#Inventory — Adding & Managing Your Things

Your inventory is a digital catalog of everything you own, track, or care about. Think of it as a remarkably thorough list that also happens to know what things cost, when they expire, and what category they belong to.

#What It Does

The inventory is your central record of physical items. Every barcode you scan, every receipt you photograph, every product you snap a picture of — they all end up here. Each item gets a name, category, image, and whatever details the AI can figure out (brand, price, expiry date, nutritional info, and more).

You can browse your inventory visually, search it, filter by category, edit any detail, and delete things you no longer have. Items link back to their source documents (the receipt or photo that created them), so you always know the provenance of your data.

It's your stuff, cataloged and queryable. Surprisingly satisfying.

#How to Use It

#iOS App

#Viewing Your Inventory

  1. Tap the Context tab at the bottom of the screen
  2. You'll land on the Inventory sub-tab by default
  3. Your items appear in a scrollable list with thumbnail images, names, brands, and categories
  4. Use the search bar at the top to find items by name, brand, or description
  5. Tap any category chip below the search bar to filter (Food, Electronics, Medicine, etc.)

Whose things you're seeing — a small scope pill sits on the action row, just left of Select. It starts on All, which shows your own items plus anything other people have shared with you, woven into one list. Shared items carry a badge showing who shared them and are read-only — you can open and view them, but editing, deleting, and moving stay with the owner. Tap the pill to narrow to Mine (only yours), Shared by me (the items you've shared out), or Shared with me (only what others have shared in). The pill is a filter, not a different screen — it works exactly like the category chips: you stay right where you are (same folder, same breadcrumb, same tools), you just see fewer cards. Inside the Food folder, Shared by me shows only the shared things in Food; the folder's own share badges tell you what's inside. The same control sits on the Documents and Questions tabs. A small count on the pill hints when there's new content shared with you.

Don't want something someone shared with you? Every shared record offers Remove from my list — it only hides the share for you; the owner's copy and anyone else's access are untouched, and an Undo appears in case you slip. Reach it three ways: long-press the shared card or row in the list, tap the "Shared by …" banner when you have the item or document open (the banner is the share's front door — tapping it always offers the actions for that share), or on the web interface use the eye-off control on the card or the Remove from my list link next to the "Shared by" line in the detail view. Opened a folder someone shared? The "From …" line under the folder name works the same way — removing there takes the whole folder off your list. If you change your mind later, ask the person to share it again.

#Adding Items

There are several ways to get items into your inventory:

Scan a barcode:

  1. Tap the Scan tab
  2. Point your camera at a UPC or EAN barcode
  3. The product is looked up automatically and added to your inventory

Scan a receipt:

  1. Tap the Scan tab
  2. Point your camera at a receipt laid flat on a surface
  3. The AI extracts the store, individual items, prices, and date
  4. Each line item becomes a separate inventory entry

Take a photo of anything:

  1. Tap the Scan tab
  2. Point your camera at any product, group of items, or anything you want to track
  3. Smart Scan identifies what it sees and creates inventory entries
  4. One photo can detect multiple items

Upload from your Context tab:

  1. Tap the Context tab, then the Documents sub-tab
  2. Tap the + button to upload a photo from your library or take a new one
  3. The AI processes it and creates inventory items from what it finds

#Viewing Item Details

  1. Tap any item in your inventory list
  2. You'll see the full detail screen with:
    • AI-generated image and original scan photo
    • Name, brand, and description
    • Category and subcategory
    • Price (with source: receipt, network lookup, or AI estimate)
    • Expiry date (if applicable)
    • Location
    • Last seen — the room or location captured at scan time. Shows as <room name> · <relative time> (e.g. "Kitchen · 2 days ago"). Tap the chevron to reveal the underlying GS1 GLN — useful if you're sharing inventory data with another app or robot that speaks EPCIS. Hidden entirely on items that were added without any location signal.
    • Notes
    • Linked documents (the receipt or scan that created this item)
    • Nutritional and sustainability data (for food items)

