Operational machine components of an information technology (IT) or other microprocessor- or microcontroller-permeated environment generate disparate forms of machine data. Network connections are established between these components and processors of an automatic data intake and query system (DIQS). The DIQS conducts network transactions on a periodic and/or continuous basis with the machine components to receive the disparate data and ingest certain of the data as measurement entries of a DIQS metrics datastore that is searchable for DIQS query processing. The DIQS may receive search queries to process against the received and ingested data via an exposed network interface. In one example embodiment, a query building component conducts a user interface using a network attached client device. The query building component may elicit search criteria via the user interface using a natural language interface, construct a proper query therefrom, and present new information based on results returned from the DIQS.