Platform walkthrough

This walkthrough follows the normal path through Chipper:

1. Add an instrument and connect its logs.
2. Confirm that files are processing correctly.
3. Explore instrument, method, and run activity.
4. Enable rules and configure alerts.
5. Add SPC controls for numeric measurements.
6. Build dashboards for the questions your team asks repeatedly.

You can complete the first pass with representative historical files. Move to a continuous log source when you are ready to monitor live operations.

Before you begin

Have the following ready:

• A Chipper account or invitation.
• The name, type, and timezone of at least one instrument.
• Either representative log files, access to the instrument PC, or read credentials for an existing AWS S3, Azure Blob Storage, or Google Cloud Storage location.
• Editor or administrator access if you need to add instruments, connect sources, or change monitoring configuration.

Start with a known file

A representative file with a known outcome makes validation easier. You can compare what Chipper finds with what the operator knows happened during the run.

1. Complete onboarding

When you first sign in, Chipper asks for your name, organization, instrument fleet, and preferred way to connect logs.

1. Confirm your profile and organization.
2. Add the instruments you want to see in Chipper. Choose the closest available instrument type and enter the quantity.
3. Either upload representative files or choose the live-stream option.
4. Finish setup. Chipper waits for uploaded files to settle before sending you to the dashboard; if processing takes longer, it sends you to Log Files so you can watch their status.

If you joined an existing account, onboarding focuses on your identity, team, and where to start. You can reopen onboarding later from the account menu.

2. Add an instrument

Go to View → Instruments, then select New instrument.

1. Choose Instrument for one device, or Workcell to group multiple devices into one operational unit.
2. Enter a recognizable name. Names such as Hamilton STAR 3 or Nikon Ti2 North are easier to find than a model name alone.
3. Select the instrument type and confirm its timezone. Chipper uses the timezone to interpret log timestamps correctly.
4. Leave Set up a log source next selected to continue directly into the connection wizard.
5. Select Create instrument.

A workcell's component instruments each need their own log source. Open each component instrument to connect it separately.

See Instruments and log sources for details.

3. Connect logs

The log-source wizard starts by linking the source to exactly one instrument. It then offers three routes:

Route	Use it when	What you configure
Agent → Chipper cloud	Logs are written to a Windows instrument PC and you want the simplest continuous path.	Install or select a Chipper Log Collector, then choose the local file patterns it should watch.
Existing cloud storage	Logs already arrive in customer-owned cloud storage.	Choose AWS, Azure, or GCS; enter the location, prefix, and read credentials; then choose instant or scheduled import where available.
Standalone agent → your cloud	The collector should write to customer-owned storage before Chipper reads it.	Choose the cloud provider, install the standalone collector, and configure Chipper's read access and import mode.

For a collector connection:

1. Download and install the collector, or bind an existing collector.
2. Wait for it to check in.
3. Add at least one specific include pattern for the local logs. Avoid a catch-all pattern that would watch unrelated files.
4. Finish setup.

For an existing cloud location:

1. Choose the provider and enter the bucket or container details.
2. Set a prefix that contains only the intended instrument's logs.
3. Select Test connection when the wizard offers it.
4. Choose Instant import for event-driven ingestion, or Scheduled import for hourly polling. The wizard shows any provider-specific notification setup and verifies it where possible.
5. Finish setup.

For a one-time test, go to Investigate → Log Files, select Upload Files, choose the instrument, and add one or more files. Chipper only accepts the file extensions declared for that instrument type, and each file must be no larger than 48 MiB.

More setup detail is available under Log Sources.

4. Verify ingestion

Do not judge the result from the dashboard alone. Check the pipeline in this order:

1. Open Configure → Log Sources and confirm that the source is active. Open it to review its last import and recent failures.
2. Open Investigate → Log Files. The newest file should move from Received or Processing to Processed.
3. Open the file's Details panel to confirm the attributed instrument, methods, runs, event count, and alert count.
4. Select the file viewer when you need to inspect the original text. You can search within a file, or search across the files currently selected by your list filters.
5. Open Investigate → Log Events to confirm that enabled rules matched useful activity.

If a file is processed but produces no events, the most common explanation is that no relevant rule is enabled for its instrument type. Continue to the next step.

5. Understand the run

Use the entity pages to move from fleet health to underlying evidence.