#Editing Items

  1. Tap an item to open its detail view
  2. Tap Edit (pencil icon)
  3. Change any field: name, brand, category, price, expiry date, location, notes
  4. Tap Save when done

Editable fields include:

  • Name and Brand — correct the AI if it got these wrong
  • Category — choose from Food, Electronics, Medicine, Clothing, Tools, and many more
  • Price and Currency — actual purchase price
  • Expiry Date — for food, medicine, supplements
  • Location — where the item is stored ("Pantry", "Garage shelf 3", "Bedroom closet")
  • Notes — any free-text annotation you like

#Deleting Items

Deletes are always soft — items go to Trash, where they stay until you empty it. You can restore anything from there.

Single item (swipe):

  1. Swipe left on any item in the inventory list
  2. Tap the Delete button that appears
  3. The item moves to Trash, and a Snackbar slides up at the bottom: "Item moved to Trash · Undo". Tap Undo to bring it back instantly. The toast auto-dismisses after a few seconds; the item is still in Trash if you change your mind later.

Multiple items (selection mode):

  1. Long-press any item to enter selection mode
  2. Checkboxes appear next to each item
  3. Tap to select as many items as you want
  4. Tap the Delete button in the toolbar — they all move to Trash. The Snackbar offers a single batched Undo that restores the whole set.

Cross-channel awareness: If you ask the AI assistant or Claude Desktop to trash an item, the mobile app surfaces the same "moved to Trash" Snackbar — courtesy notice that something just changed in your inventory, with Undo available. Same toast surface across all channels.

Restoring from Trash: Open the Trash tab (count badge shows how many items are there) to see everything you've trashed recently. Tap Restore on any entry to bring it back where it belongs. Empty Trash deletes everything permanently — that's the only step that asks for confirmation, because it's the only step that's irreversible.

What shows up in the Trash tab: The Trash tab is unified — it shows trashed inventory items, documents, and deleted Q&A conversations. Each row is labelled with a small overlay icon so you can tell them apart at a glance:

  • 📦 (cube) — an inventory item; row title is the item name, subtitle is the brand.
  • 📄 (document) — a trashed document; title is the document name, subtitle is its type (receipt, manual, …).
  • 💬 (chat bubbles) — a deleted Q&A conversation; title is the first few words of your question, subtitle is a short summary of the answer.

Tap Restore on any of them to bring it back to its original collection.

Voice: If you tell the assistant "trash the milk", it confirms with "Moved milk to Trash — you can ask me to undo it" and keeps the conversation going. There's no awkward pause waiting for an undo command. Just say "actually undo that" anytime in the next few turns and it will restore.

#Web

The web interface at app.ambientchat.ai mirrors your inventory in the browser. Open the Inventory view under My AI Context to browse the same items you see on iOS — a thumbnail grid you can search, filter by category chip, and organize into folders, with an All / Mine / Shared by me / Shared with me scope control across the top — All is the default and weaves your own items together with anything shared with you (badged and read-only), exactly like the iOS app. Click any card to open its full detail, where you can edit fields just like on mobile. Items approaching their expiry dates surface in an "expiring soon" banner above the grid; each banner card shows a thumbnail and click-through to the item (see Expiring Items).

Sorting: the toolbar's sort pill (next to search) offers the same options as the iOS sort control — Name, Value, Expiry date, Recently added, Last seen, Carbon footprint, and By Category. Pick an option to sort; pick it again to flip direction. Your choice is remembered between visits.

Filing items into folders works three ways on the web, matching Documents:

  • Drag and drop — grab an item card and drop it onto a folder card, or onto a breadcrumb to move it back up.
  • The folder button — hover a card and click the small folder icon (next to the trash icon) to pick a destination from the folder list.
  • Bulk move — click Select, tick multiple items, then Move to folder.

