The Ultimate Guide to Dust: Elegant AI Assistants with Memory, Context & RAG (2025)
Dust is a powerful platform for creating AI copilots and workflows with memory, context, and RAG using low-code tools and robust APIs, without managing infrastructure.
Core Features
Prompt Graphs
Build branching conversational flows using nodes that pass inputs and outputs dynamically.
Data-aware Assistants
Integrate with SQL, Airtable, Notion, Google Sheets, or your internal APIs.
Built-in Retrieval
RAG from PDFs, URLs, and custom sources using Dust’s retriever node.
Version Control
Track changes across your graph like code, test variants side by side.
Assistant Hub
Deploy multiple assistants for different teams, all centrally managed.
Telemetry
Monitor assistant behavior with per-session insights, token usage, and latency.
Why Teams Love It
Perfect blend of no-code UI + code extensibility.
Everything is observable, testable, and debuggable.
Intuitive even for non-engineers—great for cross-functional teams.
Fine-grained control over input/output formatting, retries, and fallback logic.
Real-World Use Cases
Ops Automation
Route support tickets, generate weekly updates, summarize incidents.
Product Design
AI UX writing, feature brainstorm agents, competitor analysis.
HR & Recruiting
Generate candidate summaries, schedule interviews, answer policy FAQs.
User Tips
- Use input/output transformers to format messy data (like emails) before the AI sees it.
- Link assistants across departments—like routing sales requests to ops AI.
- Combine retrieval + context + prompt blocks for an AI that feels truly "alive".
Did You Know?
Dust allows real-time collaboration. Two team members can build and test assistants in the same session—like Google Docs for AI graphs.
Challenges to Expect
- Complex flows may get crowded—label nodes clearly!
- Takes time to master multi-step logic compared to basic chatbots.
Advanced Features
Assistant Chaining
Trigger other assistants as part of your flow.
Role Control
Assign viewer/editor access to team members.
Testing Environments
Run sandbox vs. production flows.
FAQs?
Can I host my own data sources?
Yes. Use Dust’s secure API to connect to any database.
Is Dust open-source?
It’s partially open-source. Core builders are public, backend is hosted.
Is there a usage-based plan?
Yes. Pricing scales with usage volume.
Perfect For
Product managers, UX designers, and startup teams
AI-driven internal tools and dashboards
Anyone wanting AI assistants that are truly usable
