Explore US electricity generation (EIA)¶

This tutorial walks you through installing datasight, loading US power plant generation data from the PUDL project, and asking your first question. Allow about five minutes.

For other datasets, see Explore EV charging demand with TEMPO or Try the time-validation demo.

1. Install¶

uv tool install datasight

Don't have uv yet? See Install datasight for the one-line installer. This includes DuckDB, SQLite, PostgreSQL, Anthropic, GitHub Models, and Ollama — no extras needed.

2. Download a demo dataset¶

The eia-generation demo downloads US power plant generation data (~50 MB) from the PUDL project:

datasight demo eia-generation ./eia-project
cd eia-project

This creates a project directory with a DuckDB database, a schema description, and example queries already wired up.

3. Add an API key¶

Edit .env in the project directory and add your Anthropic key:

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

Using GitHub Models or a local Ollama instance instead? See Set up a project for the alternative .env configurations.

4. Launch the web UI¶

datasight run

Open http://localhost:8084. The sidebar shows the loaded tables, example queries, and deterministic inspection tools.

5. Ask your first question¶

Type a question in the chat input — try one of these:

• What are the top 10 power plants by total generation?
• Show me the monthly trend of wind generation
• Compare coal vs natural gas generation over time

datasight writes SQL, runs it, and returns a table or an interactive chart. Click Pin on any result to add it to the dashboard.

What's next¶

• Explore more questions. Ask questions in the web UI covers follow-ups, clarifying prompts, and the schema sidebar.
• Build a dashboard. Build a dashboard shows how to pin results, apply cross-card filters, and export.
• Use your own data. Set up a project walks through connecting your own database or files.
• Explore files directly. Explore files without a project skips project setup entirely — point datasight at a CSV, Parquet, or DuckDB file and start asking.