AI tools in the builder
Change what's on captured screens with AI Edit on one element, Ask AI across a screen or the whole tour, and Find & replace for exact text swaps.
Captured screens carry whatever was in your app on the day you captured them: old dates, a real customer's name, copy written for a different buyer. The builder's AI tools change what's on the screen without capturing it again, so a tour stays current and safe to put in front of a prospect.
This article covers the three tools that change on-screen content: AI Edit for one element, Ask AI for a screen or the whole tour, and Find & replace for exact text. It also covers saving an instruction as a reusable task.
You're in the right place when a screen shows something you don't want a buyer to see, or says it in a way that doesn't fit the tour.
Which tool should you use?
| Tool | Where it is | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| AI Edit | The right panel, after you click an element on the canvas | One aimed change to one element: a table, a heading, a card. You preview before anything lands. |
| Ask AI | The Ask AI button at the top right of the canvas | One instruction across the current screen or every screen in the tour. |
| Find & replace | A tile in the AI Edit grid | Swapping an exact word or phrase everywhere, with every match listed for review first. |
All three work on HTML screens only, because they edit the live page you captured. Every other screen type is a picture, so there's nothing for them to change. To get HTML screens, capture with HTML as the capture type. See Capture with the extension.
These tools change what's on the screens. To change the words on your steps (titles, descriptions, narration), use the step form or Script mode. See Read and edit a tour as a script.
Every change from these tools saves to your draft. Viewers see it once you publish. See Publish a tour and manage revisions.
How do you change one element with AI Edit?
Select the element
In Build mode, click the element on the canvas. The right panel opens with the element's card, and the AI Edit card sits below it as a grid of tiles.
Pick the element that holds what you want changed. To work on a whole table, select the table, not one cell. Use the arrows in the element card to move to the parent element or down to its first child. See Edit what's on a screen.
Choose a tool
Select a tile. The tile opens a short panel with what the tool does, a tag showing the selected element's type, and a box for your instruction when the tool takes one. Every tool is described below.
Select Back to return to the grid.
Submit and preview
Type an instruction if the tool asks for one, then select Submit or press Enter. Use Shift+Enter for a new line. The button shows Working… while ShowPilot reads the element and writes the change.
The result paints straight onto the canvas as a preview, with a short note from ShowPilot about what it changed. If some edits couldn't be placed on the screen, the note says how many.
Apply or discard
- Apply keeps the change and saves it to the screen. It's one undo step, so ⌘Z (Ctrl+Z on Windows) takes it back.
- Discard puts the element back exactly as it was.
If you select a different element, or select Back, while a preview is showing, the preview is discarded. Nothing half-applies.
What does each AI Edit tool do?
Refills the element with realistic, invented data for one account. Use it on tables, lists and dashboards that show real records or empty states.
- Input: Account or industry, for example "edtech, school districts, Series B scale". Leave it empty for generic data.
- What it keeps: values stay consistent with each other, so totals match their rows and formats stay the same.
The tile is the first one in the grid, with a database icon.
Rewrites the element's text to be clearer and tighter, keeping the meaning.
- Input: Direction (optional), such as "more confident, half the length".
Moves every date in the element forward so the newest falls within the last few days. The dates keep their order and their exact format, so "Mar 3" stays in that style and a sequence of dates stays a sequence.
- Input: none. Select Submit.
Replaces personal names, email addresses, phone numbers and company names in the element with realistic fictional stand-ins of a natural length.
- Input: none. Select Submit.
Makes the element stand out, styled with the page's own design rather than a bolted-on banner.
- Input: How (optional), such as "subtle highlight, not a banner".
Describe any change to the element in your own words, such as "turn this status column into a progress bar look".
- Input: What should change? It's required. Submit stays unavailable until you type something.
- Save it: once you've typed an instruction, Save as reusable task appears under the button. See How do you save an instruction as a reusable task?
