# What does "Generate insights" do, and why do some tabs need it?

> Generate insights builds CounselPro's income, merchant, duplicate, anomaly, and check views from a project's transactions. Coverage is ready without it.

Some Insights tabs are ready the moment a project has data, and some have to be built first. **Generate insights** is what builds the second group.

## Which tabs need Generate insights?

The heavier, computed views. When you first open Insights on a new project, these are behind the **Generate Insights** button:

- **Income**, monthly income trends
- **Merchants**, spending grouped by business
- **Duplicates**, likely duplicate transactions
- **Anomalies**, outliers, round numbers, and weekend activity
- **Checks**, payees, sequence gaps, and check totals

These need a full pass over the project's transactions, so CounselPro waits for you to ask before running it. Click **Generate Insights** and it builds the dashboard in the background, which takes a moment. You can leave the tab and come back.

## Which tabs are ready without it?

The ones that read straight from data you already have: [Coverage](https://www.counselpro.ai/docs/check-statement-coverage-gaps), [Categories](https://www.counselpro.ai/docs/spending-by-category), and Reconciliation. Those show up right away, no generation step.

> **Note:** Reconciliation is part of the Premier plan and every single project. If you do not see it, it is not part of your plan, but Coverage and Categories are always available.

Once insights are built, you do not usually have to run them again by hand. See [when insights update after you add statements](https://www.counselpro.ai/docs/when-do-insights-update). To get the same answers by asking instead of browsing, use [Daystrom](https://www.counselpro.ai/docs/category/analysis-agent).

Source: https://www.counselpro.ai/docs/generate-insights