AI Assistant

The AI assistant answers questions about your stock inside OpenBoxes. Open it from the Assistant button on an OpenBoxes page, ask in plain words, and get a short answer, the figures behind it, and links to the OpenBoxes screens that show the same thing.

It is included on every plan, and it is off until your account owner turns it on in the portal.

Watch the video: Ask the AI Assistant About Your Stock (2 min) asks the assistant three questions on the public demo: what is below its minimum, what expires soon, and one product across locations.

The short version#

• It reads, and it can make only the changes your account owner turns on. Draft stock requests and stock changes are separate switches, each off by default. The assistant shows each change first, and nothing changes in OpenBoxes until the person using it clicks Confirm. It never submits a request, and it never touches users, roles, passwords or settings.
• It cannot undo a stock change. Once a stock change is confirmed, it is made in OpenBoxes. If it was wrong, a person with the right permissions corrects it in OpenBoxes.
• It only looks at locations you can open. It asks OpenBoxes with your own sign-in, so it sees what you can see and nothing more. Ask about a location you cannot open and it tells you it left that one out.
• Conversations end when you sign out. A conversation ends when you sign out of OpenBoxes or your session times out. There is no chat history to browse after that.
• A monthly allowance per instance, once it is on. The assistant is off until the account owner turns it on. Once it is on, the instance gets 100 questions a month on Shared, 500 on Dedicated and 2,000 on Enterprise, shared by everyone on the instance, with a daily limit of a fifth of that.
• Answers can be wrong. They come from an AI. Check important figures in OpenBoxes before you rely on them. It does not give clinical, dosing or other medical advice.

What it can answer#

• Products: find a product by name, and show its code, category, unit of measure and whether lots and expiry dates are tracked.
• Stock at one location: on hand and available quantities, with lots, expiry dates and bins.
• Stock across your locations: the same products at every location you can open, side by side.
• Expiry dates: when the lots of the products you ask about expire, the lots at a location that expire soon, and which have already expired.
• Below minimum: the products at a location whose quantity on hand is below the minimum level set for them in OpenBoxes.
• Stock movements: the movements going to or from a location (open ones only, if you ask), and the lines of one movement.
• How stock has changed: from the daily stock check, how the stock of up to 10 products at a location moved over the last 90 days (day by day) or 13 months (month by month), which products were at zero most often in the last 30 or 90 days, and the months of stock of products at a location. See "How stock has changed" below.
• The screen you are on: what a page or a status means, from the OpenBoxes guide.

A few examples:

• "How many 10 ml syringes do we have at each of my locations?"
• "When do the saline lots at the Main Warehouse expire?"
• "What's on its way to Clinic B?"
• "What expires in the next 30 days at the Main Warehouse?"
• "Which products are below their minimum at Clinic B?"
• "What does Pending mean on this screen?"

For expiry, ask about one location at a time: "What expires this month at the Main Warehouse?" lists the lots with stock on hand that expire in that window (up to 50, soonest first) and, separately, the lots there that have already expired. To check particular products, name them. "Everything that expires this month at every location" is one question per location.

"Which products are below their minimum?" checks one location against the minimum levels set in OpenBoxes for that location. Products without a minimum level there are not checked, so set minimum levels in OpenBoxes for the products you want watched. A product with a minimum but nothing on hand counts as zero and is listed, so the assistant's count can differ from the Below minimum figure on the OpenBoxes dashboard, which leaves out products never stocked at that location (often why the assistant's number is higher), counts products exactly at their minimum, and can show a figure saved a little earlier.

How stock has changed#

The assistant answers questions about the past from the daily stock check, the once-a-day record of stock on hand that OpenBoxes Lift keeps for your instance (the same one behind the Reports page and the stock alerts).

• Stock history: how the stock of 1 to 10 products at one location changed, day by day for up to the last 90 days (quantity on hand, minimum level, and whether it was at zero) or month by month for up to the last 13 months (lowest, highest and last quantity, and the days checked).
• Stock-outs: the products at one location that were at zero, with a minimum level set, on the most days in the last 30 or 90 days, with the number of days at zero out of the days checked (up to 50 products).
• Months of stock: per product at one location, worked out the same way as on the Reports page, or the reason it cannot be worked out, such as not enough history (up to 50 products).

For example: "How has the stock of gauze at the Main Warehouse changed this month?" or "Which products were out of stock most often at Ward A in the last 90 days?"

