Hex 4.0: Agent-Built Analytics, Private Beta Access and Migration Limits

Hex introduced Hex 4.0 on October 27, a rewritten analytics platform where projects are code files that humans and AI agents can work on together. It is in private beta, with a new execution engine and tools for tracing a dashboard's numbers back to their logic.

The important part is what happens after an agent produces a convincing chart. Someone still has to establish which data it used, what the calculation means and whether colleagues should rely on it.

What changes in Hex 4.0

In its product announcement, Hex describes replacing the previous YAML-based project representation with code-backed logic and visualizations. Its interface lets users inspect an app element, follow its dependencies and review the underlying computation. The notebook remains available for people who want to edit the code themselves.

Hex also rebuilt execution around dependencies. Independent queries can run in parallel, results appear as they finish, and changing an input reruns the affected computation rather than everything. The company shows internal examples, but these are not a general performance guarantee for every warehouse or project.

That distinction matters for interactive analytics. A dashboard can be slow because the warehouse query is expensive, because unnecessary work reruns, or because the interface waits for unrelated results. Fixing one layer does not remove the others.

How external agents use Hex

The 4.0 documentation describes connecting tools such as Claude, Codex and Cursor through Hex's MCP server. These agents can use workspace context and data connections, create projects, run queries, preview results and publish apps under workspace permissions.

Projects expose SQL, Python and TypeScript through the notebook. During the beta, users may need to explicitly request the 4.0 project tools so an external agent creates the new project type.

Consider a sales dashboard built from a prompt. The agent may choose a perfectly valid query that counts bookings when the business wanted recognized revenue. Code visibility makes that choice reviewable; it does not automatically make the business definition correct. The valuable workflow is connecting each number to a definition somebody can inspect.

Access, pricing and missing features

Workspace administrators can request private beta access by emailing beta@hex.tech. Creating 4.0 projects requires an Editor role or higher. The documentation lists missing capabilities including scheduled runs, writeback cells, PDF export, CSV downloads, secret variables, Tasks and the Hex agent in Slack.

The general pricing page lists Professional at $36 per Editor per month and Team at $75, with custom Enterprise pricing. Those are platform prices, not a promise of immediate 4.0 beta access or a separately confirmed 4.0 tariff.

Existing projects continue working, while Hex says a dedicated migration workflow is coming. A team relying on scheduled reporting should therefore evaluate 4.0 alongside its existing projects rather than assume it can replace them immediately.

What to evaluate before moving a workflow

A useful trial would take one real dashboard and compare three things: whether the new app returns the same answer, whether a reviewer can explain every important number, and whether changes affect only the intended calculations. A faster app with an ambiguous metric is still a weak decision tool.

The architectural direction is interesting because it makes the agent's preferred editing format available without requiring every business user to become a programmer. Its success will depend on whether reviewing generated work becomes easier than maintaining a separate spreadsheet to check it.

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