running studies. To open the conversation at this point, press Ctrl + J (⌘ + J on Mac).
The Argus page and the Argus window
Argus works in two places: on the Argus page in the sidebar, and in the Argus window, which you open with the round button in the bottom-right corner of other pages. Both do the same things and use the same conversations.
| Aspect | Argus page | Argus window |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | Argus in the sidebar | The button in the bottom-right corner or Ctrl + J (⌘ + J on Mac) |
| Current page | — | Reads the page if you want it to, and can fill in an open form for you |
| History | Conversations | Clock icon: Past conversations (last 20) |
| Size | Full page | Maximize and Back to panel (desktop) |
An empty window shows suggestions such as “What can I do on this page?” and “Summarize the results”; on a study’s progress screen, the suggestions change to fit that study. Closing the window (Close, Esc or Ctrl + J) doesn’t stop work in progress; to stop it, click Stop.
Conversation history
The Conversations page lists your conversations under Today, Yesterday and Older. Each row shows the study set up in the conversation (if any), the population size (“400 people”) and the time of the last update. A dot next to the title means the research programme report is ready.
- The Search conversations box searches titles, conversation summaries and messages. For older conversations, click Show more.
- To go back to a conversation, click its row; the conversation opens where you left off. New conversation opens an empty conversation.
- Titles are assigned automatically after the first exchange.
- Your conversations are visible only to you.
To rename or delete a conversation:
- Hover over the row; the pencil and bin icons appear.
- To rename it, click the pencil icon (Rename), type the new name (up to 120 characters) and press Enter.
- To delete it, click the bin icon (Delete) and choose Delete again in the dialog that opens.
You can do the same from the Past conversations list in the Argus window.
Editing messages and versions
- Hover over one of your own messages and click the pencil icon (Edit message).
- Change the text and click Save (Cancel discards the change). Argus replies again from that point.
- To switch between versions, hover over the message and use the arrows on the “1/2” counter that appears below it (Previous version, Next version).
While Argus is replying, editing messages and switching versions are disabled.
Feedback and problems
When you hover over one of Argus’s replies, the Copy message, Helpful and Not helpful icons appear. To change your rating, click the other icon.
If a reply ends with an error, a button appears below it depending on the situation:
- If the reply was cut off, click Continue.
- If you see the warning “This chat has outgrown the model; start a new chat.”, click Start a new chat.
- For other errors, click Try again.
The warning “Daily copilot usage limit reached.” means the daily limit has been reached; the limit resets every day at 03:00 Türkiye time (UTC+3). For other issues, see Support and troubleshooting.