These answers come from the daily check, not live stock, and each one says when the check was. They give quantities only, never values or costs, and only for locations you can open. History starts at your instance's first daily check; until then the assistant says there are no daily checks yet. On Dedicated, instances set up from 14 October 2026 have this, and an older Dedicated instance gets it with its next update. It is not available on the public demo. There is nothing extra to turn on and no extra charge.

Draft stock requests#

If your account owner has turned on draft stock requests (see below), the assistant can also prepare a draft stock request for you. For example:

• "Request 20 Gauze and 12 Syringes 10 ml from the Main Warehouse for here."
• "Make the gauze 30."

How it works:

• It shows the draft first. The panel shows the request with Confirm and Cancel. Nothing changes in OpenBoxes until you click Confirm, and each Confirm makes only the change shown. Typing "yes" or "do it" in the chat does not confirm anything. Check the products and quantities before you confirm: the assistant can get them wrong.
• Into the location you are working at. A draft is always a request into your current OpenBoxes location, from another location that fulfils requests. If you cannot open that location, the preview does not show its stock. To request into a different location, switch your location in OpenBoxes first.
• Drafts only. A draft has 1 to 25 lines, each a product and a whole-number quantity. Afterwards the assistant can change the quantities on the lines of a draft it prepared for you at that location, one change at a time. It cannot add or remove products on a draft.
• Nothing is submitted. The draft is listed in OpenBoxes as Pending, in your name. Other users who can see that location's incoming requests can see it. Nothing ships until someone finishes the request in OpenBoxes.
• After you confirm, the panel says whether it saved and links to the draft. If a draft does not save in OpenBoxes as shown, the assistant removes it straight away where it safely can, and otherwise asks you to check it in OpenBoxes. If the result is not known (for example, you closed the tab while it was saving), the assistant checks it the next time you open the assistant at that location.

Who can use it:

• People whose OpenBoxes role at that location is Assistant or above (Assistant, Manager, Admin or Superuser). Requestors and Browsers cannot. Someone without the role who asks for a draft sees: "The assistant can prepare requests only for people whose OpenBoxes role here is Assistant or above. You can still create this request yourself in OpenBoxes."
• Never while someone is signed in to OpenBoxes on another person's behalf.
• Only when OpenBoxes is set to English. In another language the assistant still answers questions.

Preparing a draft counts as one question from your allowance. Clicking Confirm or Cancel uses none, and draft stock requests cost nothing extra.

Stock changes#

If your account owner has turned on stock changes (see Turning on stock changes), the assistant can also change stock in OpenBoxes for you. Each kind of stock change has its own switch, and each is described below.

How every stock change works:

• It shows a preview first. The panel shows the change with Confirm and Cancel. Nothing changes in OpenBoxes until you click Confirm, and each Confirm makes only the change shown. Typing "yes" or "do it" in the chat does not confirm anything. Check the preview before you confirm: the assistant can get things wrong. Any warnings appear above the buttons; they never stop you confirming, so read them first.
• The assistant cannot undo it. A confirmed stock change is made in OpenBoxes, as each kind below describes. If it was wrong, a person with the right permissions corrects it in OpenBoxes.
• Only at the location you are working at. A stock change is always at your current OpenBoxes location. To change stock somewhere else, switch your location in OpenBoxes first.
• One change at a time. Each question can lead to one preview, for a draft stock request or a stock change.
• Some things are always done in OpenBoxes. The assistant never adds a new lot or a new bin, writes stock off, rolls back a receipt, changes a lot's expiry date, chooses a different bin, creates or starts a cycle count, starts a recount, or deletes anything. When you ask, it tells you to do it in OpenBoxes instead.
• Minimum and maximum levels cannot be changed with the assistant. Set them in OpenBoxes.
• Never while someone is signed in to OpenBoxes on another person's behalf, and only when OpenBoxes is set to English.

Preparing a stock change counts as one question from your allowance. Clicking Confirm or Cancel uses none, and stock changes cost nothing extra.

Cycle counts#

With Enter and submit cycle counts turned on, the assistant can work on a cycle count that has already been started in OpenBoxes at the location you are working at. It cannot create or start a count, or start a recount. For example:

• "Enter the counts: gauze 40, syringes 0."
• "Submit the count."

