Bilbo

Product Introduction

1. Bilbo is an AI agent designed to integrate with Metabase, enabling teams to interact with their data through natural language processing without requiring SQL or technical expertise. It translates plain English queries into structured database requests, automates data visualization, and provides instant insights through a user-friendly interface. The tool operates as a Chrome extension, allowing seamless access within existing workflows while maintaining compatibility with Metabase’s analytics platform. Its primary function is to democratize data exploration across organizations by removing coding barriers.

2. The core value of Bilbo lies in transforming non-technical users into self-sufficient data analysts, accelerating decision-making by eliminating dependencies on engineering or analytics teams. It empowers teams to generate complex queries, charts, and reports in real time using conversational language, directly aligning data accessibility with business agility. By embedding shared team context into its AI model, Bilbo ensures consistent interpretations of metrics and terminology across departments. This reduces miscommunication and optimizes collaboration around data-driven outcomes.

Main Features

1. Bilbo enables natural language queries by parsing plain English requests (e.g., “how many sales did we have last week?”) and converting them into optimized SQL or Metabase API calls. The AI dynamically adapts to an organization’s unique data schema, including table relationships, metric definitions, and naming conventions, ensuring accurate translations without manual configuration. Users can request specific visualization formats (e.g., “show subscribers over time in a bar chart”) and receive instant, shareable outputs.

2. The tool integrates directly with Metabase instances, both cloud-hosted and self-managed, through secure API connections. It leverages existing Metabase permissions and data governance policies, ensuring compliance with organizational security standards. Bilbo’s Chrome extension embeds the AI directly into users’ browsers, enabling one-click access to data queries during meetings, presentations, or routine workflows without switching platforms.

3. Bilbo utilizes shared team context to standardize data interpretations, automatically referencing predefined business glossaries, KPIs, and calculation logic. This feature prevents discrepancies in metric definitions (e.g., “active users” vs. “paid users”) across departments. The AI also logs frequently asked questions and historical queries, allowing teams to build reusable templates and accelerate repetitive reporting tasks.

Problems Solved

1. Bilbo addresses the bottleneck of relying on engineers or data specialists for basic-to-intermediate data requests, which delays decision-making and diverts technical resources. Non-technical teams often struggle to extract insights due to SQL complexity or Metabase’s native interface limitations, leading to incomplete or outdated analyses. Bilbo eliminates these friction points by providing a zero-code interface that mirrors natural communication patterns.

2. The product targets marketing, product management, content, and operational teams that require frequent data access but lack coding skills. Executives and project managers also benefit from real-time metrics during strategic discussions without waiting for formal reports. Bilbo is particularly valuable for startups and scale-ups prioritizing rapid, data-informed iterations across departments.

3. Typical use cases include generating campaign performance dashboards during marketing meetings, tracking user growth trends for investor updates, and monitoring feature adoption metrics in product sprints. For example, a product manager can instantly query “weekly retention rates for users who completed onboarding” mid-meeting, while a content team might visualize “blog post conversions by topic” without engineering support.

Unique Advantages

1. Unlike generic BI assistants, Bilbo is purpose-built for Metabase, ensuring deeper integration with its metadata, permissions framework, and visualization engine. Competitors often require manual schema mapping or lack platform-specific optimizations, whereas Bilbo auto-detects Metabase’s data structure for immediate usability. This specialization enables support for advanced Metabase features like pulses, alerts, and embedded dashboards.

2. The AI incorporates organizational context natively, referencing team-specific definitions (e.g., “revenue” as defined in internal playbooks) during query processing. This contextual awareness reduces the training time and ambiguity seen in broader AI tools. Additionally, Bilbo’s Chrome extension uniquely embeds the assistant directly into users’ browsing environments, enabling instant data access during routine tasks like reviewing CRM tools or collaborative documents.

3. Competitive advantages include one-click deployment for Metabase users, real-time collaboration features for shared queries, and granular cost control through a free tier with scalable premium plans. Bilbo’s architecture prioritizes data security by processing sensitive information locally via Metabase’s APIs rather than storing external copies. It also outperforms general-purpose chatbots in handling nested queries (e.g., “compare last week’s sales to the 3-month average, excluding test accounts”) due to its Metabase-specific training.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. How is my data handled? Bilbo processes queries through your Metabase instance’s API without storing raw data externally; all interactions comply with your existing Metabase permissions and data governance policies. Sensitive information remains within your infrastructure, and the AI only retains anonymized query patterns to improve response accuracy.

2. Does it work with self-hosted Metabase instances? Yes, Bilbo supports both cloud-hosted (Metabase Cloud) and self-hosted Metabase deployments through secure API connections. For self-hosted instances, ensure your Metabase server is accessible via HTTPS and has API endpoints enabled in the settings.

3. How do I start using Bilbo? Install the Bilbo Chrome extension, connect it to your Metabase instance by entering your API credentials, and configure team context settings (e.g., key metrics, data definitions). The onboarding process includes a guided walkthrough for schema synchronization and permission mapping.