AI Expression Explainer

Gain deeper insight into your template logic with the new
AI Expression Explainer
. This tool provides clear, natural language explanations for fields, spans, and computable definitions directly within the Markup and Dictionary Editors.
The explainer provides:
  • Expanded expressions that include definitions of all computables.
  • An easy-to-understand overview explaining the overall purpose of the expression.
  • A detailed breakdown listing each component and its definition.
This feature requires
Advanced AI
to be enabled, as it leverages information from your template dictionary to deliver accurate, context-aware explanations.
AI Expression Explainer is available in Author Desktop starting with version 10.17.

How to use Expression Explainer

Expression Explainer is available in two places:
  • In the Markup Editor
    , via the
    AI icon
    in the tools ribbon.
  • In the Dictionary Editor
    , via the
    AI Explain
    button in the
    Computation
    tab of any computable variable.
note
If the icons do not appear, ensure that Advanced AI features are enabled for your account and that both the Author add‑in and the Contract Express instance you are connected to are version 10.17 or later.
To generate an explanation, simply click the AI icon or the AI Explain button. A new window will open showing the explanation for the expression you are currently working on.
The information shown in this window is static and will not update automatically. You can close the window at any time. Each time you launch Expression Explainer, whether for the same expression or a different one, a
new
window will open, which you can keep open or close as needed.

Expanded Expression

Before an expression is sent to the LLM for analysis, the Contract Express server first processes it by expanding all source components and applying server‑side optimisations. If your expression includes computables or custom functions, these will be fully expanded during this step. Server optimisations may also alter the structure of the expression, so the version analysed by the LLM may differ from what you originally wrote.
When this occurs, the explanation window will display the expanded and optimised expression directly below the original one. The explanation will be provided for the expanded version.