Prisms

A Prism saves the question, not the answer. When you save a Reveal as a Prism, Celiq stores the query state, the visualization type, and the chart configuration. Every time the Prism is opened or run, the query executes fresh against your warehouse — so the numbers are always current, but the analysis is fixed.

Prisms are the unit you reuse across Celiq. You save a Prism once, then run it, schedule its delivery, pin it onto a Mosaic, duplicate it as a starting point, or copy a link for a colleague.

Overview

A Prism is built from three things saved together:

• Query state — the domain, Reveal, selected metrics and attributes, filters, grain, and any calculated columns from Discover.
• Visualization type — the chart type the Prism opens with (bar, line, table, and so on).
• Chart configuration — the per-chart settings (axes, series, formatting) you set in the configure panel.

Because the query runs live, there is no "last refreshed" timestamp to manage. Data Keys and Data Gates are enforced when the Prism runs, using the permissions of the person running it — so a Tracer with restricted row access and a Luminary can open the same Prism and correctly see different results.

Prisms are organized into Vaults. The standalone /prisms list now redirects to Vaults, where each Prism appears alongside the other Vault items. Opening an individual Prism takes you to its detail view, where you can run it, override the grain and comparison, reconfigure the chart, inspect the SQL, edit the description, set up a schedule, and copy a share link.

When to use it

Save a Reveal as a Prism when you want to:

• Keep a question you'll come back to — a metric you check weekly, a breakdown you reference often.
• Hand a specific analysis to a colleague — copy a link rather than describing what to build.
• Feed a dashboard — pin the Prism to one or more Mosaics as a live tile.
• Automate delivery — have Celiq email or message the result on a schedule.
• Start from something close — duplicate an existing Prism and adjust it.

If you find yourself wanting several questions side by side in one view, that is the signal to build a Mosaic and pin your Prisms to it.

Concepts

Getting started

You need an existing Reveal to save. Build or open one in Discover first, then save it as a Prism.

To browse the Prisms you already have, open Vaults from the left navigation. Each Prism card shows its name, description, visualization type, how many Mosaics it is pinned to, and when it was created. Click a card to open the Prism's detail view.

Step-by-step

Save a Reveal as a Prism

Work with a Prism from its card

Each Prism card has a ⋮ menu with these actions:

To act on several Prisms at once, hover a card and use the checkbox in the top-left corner. A bulk action bar appears with Select all and Move to Trash.

Use the Prism detail view

Examples

Suppose you build a Reveal in Discover for daily order revenue by region, choose a bar chart, and save it as a Prism named "Daily Revenue by Region." Its saved query state looks like this:

{
  "domain_name": "sales",
  "reveal_name": "orders",
  "grain": "day",
  "selected_metrics": [
    { "node": "orders", "metric": "revenue" }
  ],
  "selected_attributes": [
    { "node": "orders", "attribute": "region" },
    { "node": "orders", "attribute": "order_date" }
  ],
  "filters": []
}

When you open the Prism, it auto-runs at the saved day grain. To review the same metric weekly with a year-over-year overlay, click the Wk grain pill, then ⇄ Add comparison → Year over year — the query re-runs and the chart updates, all without changing the saved Prism. To make that view permanent, click Edit to re-open it in Discover, change the grain there, and re-save.

If you then want this on a team dashboard, use ⋮ → Pin to Mosaic, create a new Mosaic called "Sales Daily," and the Prism appears as a live tile that refreshes whenever the Mosaic is viewed.

Best practices

• Name for the question, not the chart. "Weekly active accounts" reads better than "Bar chart 3."
• Write a description. It is the first thing a colleague sees on the card and tells them what the Prism answers.
• Use grain and comparison to explore, then re-save in Discover to make a view stick. Pill overrides are session-only by design.
• Duplicate before experimenting if others rely on a Prism — edit the copy, leave the original intact.
• Pin instead of re-creating. If two dashboards need the same metric, pin the one Prism to both Mosaics so edits propagate.
• Rebuild ad-hoc SQL Prisms from a Reveal. Reveal-based Prisms have row- and field-level policies applied automatically; raw-SQL Prisms are restricted.

Tips

Common mistakes

Troubleshooting

Related pages

• Discover — build the Reveal you save as a Prism
• Mosaics — pin Prisms as live tiles on a dashboard
• Scheduling — automate recurring delivery of a Prism
• Sharing — share a Prism with colleagues and beyond
• Chart configuration — settings behind the ⚙ configure panel