How it works:

• Two separate changes. Entering counted quantities and submitting the count each have their own preview and their own Confirm. You can enter up to 25 items in one preview, and 0 means you counted the item and found none. You can submit the count only once every item on it has a counted quantity.
• Entering counts does not change stock, and submitting a count does not change quantities either: a count where every count matches is recorded in OpenBoxes as the new count, and a count with differences goes to a recount in OpenBoxes, which changes nothing until the recount is finished there.
• Submitting the count. Where every count matches what OpenBoxes holds, the count is recorded in OpenBoxes as the new count as soon as you click Confirm, with no change to quantities. Where a count differs, OpenBoxes asks for a recount and changes nothing yet. The recount, and any change to stock that comes from it, is done in OpenBoxes. A submit never adjusts stock.
• Blind counts stay blind. On a blind count the assistant never shows or hints at the quantity OpenBoxes holds.
• Warnings. The preview warns you about any counted zero, and about a difference of more than 20% or more than 50 units (not on a blind count).
• The assistant cannot undo a submitted count.
• Done in OpenBoxes instead: creating or starting a count, recounts, and adding a new lot or bin found during a count.
• Who can use it: people whose OpenBoxes role at that location is Assistant or above (Assistant, Manager, Admin or Superuser). Requestors and Browsers cannot.
• In Changes made with the assistant, a cycle count shows as Counts entered, Count submitted or Count needs a recount in OpenBoxes.

Receiving shipments#

With Receive shipments turned on, the assistant can receive stock on a shipment that is on its way to the location you are working at (shipped, or partly received). For example:

• "Receive the shipment from the Main Warehouse."
• "Receive 10 of the saline and leave the rest for later."

How it works:

• All of it or part of it. You can receive fewer than were shipped on a line, or only some of the lines. Whatever you do not receive stays open to receive later. It never receives more than is still to receive on a line. Quantities are whole numbers, up to 25 lines in one preview. At a location that receives whole shipments only, it receives the whole shipment, everything still to receive; a partial receipt there is done in OpenBoxes.
• As shipped. Lots and expiry dates are received exactly as they were shipped, into the bin OpenBoxes uses for receiving that shipment. The preview names the bin. The assistant does not choose a bin, add a lot or change an expiry date.
• Warnings. The preview warns you about a line you are receiving only in part, a line of more than 1,000 units, and a lot that expires within 90 days or has already expired.
• Stock changes when you click Confirm. The assistant cannot undo a receipt.
• Done in OpenBoxes instead: writing off what is left to receive, rolling back a receipt, a shipment someone has already started receiving in OpenBoxes (finish it there), a line that needs a lot number, a partial receipt at a location that receives whole shipments only, and a shipment going to another location.
• Who can use it: people whose OpenBoxes role at that location is Assistant or above (Assistant, Manager, Admin or Superuser). Requestors and Browsers cannot.
• In Changes made with the assistant, a confirmed receipt shows as Received.

Recording stock quantities#

With Record stock quantities turned on, the assistant can set the quantity on hand of one product at the location you are working at, for the bins and lots that product already holds there. For example:

• "Set Gauze 4x4 in bin A1, lot L23, to 30."

How it works:

• One product per Confirm. The preview lists every bin and lot of that product at your location. The ones you do not mention stay as they are.
• Whole numbers. 0 is allowed, and the preview warns you when a row is set to 0.
• Warnings. The preview also warns you about a change of more than 20% or more than 50 units, and about an expired lot.
• Stock changes when you click Confirm. The assistant cannot undo a recorded quantity.
• Done in OpenBoxes instead: a new lot or bin, a product with a negative quantity at the location, and a product held in more than 25 bins and lots at the location. The assistant also refuses when the clock on your device is wrong.
• Who can use it: people whose OpenBoxes role at that location is Manager or above (Manager, Admin or Superuser). Assistants, Requestors and Browsers cannot.
• In Changes made with the assistant, a recorded quantity shows as Stock recorded.

What it cannot do#

• Change anything other than a draft stock request it prepared or a stock change described above. It cannot change products, prices, or minimum or maximum levels. It cannot adjust stock in any other way. It cannot add lots or bins, write stock off, roll back a receipt or change an expiry date. It cannot submit, approve, ship, cancel or delete a request, request into another location, or put lots on request lines. It cannot undo a stock change. When you ask, it tells you to do it in OpenBoxes instead.
• Change users, roles, permissions, passwords or sign-ins, or change your current OpenBoxes location.
• Look at another instance, another customer's data, or a location you cannot open.
• Browse the web, forecast future stock or demand, or send email or messages.
• Give clinical, dosing or prescribing advice. It answers stock questions about any product, including medicines.

