Observr
Observr reads how your search is used and tells you what to do about it. Each morning it looks over a dataset's search statistics and puts what is worth your attention on the dataset's Status page: searches that found nothing, results nobody clicks, a field that would serve better searchable, a synonym your visitors need. Each finding comes with the change that would fix it, and a Yes carries the change out.
Observr is in early access: it is part of the Pro and Enterprise subscriptions and supported as any part of Indx, and what it reports and proposes will grow as we learn from the first teams using it. It runs as a service at Indx; your Indx Server sends it summaries of its statistics and carries out what you say yes to. Observr never changes anything on its own.
What It Does
- A daily report. Every morning, for each dataset it watches, Observr reads the last week's statistics and writes up what stands out. Each item becomes a finding on the dataset's Status page.
- Buttons where the questions are. In a dataset's tabs, Observr answers about the thing in front of you:
| Tab | Button | What Observr looks at |
|---|---|---|
Statistics | Why nothing? | A search that found nothing: what the search does find with looser matching, and what each word finds alone |
Statistics | Why isn't this working? | A search visitors make often and rarely click: the results it gives and what the few who clicked chose |
Statistics | Did this help? | A change you made: the week before against the week after |
Fields | Review my setup | Your field roles and weights, against what the fields hold and what visitors search for |
Synonyms | Suggest synonyms | The searches that found nothing and the ones that only found something by fuzzy matching |
Search or ask | Help me set this up | Your records and searches, for the settings Search or ask needs |
- The Agent panel. Ask Observr anything about your datasets, in your own words. It can look things up as it answers: search a dataset, read its statistics and settings. You have one conversation with it, wherever you are in the console.
Findings, and Saying Yes
A finding says what Observr saw and, when there is something to change, the change. On the dataset's Status page and on the team's Observr page:
- Yes carries the change out, through the same paths the console uses, so it is recorded like any change you make yourself. With several changes in one finding, untick the ones you do not want: "Yes, 2 of 3" carries out the two and declines the third.
- No closes the finding and changes nothing.
- Discuss opens the Agent panel with the finding, to ask about it before you decide.
- Hide takes it off the page.
What a Yes can change: synonyms, field roles and weights, the dataset's query parameters, and Search or ask settings. A field change that needs a rebuild runs as any rebuild does, with the old index serving until the new one is ready. A Yes never switches a feature on, never touches a budget, and never changes a dataset you did not ask about. When a change cannot be carried out, the finding says why and stays open.
Turning It On
Three switches, each with its owner:
- The instance. An admin turns on Observr on this instance under Admin > Observr. The page shows whether the instance's licence includes Observr. Off, nothing of Observr is shown and nothing is sent.
- The datasets. On the team's Observr page, Datasets, an editor chooses which datasets Observr watches, and for each how often it reports: every day, every Monday, or never.
- The buttons. On the same page, whether Observr's buttons show in a dataset's tabs.
A dataset Observr does not watch sends nothing, and its tabs show no Observr buttons.
The Allowance
A licence may ask Observr 1,000 times a calendar month, and at most 100 times in one day. Each button, each question in the Agent panel and each daily report is one ask. Admin > Observr shows what is left; the Agent panel says so when a tenth of the month remains. When the month's asks are used, Observr answers again on the first of the next month; when the day's are, at midnight UTC. Findings already made stay on their pages either way.
Enterprise contracts can carry a different allowance. It is set at Indx, and your server follows it from the next ask.
What Is Sent
Observr reads summaries, not your data. Your server builds what each ask needs and sends that; the records themselves stay on your server.
| What | When |
|---|---|
What visitors searched for, with counts: the top searches, the ones that found nothing, the ones rarely clicked, and the questions Search or ask could not answer, as they were typed | Daily report, Statistics buttons, Suggest synonyms, Search or ask setup |
Record names: the value of the field that names a record (up to 120 characters), for the results a search gave and the records visitors chose | Most asks |
About your fields: names, roles, how many records fill them, and for a field whose values repeat, its eight commonest values (each up to 80 characters) | Review my setup, Search or ask setup, the Agent panel |
Your own settings and text: the dataset's description, synonyms, query parameters, Search or ask settings including its Knowledge text | When an ask is about them |
What you type in the Agent panel, and what Observr's tools look up for that question | The Agent panel |
What is never sent: whole records, and who a visitor is. No session, no visitor id, no IP address of a visitor and no email leaves your server for Observr. Visitors' search texts do, as typed, so a visitor who types a name or an email into your search sends it to Observr in the next report; the same holds for whatever you type in the Agent panel.
Observr runs at Indx in Microsoft Azure, Norway East. Its answers are written by Anthropic's Claude, reached through OpenRouter's EU service, so what an ask sends is processed in the EU. Observr keeps each ask's question and answer, what it cost, and which installation asked; the evidence itself is passed to the model and not kept. See GDPR & Privacy.
Questions
Does Observr learn from our data? No. Nothing your instance sends trains a model, at Indx or at Anthropic. Observr's instructions are written by Indx and are the same for every customer.
Can we see what was sent? Indx Server is open source: what each button and report sends is built in IndxServer/Services/Observr, where anyone can read it.
What happens when Observr cannot be reached? The buttons say so, the console carries on as before, and the daily report is tried again every hour until it goes through.