How automatic inventory management works, end to end

There's no single "turn on automatic inventory" switch -- it's a short chain of steps, most AI-assisted and all reviewed by you before anything saves. Each step below links to its own full guide.

The chain

  1. Scan your menu -- dishes get created (name, price, category). No ingredients yet. See Set up your menu from a photo.
  2. Add Ingredients with AI -- a separate step. AI proposes each dish's ingredients (name, amount, unit); accepting a suggestion creates the matching inventory item and links it to the dish in the same tap. See Add ingredients with AI.
  3. Confirm the real count -- the one manual step. A brand-new ingredient starts as an AI-guessed, non-zero estimate (badged "Estimated -- tap to correct"); log a purchase or tap the badge to replace it with what's actually on the shelf. See Inventory & stock.
  4. Sell it -- completing a bill automatically subtracts what was used, with zero extra taps, once a dish is linked.

A Biller.app menu item's edit screen showing Paneer Tikka linked to its ingredient, Paneer, at 0.15 kg per dish

Behaviors worth knowing about step 4

  • Uses delivered quantity when it's lower than ordered -- a table that only received 1 of 2 plates only deducts 1 plate's worth.
  • Never double-deducts, however often a bill is reopened or reloaded.
  • Cancelling a completed bill restores the exact amounts taken off.
  • When a linked ingredient hits zero, any dish needing it is automatically marked Out of Stock -- re-enabling it is deliberately manual.

What's still manual, on purpose

  • Both AI steps (scan, ingredient suggestion) are reviewed by you -- nothing saves without your say-so.
  • The first CONFIRMED stock number always comes from a human -- AI proposes a starting estimate but can't see your fridge.
  • Spice ingredients stay manually tracked, excluded from AI suggestions.
  • Purchase orders are a message (WhatsApp/copy), not a live sync -- no supplier catalogue or "receive against this order" yet.
  • No wastage log beyond expiry write-offs; use Correct for other spoilage.
  • No cross-family unit conversion -- grams convert to kilograms, but a kg-to-ml conversion needs a density figure nobody has entered.

See also