Turning it on and off#

Only the account owner can turn the assistant on or off.

1. In the portal sidebar, go to AI assistant (under Resources, after Integrations).
2. Switch AI assistant on this instance on.
3. Read the AI assistant terms in the Turn on the AI assistant window, tick I agree to the AI assistant terms, and click Turn on.

The page then shows AI assistant terms accepted on with the date. From then on every OpenBoxes user on the instance sees the Assistant button. To turn it off, switch it off again; it takes one click and asks nothing. If the owner turns the assistant off, every extra question pack is scheduled to end at the end of the current billing period: there is no further charge after that, and no refund for the current period.

If we change the AI assistant terms, the assistant turns off for your instance until the account owner reads and agrees to the new version (Review the terms on the same page). The full terms are in section 5A of our Terms of Service.

Enterprise: the assistant is turned on once it is added to your agreement. Until then the switch shows Off and cannot be changed; use Contact us to add it on the page.

Dedicated: the account owner turns it on the same way as on Shared. The Assistant button appears in OpenBoxes within about a minute, with no restart of your instance (reload an OpenBoxes page that was already open).

Turning on draft stock requests#

Draft stock requests are off until the account owner turns them on, separately from the assistant. The switch shows on the same AI assistant page while the assistant is on.

1. Switch Let the assistant prepare draft stock requests on.
2. Read the terms for draft stock requests in the window that opens, tick I agree to these terms, and click Turn on.

Only the account owner can change this switch; other teammates see "Only the account owner can turn draft stock requests on or off." Turning them off takes one click and does not remove drafts already created in OpenBoxes. Turning the assistant off turns draft stock requests off too, and they stay off when the assistant is turned on again until the owner turns them on again. If we change the terms for draft stock requests, they stay off until the owner agrees to the new version. The full terms are in section 5A.5 of our Terms of Service.

• Shared: available once the owner turns them on.
• Dedicated: available once the owner turns them on.
• Enterprise: only where your agreement provides for them.

Turning on stock changes#

Stock changes are off until the account owner turns them on, separately from the assistant and from draft stock requests. The section Let the assistant change stock shows on the same AI assistant page while the assistant is on, with one switch for each kind of stock change available for your instance:

• Enter and submit cycle counts (see Cycle counts)
• Receive shipments (see Receiving shipments)
• Record stock quantities (see Recording stock quantities)

1. Switch on the kind you want.
2. The first time, read the terms for stock changes in the window that opens, tick I agree to these terms, and click Turn on. One agreement covers every kind, and each kind still has its own switch.

Only the account owner can change these switches; other teammates see "Only the account owner can turn stock changes on or off." Turning draft stock requests on or off does not affect stock changes, and turning stock changes on or off does not affect draft stock requests. Turning the assistant off turns every stock change switch off, and they stay off until the owner turns them on again. The full terms are in section 5B of our Terms of Service.

• Shared: available once the owner turns them on.
• Dedicated: receiving shipments and cycle counts are available once the owner turns them on. Recording stock quantities is available on Shared only, so on a Dedicated instance the section shows only Receive shipments and Enter and submit cycle counts.
• Enterprise: only where your agreement provides for them.
• The public demo: stock changes are not offered there.

Changes made with the assistant#

The Changes made with the assistant card on the AI assistant page lists every change someone confirmed with the assistant: when, who, what (for example "Draft stock request with 3 lines"), a status, and the OpenBoxes request number and an Open the draft link where there is one. The statuses are Created, Changed, Removed because it did not save as shown, Needs a check in OpenBoxes, Not changed, Not confirmed yet and Not created. Confirmed stock changes are listed there too, without a link or a request number, under the statuses each kind above names; a stock change can also show Needs a check in OpenBoxes. Every portal member who can see the AI assistant page can see the list. On Enterprise, the account owner can also Download CSV. OpenBoxes users who are not portal members find their drafts in OpenBoxes itself.

Using it in OpenBoxes#

1. On an OpenBoxes page, click Assistant. The panel opens at the bottom right of the page (on a phone, it slides up from the bottom of the screen).
2. Type your question and press Send. While it looks things up the panel says so, for example "Checking 3 locations…", and Stop cancels the question.
3. The answer comes first, then the figures, then a short line saying what was looked up, with links to the OpenBoxes screens or guide pages that show more.

The button is not shown on the OpenBoxes sign-in and administration screens.

