If your data is in a local Postgres database, a MongoDB you run, or a folder of CSV and Parquet files, you can ask BumbleB Crunch™ about it without building a pipeline or uploading anything. BumbleB Acorn is the VS Code extension for that. You tick the tables a conversation may read, ask in plain language, and BumbleB Crunch works out the answer by querying them where they are, showing how each figure was counted.
Say you keep sign-ups in Postgres: “Which signup source had the best week-4 retention?” is a question you can ask from the editor you already have open.
What you’ll need
- A BumbleB Crunch account — sign up free if you don’t have one. Acorn is included in every plan and is free to install.
- VS Code 1.90 or later. Acorn also runs in VSCodium.
Install and sign in
- In VS Code, open Extensions, search for BumbleB Acorn, and click Install. It’s listed on
the Visual Studio Marketplace as
bumbleb.bumbleb-acorn. - Click the Acorn icon in the activity bar. You’ll see three panes: Conversations, Your data and Queries.
- Run Acorn: Sign in from the Command Palette. Your browser opens so you can sign in with your BumbleB Crunch account, then hands you back to VS Code. There’s no address to type.
Connect your data
- Run Acorn: Connect your data, or use the same button on the Your data title bar.
- Choose Postgres, MongoDB, or CSV and Parquet files, and give the details it asks for.
- Tick the tables a conversation may read. Only ticked tables are offered to BumbleB Crunch.
Your workspace datasets — the files you’ve uploaded and the data you’ve connected in BumbleB Crunch — are listed beside the tables on your computer, so you can ask about either. Use Acorn: Filter tables to find a table by name, schema or connection, and Acorn: Unpick all tables to start again.
Ask
Open a new conversation (Acorn: New conversation) and type your question. Before you ask, you can choose the Level (what levels are) and who the answer is Written for.
While BumbleB Crunch works, one line shows what it’s doing and how long it’s taken. The Ask button becomes Stop if you want to end the run; the answer then says it was stopped. When the answer lands, a chart is shown where one helps, with its rows a click away.
How to tell it worked
Each query BumbleB Crunch ran on your data appears under Queries, with its SQL, the number of rows it returned and how long it took. You can open any of them, or run your own with Acorn: New query on your data.
Good to know
- It only reads. Every query is checked to be one read-only statement. Connect with a database user that sees only what you want analysed. See Your data on your computer.
- Want a say on each query? Turn on the Acorn: Approve Each Query setting (off by default). Each query then waits for you to click Run or Don’t run.
- Deleting a conversation (Acorn: Delete a conversation) removes its history from BumbleB Crunch and the results it kept on your computer. Results of a conversation left untouched for 30 days are removed on their own.
- Removing a connection deletes its saved password, and any MongoDB collections pulled for it, from your computer.
- Restricted Mode is fine. Acorn reads no files in your workspace folder, so it works in a folder you haven’t marked as trusted.
Related
- Your data on your computer — what BumbleB Crunch sees, and what stays with you.
- Choosing a level — how much work goes into each answer.
- Solve a problem in a conversation — how to ask so each answer sets up the next.
- Current limits — what local data can’t do yet.