Types the element's text in, character by character, when the screen plays. Use it for a prompt being written, a search box filling in, or a field being completed. It doesn't call the AI, so it's instant and does exactly what you set.
It works on an element that holds the words directly, or on an input or text box. If you've selected a container, the panel asks you to select the text itself: use the down arrow in the element card until the selected tag is the one holding the words.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Text that types | The line that types in. It starts with the element's current text. On an input, it's what appears in the field. |
| When | With step 1, With step 2 and so on for each step on the screen, or On screen enter. Nothing types before its step's card shows. |
| Speed | Slow, Normal or Fast. |
- Preview types the line on the canvas so you can see the timing. It doesn't save.
- Save keeps it. The button then reads Update for later changes, and a note says "Types on when this screen plays."
- Turn off, next to that note, removes the animation and puts back the element's original text.
A saved animation also appears as a type action in the storyboard, where you can drag it to change when it plays. If you leave the panel without saving, the canvas goes back to the saved text.
Your saved tasks appear as extra tiles after the built-in tools, marked with a bookmark. Find & replace is also a tile in this grid. See How do you swap exact text with Find & replace?
How do you save an instruction as a reusable task?
An instruction you'll type again, like "replace every logo in this header with Acme's", is worth saving.
- Open Ask anything and type the instruction.
- Select Save as reusable task, give it a Task name and select Save.
- The task appears as a tile in the AI Edit grid, for everyone in your workspace.
Selecting a saved task opens it like Ask anything, with its instruction filled in under Instruction. Adjust it for this run if you need to; the saved task doesn't change. To remove a task, open it and select Delete task.
How do you change a screen or the whole tour with Ask AI?
Ask AI takes one instruction and runs it across the screen showing or every HTML screen in the tour. It uses the same engine as AI Edit, aimed at whole screens instead of one element.
Open Ask AI
In Build mode, select Ask AI at the top right of the canvas. The panel opens on the right. If a step form is open, close it first: an open step takes the right panel before Ask AI does.
Pick the scope
Above the instruction box, choose where the instruction runs:
- Current screen: only the screen on the canvas. It appears when a screen is selected.
- Whole tour: every captured HTML screen, one after another. The panel shows progress as it goes, such as "Editing 2 of 5".
Write the instruction
Type what you want, or start from a suggestion chip. Chips fill in the box so you can adjust the wording before you send it.
| Chip | Scope | What it fills in |
|---|---|---|
| Rewrite for an audience | Whole tour | The start of an instruction to rewrite the on-screen copy (headings, labels, table text) for an audience. Finish the sentence with the audience you want. |
| PII sweep | Whole tour | Find personal details such as names and emails, and replace each with a realistic fictional stand-in. Company names are kept. |
| Blur PII | Current screen | Find personal details such as names and emails on this screen and blur them so they read as redacted. Company names are kept. |
Some chips are greyed out. They're for tools that aren't available yet.
Press Enter or select the send arrow.
Keep it or step back
The changes land on the tour straight away, and a version card appears in the thread. The first card, v1, is the tour as it was when you opened the panel. Each run adds the next number.
A version card shows how many edits landed on how many screens, and lists each screen with a note of what changed, or "no change".
- Keep confirms the version.
- Step back undoes that run on every screen it touched, and marks the card as stepped back.
Each screen also takes the run as one undo step, so ⌘Z on that screen reverses it there.
The thread lasts while the panel is open. Once you close Ask AI, the version cards and Step back are gone, but the changes stay on the tour. Use ⌘Z on each screen, or Reset to original on an element, to reverse them after that.
If nothing could change, the thread says so instead of adding a version. For a whole-tour run, a screen that failed is listed as skipped, with the reason.
How do you swap exact text with Find & replace?
Use it when you know the exact words: an old company name, a stray email, a renamed product. You see every match before anything changes.
Open Find & replace
Click any element on an HTML screen, then select the Find & replace tile in the AI Edit grid. The panel replaces the element panel on the right.