#Via Chat

Your AI assistant can answer inventory questions instantly:

  • "What's in my inventory?"
  • "How many items do I have?"
  • "Show me my electronics."
  • "What food do I have that's expiring soon?"
  • "How much is my inventory worth?"
  • "What did I buy at Costco?"
  • "Do I have any batteries?"
  • "What spices do I have?"
  • "What's in the kitchen?" (uses scan-time location stamping)
  • "Where did I last see my passport?"

The AI searches your inventory using the same data you see in the app, so its answers reflect your actual items, categories, and quantities.

#Via Claude Desktop (MCP)

If you've connected ambientChat.ai to Claude Desktop via MCP, you can use these tools:

  • list_items — List items, optionally filtered by category, folder, or search query
  • search_items — Semantic search — finds items by meaning ("things in my garage", "snacks for the party")
  • get_item — Get full details of a specific item by ID
  • update_item — Edit item fields (name, brand, category, price, expiry, location, notes)
  • update_items_by_filter — Bulk-update fields across many items at once ("change all items in the kitchen to category Food")
  • trash_item / trash_items — Move one or many items to trash
  • list_expiring_items — Find items expiring within a specified number of days
  • get_items_at_scene — List items last seen at a specific scene (by beacon, GLN, or scene ID)
  • get_scan_session_items — List items created together in the same scan session
  • restore_item — Restore an item from trash
  • regenerate_item_image — Generate a fresh AI illustration for an item

For the full tool reference, see MCP Tools — Complete Reference.

Example prompt in Claude Desktop: "Search my ambientChat inventory for anything related to coffee."

#Tips & Tricks

  • Items automatically link to their source documents. If you scanned a receipt from Target, each item from that receipt links back to the receipt document. Tap "Source" on any item to see the original.
  • AI enriches items beyond what you scan. For food items, the AI adds nutritional data, eco-scores, and sustainability ratings when available. For electronics, it may add specs and model details. You get more than you put in.
  • Use location fields to remember where things are. "Kitchen drawer", "Garage shelf 2", "Medicine cabinet" — when you later ask "Where are my batteries?", the AI can tell you.
  • Prices show their source. You'll see labels like "Receipt," "Network lookup," or "AI estimate" next to prices, so you know how confident to be in the number. AI estimates appear in a different color to flag that they're approximate.

#Options

Setting What It Does Default
Category Filter Filter inventory view by category All categories
Search Full-text search across item names, brands, and descriptions Empty (show all)
Sort Order How items are ordered in the list Most recently added

#Known Limitations

  • AI estimates are estimates. Prices and expiry dates guessed by the AI are helpful approximations, not gospel. When in doubt, edit the item with the real data.
  • Manual entry isn't available as a standalone option. Items are created through scanning (barcode, receipt, or photo). To add something without scanning, you can photograph it or describe it in chat and ask the AI to add it.
  • Category assignment is automatic but imperfect. The AI does its best to categorize items, but "Sriracha" might end up under Beverages if the AI is having an off day. You can always change the category manually.
  • Bulk editing is available via chat and MCP. Ask the AI to "change all items in the kitchen to category Food" and it uses update_items_by_filter to do it in one call. Every bulk change is fully reversible — say "undo that" or use undo_bulk_change. Bulk editing in the UI (selection mode) is not yet available.
  • Images are AI-generated. Item thumbnails are created by AI based on the product description, not actual photos of your specific item. They're illustrative, not photographic evidence.

#Version History

Version Date What Changed
5 2026-07-02 Web: sort pill (iOS parity) + three ways to file items into folders — drag-and-drop, folder button, bulk move (AMB-419/420)
4 2026-06-06 Rewrote the Web section to reflect the browser inventory (grid, tabs, clickable cards, expiring banner) (AMB-290)
3 2026-05-27 Updated MCP tools section with current tool names, added bulk update + undo (AMB-188)
2 2026-05-01 Added Last Seen detail row + room-scoped chat queries + get_items_at_scene MCP tool
1 2026-03-01 Initial guide