Use Ari in Tana

Ari is the AI CFO from cfo.ai. Connect your cfo.ai account and ask Ari what you would ask a CFO, right from a Tana meeting or chat. It answers from the financial model in your cfo.ai account, so nobody has to say “let me get back to you”. This guide covers the one-time setup and how to use Ari once it is connected.

What you can do with Ari in Tana

• Answer the question on the table: whether you can afford a hire, how long your cash will last, what moved this week and why
• Try a scenario: add a hire or a price change and see what it does to runway, without changing your main plan
• Get the short version: a summary of what a plan does to your numbers, ready for the board
• Check where a number comes from: Ari’s answer links to the chat in cfo.ai, where every figure opens to its formula and source rows

What you need

• A cfo.ai account. There is nothing to install from cfo.ai.
• Tana, in the desktop app or in a browser. To use Ari in Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams calls you need Tana Desktop on Mac or Windows, which is what captures those calls.

Connect Ari

You only need to do this once.

Use Ari in a meeting

• Ask out loud: say “Hey Ari” followed by your question. The answer arrives in your Agents chat.
• Ask in the chat: open the Agents chat beside the meeting, pick Ari under Who answers here, and write your question.

Some things to try:

• “Hey Ari, can we afford two more AEs next year?”
• “Hey Ari, what moved this week, and why?”
• “How long will our cash last at today’s burn?”
• “Where does the $38,900 for software come from?”

Ari works from what you ask, the chat and a description of what is on the shared screen. It reads text only, so it does not see images you attach.

Only you see what you ask and what Ari answers. Share with everyone under an answer posts it to the Meeting chat.

Use Ari in a chat

Ari also answers in any chat that only you can read. Mention it with @Ari, or pick it under Who answers here.

Which workspace Ari answers from

If you belong to more than one cfo.ai workspace, a card asks which one to use the first time you ask, and Ari keeps working there for the rest of the chat. Name a workspace in your question to switch. Settings, External agents shows the workspace Ari starts in, with Forget to clear it.

What Ari asks before doing

Ari reads your books, payroll and billing in cfo.ai, and nothing writes back to them. When a request means building or changing something in your model, Ari shows its plan on a card first, with Build it and Not now. A scenario stays apart from your main plan until you merge it in cfo.ai.

Ari’s own questions come back as cards in the chat too, so you can answer in one click.

What Ari builds is in your cfo.ai account, not in Tana.

Disconnect Ari

In Settings, External agents, choose Disconnect next to Ari. Your cfo.ai account is not affected.

See External agents for everything external agents can do in Tana.