> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.clickboss.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Investigations

> Investigations are deep AI-powered analyses you can trigger from any alert, insight, or question. They pull live data, diagnose the issue, and recommend what to do next.

An investigation is a deep dive. You trigger it when something in your data needs explanation: a ROAS drop, a spend anomaly, a funnel change, or any question that does not have an obvious answer.

ClickBoss pulls the relevant data across your connected platforms, runs the analysis, and walks through its diagnosis step by step. You see the work as it happens.

## When to use an investigation

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="You see an alert and want to know why">
    Your morning briefing surfaced a Risk signal. Clicking **Investigate** on the card opens a full investigation into that specific issue, with the alert context pre-loaded.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="You have a question that cannot be answered from a dashboard">
    Ask something in plain English. For example: "Why did my blended CPA go up this week?" or "Which ad sets are pulling down my Meta performance?" ClickBoss runs the analysis and returns a structured answer.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="A playbook flagged something and you want to go deeper">
    Sensor playbooks surface findings in your briefing. If a finding needs more context, launch an investigation from it to drill down.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## How an investigation runs

When you start an investigation, ClickBoss shows you the process live:

1. **Connecting platforms** -- identifies which integrations are relevant to your question.
2. **Cross-referencing data** -- pulls the specific metrics and time ranges needed.
3. **Building diagnosis** -- correlates signals across platforms to isolate the cause.
4. **Generating recommendations** -- returns what the data says and what you should do next.

You can watch each step as it happens. Most investigations complete in under a minute.

## Where to start an investigation

| Entry point            | How it works                                                   |
| ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- |
| From an alert          | Click **Investigate** on any Risk, Growth, or Forecast card    |
| From an insight        | Open a saved insight and click **Investigate** for a follow-up |
| From chat              | Type your question into the chat on your project dashboard     |
| From a playbook result | Open a playbook finding and launch a deeper investigation      |

## Investigations vs Playbooks

Both use live data and return structured answers, but they serve different purposes:

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Investigation">
    One-off deep dive triggered from a specific alert, insight, or question. Pre-loaded with context. Best when you need to understand *why* something happened.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Playbook">
    Saved analysis template you can reuse and schedule. Best when you want to monitor the same thing repeatedly or let a sensor watch it in the background.
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Tip>If an investigation turns out to be something you would want to run regularly, save it as a playbook when you are done. See [Run a playbook](/playbooks/run-a-playbook) for how.</Tip>

## Credit usage

Investigations use action credits. The number depends on the depth of the analysis and how many platforms are queried. You see the estimated cost before the investigation runs.

See [Action Credits](/action-credits/overview) for more.

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card icon="bookmark" href="/insight-vault" title="Insight Vault">
    Every investigation is saved automatically. Find past ones in your vault.
  </Card>

  <Card icon="book" href="/playbooks/overview" title="Playbooks">
    Turn a useful investigation into a reusable playbook.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>