Data Insights and Connectors: Query Your App Data with Natural Language

Ask Questions, Get Answers

Most apps are built to display data. But what happens when you want to ask a question that the interface was not designed for? "What were the top 5 products last month?" "Which region had the highest growth?" "Show me customers who signed up but never made a purchase."

Traditionally, answering these questions means writing SQL queries, building custom reports, or exporting data to a spreadsheet. Data Insights changes that. Ask questions in plain English, and GenMB translates them to queries, executes them, and returns results — with visualization suggestions.

How Data Insights Works

Data Insights is an AI-powered query layer that sits on top of your app's data:

1. Ask a question in natural language

Type your question the way you would ask a colleague:

"What were the top 5 selling products last month?"

"How many new users signed up each week this quarter?"

"Show me orders over $500 from returning customers."

2. AI translates to a query

GenMB's AI understands your data schema and translates your natural language question into the appropriate query. It knows your tables, fields, relationships, and data types.

3. Query executes and returns results

The query runs against your data source, and results are returned in a clean, formatted view. Tables for tabular data, numbers for aggregations, lists for collections.

4. Visualization is suggested

Based on the query results, GenMB suggests the best visualization:

• Bar charts for comparisons across categories
• Line charts for trends over time
• Pie charts for proportional breakdowns
• Tables for detailed record views
• Single numbers for KPI metrics

One click adds the suggested visualization to your app as a component.

Visualization Suggestions

The AI does not just return raw data — it understands what you are looking at and recommends the right way to see it:

Time-series data gets a line chart suggestion. Monthly revenue over the past year? Line chart with trend line.

Category comparisons get a bar chart. Sales by product category? Horizontal bar chart, sorted by value.

Proportional data gets a pie or donut chart. Market share by region? Pie chart with percentage labels.

Record lists get a sortable table. All orders above a threshold? Table with columns, filtering, and pagination.

Each suggestion is one click away from becoming a permanent component in your app. Build dashboards by asking questions and accepting visualization suggestions.

Data Connectors and SDK

Data Insights works with your app's built-in data, but many apps need data from external sources. Data Connectors provide a secure way to connect external APIs, databases, and services.

The Data SDK

GenMB provides a Data SDK that your app can use to connect to external data sources:

• REST APIs with authentication
• Database connections (via secure proxy)
• Third-party services (analytics platforms, CRMs, payment processors)

Backend Proxy

All external data requests go through GenMB's backend proxy. Your app never makes direct connections to external services from the client side. This means:

• API keys and credentials stay on the server
• Requests are authenticated and validated
• Rate limiting protects both your app and the external service
• Connection errors are handled gracefully

Schema Awareness

When you connect an external data source, GenMB caches the schema (fields, types, relationships) so the AI can write accurate queries. The schema cache updates periodically to reflect changes in your data structure.

Security: HMAC Auth and Rate Limiting

Data Connectors handle sensitive information — API keys, database credentials, and business data. Security is built in at every layer:

HMAC Authentication

Every request between your app and the Data SDK backend is authenticated using HMAC (Hash-based Message Authentication Code). Requests are signed with a secret key, ensuring that only your app can access your data connections. Tampered requests are rejected.

Schema Caching

Data source schemas are cached server-side. Your app receives only the data it requests, never raw schema information or connection details. The cache reduces load on external services and speeds up query translation.

Rate Limiting

Data queries are rate-limited to prevent abuse:

• Per-user limits to prevent runaway queries
• Per-app limits to protect external services
• Global limits for platform stability

Keys Never in Client Code

API keys, database credentials, and authentication tokens are stored server-side and never appear in your app's client code. The backend proxy handles all authenticated requests. Even if someone inspects your app's source code, they cannot extract credentials.

Use Cases

Business Dashboards

Ask questions about your business data and build dashboards from the answers. "Show me revenue by month" becomes a line chart. "Top customers by lifetime value" becomes a sorted table. Build a complete analytics dashboard through conversation.

Customer Analytics

Connect your user database and ask questions about behavior. "How many users completed onboarding last week?" "What is the average session duration by platform?" "Which feature has the highest adoption rate?"

Inventory Management

Connect inventory systems and query stock levels naturally. "Which products are below reorder threshold?" "Show me inventory turnover by category this quarter." "What is the projected stockout date for our top 10 items?"

Financial Reporting

Connect payment processors and accounting systems. "What was total revenue last quarter?" "Show me refund rate by product." "Compare this month's expenses to budget." Generate reports that would normally require a data analyst.

Pro Feature

Data Insights and Data Connectors are available on the Pro plan. Free users can browse their app's data in basic table views, but natural language queries, visualization suggestions, and external data connectors require Pro.

Pro plan Data Insights includes:

• Unlimited natural language queries
• Visualization suggestions with one-click add
• Up to 10 external data connections
• HMAC-authenticated backend proxy
• Schema caching and management

Getting Started

1. Open any app with data and navigate to the Data Insights panel
2. Type a question about your data in plain English
3. Review the results and suggested visualization
4. Click to add the visualization as a component in your app
5. To connect external data, open Data Connectors and add a new source
6. Configure authentication and map the schema
7. Query your external data the same way — natural language, instant results

Stop writing queries. Start asking questions.