# Ask an assistant about a fixture

- **MCP resource:** rdmbench://help/ask-assistant
- **Version:** 0.2.0
- **Runs on:** macOS 15 Sequoia or later, Apple silicon or Intel
- **Needs:** An Enttec DMX USB Pro with its DMX/RDM firmware (major version 2)
- **Price:** Free

Once an assistant is connected (see
[Connect an AI assistant](/help/assistants/)), ask it about your
fixtures in plain words. It works from what the bench measures and
saves, not from guesses about the model.

## What it can read

Everything the bench has saved on this computer, whether RDMBench is
open or not:

- **Reports**: every fixture's reports, from today and from earlier
  visits, and what changed between any two.
- **Monitor sessions**, with their events and summaries.
- **A unit's history**: every visit, what changed each time, the faults
  that keep coming back, and the repair notes filed against it (see
  **Fixture → Finish Repair…**).
- **The desk's name** for the mode a fixture is in, from the bench's
  GDTF files (see [Find a fixture's desk mode](/help/desk-mode/)).
- **Settings templates**: what every unit of a model should be set to.
- **This help**, so it can point you to the right page.

## What it can do on the line

While RDMBench is open and connected to the line, the assistant works
through the app:

- **Scan** one fixture, the ones new to the bench, or the whole line,
  and read the fresh reports. The fixtures it scans appear in the
  sidebar as if you had scanned them.
- **Watch** a fixture, or the whole line, over a stretch of time, for a
  fault that comes and goes. The Monitor tab says *An assistant is
  watching* while it does (see
  [When an assistant is watching](/help/monitor/#when-an-assistant-is-watching)).
- **Load test** a fixture: drive it and read its sensors under output.
  It is told to check with you before driving a unit you have not just
  asked about, and it refuses while you are sending DMX or monitoring
  yourself (see [Asking an assistant](/help/load/#asking-an-assistant)).

It cannot change a fixture's settings: no address, personality or label
changes, and it does not apply templates. Those stay with you, in the
app or on the command line.

With RDMBench closed or not connected, it can still answer from what is
saved, and says so rather than scanning.

## What to ask

- "What's wrong with the last fixture I scanned?"
- "Why would this fixture show the wrong colors?"
- "What did we do to this unit last time it was here?"
- "Has anything changed since its last visit?"
- "Which fixture on the line keeps dropping out? Watch it for five
  minutes."
- "What mode should the desk be patched in for this one?"
- "Load test this fixture and tell me which modules don't draw current."

Check what it tells you against the report. It reads the same numbers
you do, and can still misread them.