Coda AI is a work assistant, and a Coda building block. Coda AI uses instructions that you provide in a prompt box to generate or edit content. You can @ reference other pages, tables, or data within the same row as part of your instructions on what you’d like Coda AI to create, and it can refresh and generate more content as your doc gets updated.

Coda AI’s feature set includes the following:

AI assistant: creates content on the page canvas of a Coda doc. The prompt instructions can @ reference content within another page or table to generate new paragraphs, checklists, tables with data, and more. It can also edit existing text on the canvas.
AI column: creates content within a table via a prompt that can @ reference other data within the row.
AI block: generates an AI-powered block on the page of your doc, that can summarize or find action items from data in tables or other pages.
AI chat: brainstorm ideas, iterate on content, or get answers across your doc. It’s always available to collaborate, in your side panel.

AI assistant

With the AI assistant feature, you can create text or tables, or edit text on the canvas. You can use this feature to generate content like blog posts, briefs, task checklists, poems, taglines, haikus, and more! You can also create tables with AI-populated data, such as 10 restaurants in Paris & their top dish, or suggested targeted audiences & their descriptions.

Create text

You can use Coda AI to generate formatted headers, checklists, bullet points, paragraphs and more.

Type / (forward slash) or Ctrl+Space into a new line in your doc.
Under the AI options in the dropdown, select Write a...
Then write a prompt of your choice (or choose from some of our pre-set suggestions). See guidance on writing good prompts below. Examples include:
- What are 10 activities our team can do at an offsite?
- List 5 potential icebreakers for a team meeting
- Create an outline for a brief
- Write a list of pros & cons to consider when opening a new office
- Write a blog about brand loyalty
- Create a checklist of typical tasks to complete your first day at a job
- 💡Tip: You can @ reference specific pages or tables in your doc by typing @ into the prompt bar, or clicking the @ button. You can also write = to open the formula builder.
Hit Create.
Once the content is generated, you’ll see a pop-up where you can provide further instructions to Coda AI, such as making the generated text shorter. You can also change the original prompt.
When satisfied, press Keep to finalize.

Create tables

Type / (forward slash) or Ctrl+Space into the canvas of your doc.
Under the AI options in the dropdown, select Make a table...
Write a prompt of your choice (or let the suggestions guide you), but include instructions to create a table. Examples include:
- Generate a table with 10 potential target audiences
- Create a table with 15 questions and answers for a new hire
- Create a table with 20 potential names and a short press release for a new editor feature
- Make a table of pros & cons to consider when opening a new office
- 💡Tip: You can @ reference other pages or tables in your doc by typing @ into the prompt bar, or clicking the @ button. You can also write = to open the formula builder.
Once the table is generated, you’ll see a pop-up where you can provide further instructions to Coda AI, such as making the generated text shorter. You can also change the original prompt.
When you have the results you want, hit Keep.

Edit text

On the canvas or in a canvas column, highlight the text you want to edit.
In the inline toolbar popup, select the AI option.
Provide instructions in the prompt (see the section on Tips & tricks for prompts)
Select Create.
If needed, you can provide further instructions to Coda AI, such as making the generated text shorter. You can also change the original prompt. When you have the results you want, hit Keep.

AI column

You can use AI column to generate content for one cell, multiple cells, or every cell in the column on a table. You can test your prompt in one or multiple cells before applying to every row in a column.

Press the Add column button (upper right corner of a table) to add a blank column.
Choose if you want AI to create content in one, multiple, or all cells in the column.
1. To have AI generate content in just one cell, press the AI button in the desired cell to open up the prompt box.
2. To have AI fill multiple cells, highlight the desired cells and then select the Fill button at the bottom of the table.
3. To have AI populate all the cells in a column, choose the AI column type for the entire column.
Write a prompt with instructions—you can choose one of the options provided, or write your own. In the prompt, you can @ reference other data within the same row, or type = to open the formula builder.
Select your desired length, tone and type.
Select Fill.

AI block

AI block can generate summaries or find action items across data in tables or pages. And you can refresh these blocks with a click of a button to keep information up-to-date.

Summary

Type / (forward slash) or Ctrl+Space into the canvas of your doc
From the AI dropdown options, select Summarize
In your prompt, @ reference the table or the page that contains your notes or relevant. You can also type type = to open the formula builder. See guidance on writing good prompts below.
Choose your desired length, tone and type.
Select Create.

