fix(max): stop showing "no matching events" on empty AI previews

frontend/src/scenes/max/Thread.tsx

@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ import {
     isMultiVisualizationMessage,
     isNotebookArtifactContent,
     isVisualizationArtifactContent,
+    POSTHOG_AI_PREVIEW_EMPTY_STATE,
     visualizationTypeToQuery,
 } from './utils'
 
@@ -1079,7 +1080,7 @@ const Visualization = React.memo(function Visualization({
 
     return (
         <>
-            {!isCollapsed && <Query query={query} readOnly embedded />}
+            {!isCollapsed && <Query query={query} readOnly embedded context={POSTHOG_AI_PREVIEW_EMPTY_STATE} />}
             <div className={clsx('flex items-center justify-between', !isCollapsed && 'mt-2')}>
                 <div className="flex items-center gap-1.5">
                     <LemonButton
@@ -1182,7 +1183,7 @@ export function MultiVisualizationAnswer({ message, className }: MultiVisualizat
             <div className={`grid ${gridCols} gap-2`}>
                 {insightsToShow.map((insight, index) => (
                     <div key={index} className="relative min-h-[200px]">
-                        <Query query={insight.query} readOnly embedded />
+                        <Query query={insight.query} readOnly embedded context={POSTHOG_AI_PREVIEW_EMPTY_STATE} />
                     </div>
                 ))}
             </div>
@@ -1263,7 +1264,12 @@ function MultiVisualizationModal({ insights: messages }: MultiVisualizationModal
                             <TopHeading query={messages[selectedIndex].query} />
                         </h4>
                         <div className="min-h-80">
-                            <Query query={messages[selectedIndex].query} readOnly embedded />
+                            <Query
+                                query={messages[selectedIndex].query}
+                                readOnly
+                                embedded
+                                context={POSTHOG_AI_PREVIEW_EMPTY_STATE}
+                            />
                         </div>
                     </>
                 )}

frontend/src/scenes/max/messages/NotebookArtifactAnswer.tsx

@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ import { isFunnelsQuery, isHogQLQuery, isInsightVizNode } from '~/queries/utils'
 import { MarkdownMessage, MessageTemplate } from 'products/posthog_ai/frontend/api/primitives'
 
 import { MessageStatus } from '../maxLogic'
-import { castAssistantQuery, visualizationTypeToQuery } from '../utils'
+import { castAssistantQuery, POSTHOG_AI_PREVIEW_EMPTY_STATE, visualizationTypeToQuery } from '../utils'
 import { markdownToTiptap } from '../utils/markdownToTiptap'
 
 interface NotebookArtifactAnswerProps {
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ function VisualizationBlockPreview({ block }: { block: VisualizationBlock }): JS
     return (
         <div className="border rounded overflow-hidden">
             <div className={clsx('flex flex-col overflow-auto', isFunnelsQuery(block.query) ? 'h-[580px]' : 'h-96')}>
-                <Query query={query} readOnly embedded />
+                <Query query={query} readOnly embedded context={POSTHOG_AI_PREVIEW_EMPTY_STATE} />
             </div>
             <div className="flex items-center justify-between px-2 py-1 bg-surface-secondary border-t">
                 <LemonButton

frontend/src/scenes/max/messages/VisualizationWidget.tsx

@@ -26,9 +26,12 @@ import { InsightShortId } from '~/types'
 
 import { MessageTemplate } from 'products/posthog_ai/frontend/api/primitives'
 
-import { visualizationTypeToQuery } from '../utils'
+import { POSTHOG_AI_PREVIEW_EMPTY_STATE, visualizationTypeToQuery } from '../utils'
 
-const QUERY_CONTEXT_POSTHOG_AI: QueryContext = { limitContext: 'posthog_ai' } as const
+const QUERY_CONTEXT_POSTHOG_AI: QueryContext = {
+    limitContext: 'posthog_ai',
+    ...POSTHOG_AI_PREVIEW_EMPTY_STATE,
+} as const
 
 export interface VisualizationWidgetProps {
     content: VisualizationArtifactContent

frontend/src/scenes/max/utils.ts

@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import {
     QuerySchema,
     QuerySchemaRoot,
 } from '~/queries/schema/schema-general'
+import { QueryContext } from '~/queries/types'
 import { isHogQLQuery, isInsightQueryNode } from '~/queries/utils'
 import { ActionType, DashboardType, EventDefinition, QueryBasedInsightModel } from '~/types'
 
@@ -361,6 +362,19 @@ export function getAgentModeForScene(
     return null
 }
 
+/**
+ * Empty-state copy for PostHog AI query previews. These previews re-run the assistant's generated
+ * query live, so they can come back with no rows even when the assistant already found an answer
+ * (e.g. via the query it executed). The generic "There are no matching events for this query" copy
+ * reads as a dead-end and points at filters the user can't edit here, which erodes trust in the
+ * assistant's output. Shared across every Max render path so the message stays consistent.
+ */
+export const POSTHOG_AI_PREVIEW_EMPTY_STATE: Pick<QueryContext, 'emptyStateHeading' | 'emptyStateDetail'> = {
+    emptyStateHeading: 'This preview returned no results',
+    emptyStateDetail:
+        "PostHog AI re-runs this query live, so it can come back empty even when the assistant already found the answer. Check the assistant's steps above for the full results.",
+}
+
 export const visualizationTypeToQuery = (
     visualization: VisualizationItem | VisualizationArtifactContent | VisualizationBlock
 ): QuerySchema | null => {