Instruments

Open View → Instruments. The dashboard groups instruments by type and operational state; the table is better for search and filtering. Open an instrument to review its activity, alerts, files, monitoring configuration, and connected log sources.

Runs

Open View → Runs to find recent work. Filter by method, instrument, outcome, scored state, or start time, then open a row.

The run page brings the investigation together:

• Recent events shows the rule-derived activity attached to the run.
• Timeline shows when activity occurred during the run.
• Run steps ties process steps to supporting evidence when step data is available.
• The header and metric strip show outcome, duration, instrument, method, and the latest available process-model score.

Methods

If Methods is enabled, open View → Methods. Use the dashboard for health at a glance and the table for precise filtering. A method's overview shows run volume, error rate, open alerts, average duration, recent runs, and related SPC controls.

Once a process model is available, the method page adds step and failure analysis. A process model learns the expected shape of that method from repeated history; it is not required for basic run visibility.

See Methods and runs.

6. Enable monitoring rules

Rules turn parsed log data into events and optional alerts.

1. Go to Configure → Rules.
2. Select Rules Library.
3. Choose an instrument type to see Chipper's available monitoring rules.
4. Enable the rules that describe useful errors, durations, measurements, and milestones. Enable all is a useful starting point for a new instrument type when the event volume is manageable.
5. Return to Rules and use the Has Events filter to confirm which rules are matching.

Rules can be Monitoring-only or Alert-enabled. A monitoring-only rule still creates events and feeds analysis; it does not interrupt anyone.

To create a custom rule, select Add Custom Rule, choose the instrument type and rule type, define the detection logic, and preview the configuration. Custom rules use Chipper Query Language (CQL), so start from a real parsed field and a known example line.

See Rules and Events.

7. Add alerting conditions and triage alerts

Open a rule and add one or more alerting conditions. Each condition has its own trigger, severity, message, and notification destinations.

• An instance rule can alert on any occurrence or after a count within a time window.
• A duration rule alerts when elapsed time exceeds the configured duration.
• A derivation rule alerts when its numeric value crosses the configured boundary.

When an alert appears under Monitor → Alerts:

1. Open Details.
2. Review the triggering rule or SPC control, event, instrument, method, run, severity, and time.
3. Set the status to Acknowledged when someone is investigating, or assign the alert to a teammate.
4. Add notes to the history so the investigation and handoff remain visible.
5. Snooze when the condition is understood but should be quiet until a specific time.
6. Mark the alert Resolved when the response is complete. Resolved alerts can be reopened.

See Thresholds and Alerts.

8. Trend a measurement with SPC

Rules create the event series that SPC tracks for stability over time.

1. Go to Monitor → SPC.
2. Select New control for manual setup, or Set up with AI to review suggested controls.
3. Choose the instrument type, measurement, backing rule or rules, scope, and control-chart type.
4. Create the control and inspect its chart before enabling alerts.
5. Review the baseline window, control limits, rolling average, and any Nelson-rule patterns.
6. Turn Alerting on only after the chart represents a useful operating baseline, then choose what should raise an alert and where notifications should go.

The SPC dashboard can group controls by method or instrument. Use the table when you need to filter the complete control list.

See Statistical process control.

9. Build a dashboard and reusable analysis

The default landing page is your pinned dashboard.

1. Go to Monitor → Dashboards and choose the date range and instruments you care about.
2. Select Add chart to open the chart builder.
3. Choose a chart type, measure, time or category dimension, grouping, and filters.
4. Preview the result, give it a clear operational title, and add it to a dashboard.
5. Use All dashboards to create another private dashboard or one shared with the account.
6. Save common dashboard filter combinations so recurring reviews use the same scope.

Use Investigate → Analysis when you want to start from a question and build a chart before deciding where it belongs. If Ask Chipper is enabled, use it for natural-language exploration and follow important answers back to the underlying platform data.

See Dashboards and analysis.

A simple weekly operating rhythm

• Start with Dashboards to see what changed.
• Triage open Alerts, assign owners, and record notes.
• Review Instruments and Methods for unusual activity, error rates, or duration.
• Open affected Runs, then follow the evidence into events and raw files.
• Check SPC for drift that has not yet become a hard failure.
• Refine rules, alert thresholds, and dashboard filters as the team learns which signals are actionable.

That loop is the core of Chipper: move from a fleet-level signal to a specific run and its underlying evidence, then turn what you learned into better monitoring.