Whenever you need to update the summary block, just hover over the block and click the rounded arrow in the upper right corner.

Action items

Type / (forward slash) or Ctrl+Space into the canvas of your doc
From the AI dropdown options, select Find action items from...
In your prompt, @ reference the table or the page that contains your notes. You can also type = to open the formula builder.
Choose your desired length, tone and type. We recommend checkboxes.
Select Create.

Whenever you need to update the action items block, just hover over the block and click the rounded arrow in the upper right corner.

AI chat

With AI chat, you can get help with everything from editing content to asking specific questions about the content in your doc. It’s available at any time, in your doc’s side panel, and you can provide any ongoing instructions before deciding to insert the content in your doc.

To use AI chat:

Open the AI icon, in the bottom right (next to the ? icon).
Select one of the prompts, or write your own. Examples include:
- Where can I find more information about what this team is working on?
- What are the key milestones and dates?
- What are the pros and cons with the suggested plan?
- Write 5 suggestions of titles for this page.
- Write a closing paragraph for this blog.
- Create a table with next steps and action items.
Choose the context you want to provide: no context, the current page, or the current doc. You can also highlight text on the current page, and choose that selection as the context.
After Coda AI generates a response, you can add it to the current page (or open up a new one), by pressing insert.
You can also provide more instructions, and AI chat will generate more content.
When you’re done, close AI chat, and open it back up again whenever you want.

Tips & tricks for prompts

When writing a prompt for Coda AI, keep this tips in mind:

Make sure your objective is clear.
Use relevant keywords to help the AI generate accurate responses.
Give examples to clarify what you're looking for. If you want to guide the AI towards a certain context, include that information in your initial instruction, or @ reference the relevant table or page (or type = to open the formula builder).

Coda AI provides examples of prompts you can use, but feel free to write your own.
While Coda AI gives options for length, tone and type, you can also provide specific instructions, such as desired word count.
Keep it simple - don't use overly complex language.
Use formatting and punctuation to help the AI understand the structure.
Try different prompts to get a variety of responses, or ask for a few versions of the same thing.
Keep refining your prompts to improve the AI-generated content. You may need to test a few to get your desired outcome.
Keep in mind that while AI tries its best to provide accurate information, it's always a good idea to fact-check important information, as AI can sometimes produce inaccuracies or outdated information.
It's important to remember that the AI can have biases in its output, and it's possible to misuse generated content. Let's use AI responsibly.
Limitations:
- Keep in mind that while AI tries its best to provide accurate information, it's always a good idea to fact-check important information, as AI can sometimes produce inaccuracies or outdated information.
- Although Coda AI can generate tables and format text like headers, bold, italics it can’t currently add certain Coda specific building blocks like callouts, Packs, formulas.
- The assistant only knows what you highlight on your page, reference in your prompt or any select list you’re using. It can’t search your web, docs or workspace for information.
- There are limits on how much text Coda AI can use as part of any prompt and its references. A rough guide is to try to keep your input to <10,000 words. We hope to increase this limit soon.

FAQs

Can I edit an AI prompt retroactively?

You can retroactively edit your prompts for AI column and AI block, and you can iterate and add any prompts to AI chat.

To edit an AI block prompt, just right click on the block and select Change prompt.
To edit an AI column prompt, right click on the column header and select Edit AI.
For AI chat, just reopen the chat, then keep typing and submitting new prompts. Coda AI will iterate on its response.

It isn’t currently possible to retroactively edit a prompt for AI assistant. Once the assistant has generated the text or table, and you’ve hit the Keep button, you won’t be able to edit the prompt any further.

Can I reference tables, pages, columns, etc. in my AI prompt?

Absolutely! Whenever you want to reference a table or page, just type @ into the prompt bar, then start typing the name of the table or page. Select the correct object from the dropdown list.

And with AI columns, remember that you can also reference other columns in the table using the same steps.

I’m not getting the results I want from my prompt - what should I do?

Writing prompt for AI can take some practice. Check out our section above for lots of advice on this.

How can I learn more about Coda AI?

Now that you’ve learned about the current Coda AI feature set, explore how you can use it to help your team collaborate more easily, and focus on important work. Create a new doc, copy one from the Coda gallery, or add Coda AI to your existing docs—and check out our guide for ideas and inspiration.