Set up the search
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Find | The text to look for. Press Enter to scan. |
| Replace with | What each match becomes. Leave it empty to delete the text. |
| Scope | All screens (the default) scans every HTML screen. Current scans the screen on the canvas. |
| Match case | Off by default, so "acme" also finds "Acme" and "ACME". Turn it on to match capitals exactly. |
Select Review matches. It shows Scanning… while it works.
Review the matches
The results list every element that contains the text, grouped by screen. Each row shows the current text struck through, the new text under it, and a count when the text appears more than once in that element. The header says how many matches it found and how many screens it scanned.
Untick any row that should stay as it is.
Replace
Select Replace with the number of rows you've kept, such as Replace 6. The panel confirms how many matches it replaced on how many screens.
Each screen takes the replacement as one undo step. To reverse it on a screen, go to that screen and press ⌘Z. Select Back at any point during review to change the search without replacing anything.
Which screens and text aren't scanned?
- Every screen that isn't HTML. They're listed under Not scanned, with their names, because they have no editable text.
- Step copy. Find & replace reads what's on the screens, not your step titles or descriptions. Edit those in Script mode.
- Elements you've edited as raw HTML. An element whose HTML you've replaced through the element's HTML toggle is left alone. Edit it by hand.
Text you've already changed with the text form or an AI tool is scanned as it now reads, not as it was captured.
Test it
The AI tools are working when:
- You click an element that shows a date and run Fresh dates.
- The preview appears on the canvas, and you select Apply.
- You open Find & replace, search for a word you know is on two screens, and Review matches lists both.
- You select Preview at the top of the builder, and the tour shows the new date and the replaced word.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | What to check |
|---|---|
| No AI Edit card appears | You can only select elements on HTML screens. Other screen types are pictures. |
| "The agent found nothing it could change for that ask." | Select the element that actually holds the text, or say more precisely what should change. |
| "The agent answered, but its edits did not match this screen." | Try again with the parent element selected, or reword the instruction. |
| Ask AI says there's no DOM to edit | The current screen isn't a captured HTML screen. Switch to Whole tour or pick an HTML screen. |
| "This capture is too large to edit" | The screen is too big to edit in one pass. Select an element and use AI Edit instead. |
| Animated text asks you to select the text itself | You've selected a container. Walk down with the down arrow in the element card to the tag that holds the words. |
| Find & replace shows No matches | Check spelling and Match case. The text may also be in a step's copy, which Find & replace doesn't scan. |
| Current scope says to pick a screen first | Select a screen in the storyboard, or scan All screens. |
| Viewers still see the old content | Changes save to your draft. Select Update at the top of the builder. |
FAQ
Can I undo an AI change after I've applied it?
Yes. Each applied AI Edit, each Ask AI run and each Find & replace is an undo step on the screen it changed, so ⌘Z (Ctrl+Z on Windows) reverses it. Reset to original on an element puts it back the way it was captured, removing every change to it.
Does AI Edit change my app or the captured file?
No. Changes are stored with the tour's screen, over the top of your capture. Your app and the capture in your library aren't touched, so other tours built from the same capture don't change.
How do I remove a customer's name from every screen?
If you know the exact name, use Find & replace with All screens and review the matches. To catch every personal detail, open Ask AI on Whole tour and use PII sweep. To blur them instead of replacing them, run Blur PII on each screen.
Who can use a task I save?
Everyone in your workspace. Saved tasks appear as tiles in the AI Edit grid for all builders.
Can I use the AI tools on image or video screens?
No. They need the live page you captured, which only HTML screens have. On image and video screens, you can still draw steps and use the step form. See Step types.
Can Ask AI write my steps for me?
Not from the Ask AI panel. It edits what's on the screens. ShowPilot writes step copy when you create a tour, or when you rewrite it from Audiences in Script mode. See Read and edit a tour as a script.