#Expiring Items — Never Waste Food Again

That yogurt in the back of the fridge? The ibuprofen you bought during the last pandemic scare? Your AI knows when they expire — and it will tell you before the smell does.

#What It Does

ambientChat tracks expiry dates on food, medicine, supplements, and anything else with a shelf life. When you scan a product, the AI reads visible expiry dates from packaging and records them. When no date is visible, the AI estimates one based on what it knows about the product category (canned tuna gets more runway than fresh strawberries, for example).

Items approaching their expiry dates get color-coded badges in your inventory, giving you a visual at-a-glance system:

• Green — plenty of time left, no need to worry
• Yellow — expiring soon, consider using it this week
• Red — expired or expiring today, time to investigate (sniff test optional but recommended)

You can ask your AI assistant about expiring items at any time, and it will search your inventory for anything that needs attention. No more discovering fossilized hummus at the back of the shelf.

#How to Use It

#iOS App

#Seeing Expiry Badges

1. Tap the Context tab, then the Inventory sub-tab
2. Items with expiry dates show a color-coded badge next to their name
3. The badge displays the expiry date and how many days remain
4. Tap any item to see its full detail view, including the exact expiry date and whether it was scanned from the label or estimated by AI

#Setting or Correcting Expiry Dates

1. Tap an item to open its detail view
2. Tap Edit (pencil icon)
3. Find the Expiry Date field
4. Set or correct the date using the date picker
5. Tap Save

This is especially useful when the AI's estimate is off — you know your peanut butter better than any neural network does.

#Scanning with Visible Expiry Dates

For the best results when scanning:

1. Tap the Scan tab
2. Point your camera at the product so the expiry date is visible in the frame
3. The AI reads the date directly from the packaging when it can see one
4. Products without a visible date get an AI-estimated expiry based on product type

#Via Chat

Your AI assistant is ready to be your expiry watchdog. Try these:

• "What's expiring this week?"
• "Show me expired items."
• "What food do I need to use up soon?"
• "Is my almond milk still good?"
• "What medicine is expiring in the next 30 days?"
• "What should I cook tonight based on what's expiring soonest?"

The AI searches your inventory and ranks items by urgency, so the most critical items surface first.

#Via Claude Desktop (MCP)

If you've connected ambientChat.ai to Claude Desktop via MCP:

• get_expiring_items — Returns items expiring within a specified window. Pass a days parameter to set the lookahead (e.g., days: 7 for the next week, days: 30 for the next month). Default is 14 days.
• ambientchat_get_inventory — Search with queries like "expired food" or "medicine expiring soon"

Example prompt in Claude Desktop: "Check my ambientChat for anything expiring in the next 5 days."

#Tips & Tricks

• Scan products with the expiry date facing the camera. The AI is good, but it's not psychic — if it can see the date printed on the package, it records the real one instead of guessing. Best-before dates, use-by dates, and expiration dates are all recognized.
• Check your expiry list weekly. A quick "What's expiring this week?" in chat takes five seconds and could save you from wasting food (or worse, eating something that's turned).
• AI estimates are educated guesses, not guarantees. When the AI assigns an expiry date, it's working from general knowledge about product categories. Fresh produce estimates tend to be conservative. Canned goods get generous timelines. Your nose remains the ultimate authority.

#Options

#Known Limitations

• AI estimates may be inaccurate. The AI doesn't know when you actually bought the product or how it's been stored. A carton of milk estimated at 10 days might actually have 3 days if it sat in a hot car for an hour. Use estimates as a starting point, not a guarantee.
• No push notifications for expiry yet. The app won't proactively ping you when something is about to expire. You need to check manually — either by opening the app or asking in chat. Push-based expiry alerts are on the roadmap.
• Expiry tracking works best for packaged goods. Loose produce, bulk bin items, and homemade leftovers don't come with dates. You can always add an expiry date manually after scanning.
• Date format recognition varies. The AI handles most common formats (MM/DD/YYYY, DD/MM/YYYY, "Best Before Mar 2026"), but unusual or hand-written dates may not be read correctly.

#Version History