Messages you may see:

• An answer saying you don't have access to a location. You asked about a location you cannot open. Ask your OpenBoxes administrator if you need access.
• "OpenBoxes refused this lookup." OpenBoxes itself did not let your account read that record.
• "Your OpenBoxes session has ended. Sign in again to keep going." Sign in again; the conversation starts fresh.
• "You have used all the questions available for now." Your instance has reached its daily limit or its monthly allowance. See below.
• "The assistant isn't available right now." or "The assistant is busy right now." Try again in a few minutes.

If an answer looks wrong#

Check any figure that matters in OpenBoxes itself. If it still looks wrong, click Get help with this conversation in the assistant panel. It opens the support chat in the portal with the message "I'd like help with an AI assistant conversation." filled in but not sent. When you send it, that conversation is linked to your support request, the chat confirms "Our team can now read that AI assistant conversation to help you.", and our team can read that one conversation to look into it.

Allowances and limits#

Once the account owner turns the assistant on, the instance has a monthly allowance of questions, shared by everyone on it. While it is off, there is no allowance and nothing to use:

Plan	Questions a month	Up to, in one day
Shared	100	20
Dedicated	500	100
Enterprise	2,000 (in your agreement)	400

• The daily limit is a fifth of the month's allowance, counting any packs you have bought, so a Shared instance with one pack can ask up to 120 questions a day.
• The daily limit resets at midnight and the monthly allowance on the 1st, both in your account's time zone: the one set under Settings > General, otherwise the time zone we hold for your account, otherwise US Eastern.
• Unused questions do not carry over to the next month.
• During the 30-day free trial every plan gets the Shared allowance: 100 questions a month and 20 a day, on Dedicated too. Your plan's own allowance starts when the trial ends and your subscription begins.
• Every question counts, including follow-up questions in the same conversation.

The Questions this month card on the AI assistant page shows your monthly allowance, the date it resets and the daily limit.

Buying more questions#

Once the assistant is on for your instance, on Shared and Dedicated the account owner can add packs of 500 questions a month for $25/month ($240/year on annual billing), up to 4 packs. A pack can be bought only while the assistant is on. Click Buy more questions on the AI assistant page; it takes you to Billing to complete the purchase. A pack is billed like any other add-on (see Billing & Plans): pro-rated to start, renewed with your plan, and removable at any time with the unused part credited. The questions are added to the current month's allowance once the purchase goes through. If the owner turns the assistant off, every extra question pack is scheduled to end at the end of the current billing period: there is no further charge after that, and no refund for the current period.

Packs cannot be bought during the free trial, and the founding-member discount does not apply to them. On Enterprise, extra questions are part of your agreement rather than a pack.

Your data#

• What is sent. To answer, the assistant sends your question and the OpenBoxes information it looked up (such as product names and codes, stock quantities and minimum stock levels, lots, expiry dates, bins, location names and stock movement details), your name as shown in OpenBoxes, your roles, your current location, and the page you are on, to Anthropic, our AI provider. Your password, your sign-in session and other customers' data are never sent.
• Where. Requests from the assistant are processed in the United States. Under Anthropic's commercial terms, Anthropic does not train its models on what we send it, and it deletes it within 30 days unless it must keep it longer to enforce its usage policy or to comply with the law.
• How long we keep it. We keep conversations for 90 days, then delete them. Where draft stock requests or stock changes are on, we keep a record of each confirmed change (what was proposed, who confirmed it, when, and the result) for 1 year, and of each change that was proposed but not confirmed for 90 days.
• Who can read it. Our staff read a conversation only when you ask our support team for help with it, by linking it to your support request with Get help with this conversation. Every such read is recorded.

The details are in our Privacy Policy and on the Sub-processors page.

The assistant on the public demo#

The public demo has the assistant switched on. Each visitor gets up to 5 questions a day (visitors on the same network share that limit). It can also prepare draft stock requests on the demo, with nothing to switch on: switch your location to a clinic or depot first (the demo login starts at the Main Warehouse); each visitor can confirm up to 3 drafts a day (visitors on the same network share that limit too). It does not change stock on the demo: stock changes are not offered there. The demo's sample data is shared with other visitors, so others can see your drafts; do not enter real or personal information. Everything resets every night at 3 a.m. Eastern, including the drafts and the limits. Demo conversations are kept for 7 days. Request demo access to try it.

The support chat is different#

The support chat in the portal is a separate assistant that answers questions about your Lift account. It stays free and does not count against your AI assistant allowance.