Meet Snowflake

Snowflake lives in the chat panel of your Igloos workspace. It is not a writing assistant but it is your graphics department, the data viz desk and the front-end developer. You tell it what your post needs, and it builds the chart, the timeline, the interactive,

It has the context of what you are working on and the block your cursor sits in, so you can say things like "add a chart of these numbers below this paragraph" instead of explaining the whole document.

snowflake
You can tag interactives with @, posts with # and / for other commands

What you can ask for

Each interactive you or the agent makes is saved and resuable across posts. The Interactives guide has the details. Example asks:

  • Charts — "Turn these figures into a bar chart." Give it the numbers in the message; it builds the chart with the values you gave.
  • Tables — "Put this data in a table with a header row."
  • Timelines — "Build a timeline from these dated events, oldest first." Paste the events with their dates.
  • Podcast embeds — "Embed the episode at this Spotify link." Apple Podcasts links work the same way.
  • Post bands — "Add my three most recent posts as a carousel at the end." These stay current by themselves.
  • Newsletter signup — "Add a subscribe form after the conclusion." One column, a friendly label — your call.
  • Custom interactives — everything else: a before-and-after slider, an interactive map. For these, Snowflake writes actual HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and the result runs in a sealed frame.

Your model, your bill

Snowflake runs on your own model provider key. Learn more here: Bring your own model key.

When something goes wrong

Provider error. The most common causes are a revoked or unverified key, or a model refusing an unusually long request. Open the Chat traces card on the settings page: every request is recorded there with its outcome and the provider's own status.

The result is not what you meant. Do not start over; iterate. "Make the timeline vertical," "drop the 2019 entries," "same chart, warmer colors." Each interactive is also editable later from your library. The agent is powerful enough to edit and create.

MCP Server

MCP is an open standard, allowing AI tools outside Igloos work with your publication, with your permission and a key you issue. If your favorite coding assistant or automation speaks MCP, it can build and edit in Igloos directly: create a chart from data in your editor, draft a post from your notes, update an interactive without opening the workspace.

Connecting a MCP client

  1. In your workspace, open Settings and find the API keys card. Create a key and copy it somewhere safe when it is shown.
  2. Point your client at your publication's MCP address — the same shape for everyone: yourname.igloos.ai/api/mcp — with the key attached, as in the configuration below.
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "igloos": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://yourname.igloos.ai/api/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

Clients that do not speak the HTTP form natively can use the widely available mcp-remote adapter with the same address. The key works only for your publication.

What a connected agent can do

  • Find and read your posts, pages, tags and media.
  • Create and update posts, pages, tags and media.
  • Build interactives the same validated kinds Snowflake makes.
  • Attach interactives to drafts and publish, when you tell it to.

Part of Product guides. Next guide: Bring your own model key.