Feature walkthrough

This chapter walks through the current product path: import a catalog, generate a draft offer, review it, and accept it.

1. Sign in

Open the app and create a user from the login screen. Local and first-time deployment environments usually keep AUTH_SIGNUP_ENABLED=true so the first account can be created from the browser.

For shared environments, set AUTH_SIGNUP_ENABLED=false after initial users exist.

2. Import a product catalog

Open Catalog Upload at /products/upload.

Upload a CSV file with these columns:

sku,name,description

Comma, semicolon, and tab-separated files are accepted. The importer previews the parsed rows before saving them. The current importer does not map price columns; imported products default to zero price until pricing rules or ERP data are added for a specific implementation.

When you click Embed and save, Solivio:

• sends product text to the selected OpenAI embedding model,
• stores products in Postgres,
• stores a combined vector embedding for semantic search,
• updates existing products when the same sku is imported again.

Catalog import requires OPENAI_API_KEY.

3. Generate a draft offer

Open New Offer at /offers/new.

Enter a customer name and paste the raw customer request. The offer generation agent:

• extracts distinct requested product lines and quantities,
• decides whether each fragment looks like an exact SKU or a product description,
• searches the catalog with exact SKU lookup or semantic vector search,
• creates a draft offer with matched items, unmatched request fragments, and notes.

Offer generation requires both a populated product catalog and OPENAI_API_KEY.

4. Review the draft

The offer review screen is where a salesperson checks the generated draft before accepting it.

Use it to:

• change quantities,
• add products from catalog search,
• remove incorrect products,
• review unmatched request items,
• adjust the offer discount,
• check margin, pricing, availability, and acceptance status.

Changes are saved through server API routes and persisted in Postgres. The offer discount is stored on the offer itself, so it survives reloads, is included in revision snapshots, and is rendered as a separate line in the generated PDF.

5. Use product search and quick offers

The dashboard has a Find a product entry point. It opens catalog search, lets you select quantities, and creates a draft offer directly from selected products.

Inside an existing draft, Add product opens the same catalog search dialog and saves selected products onto the current offer.

6. Ask the offer assistant

The assistant panel appears next to the offer review screen. It uses the current offer as context and can help with questions such as:

• summarizing the customer request,
• explaining why products were selected,
• identifying missing information,
• suggesting upsell products from the catalog,
• adding products,
• changing quantities,
• removing line items.

The assistant uses the catalog and offer-editing tools exposed by the server, so it should not invent products that are not found in the catalog. Offer chat requires OPENAI_API_KEY.

7. Accept and download

Click Accept draft when the draft is ready. The accepted view renders a PDF preview and provides a download action.

Use Back to draft when another review pass is needed.

What is still implementation-specific

Solivio is intentionally kept as a practical starting point. The current app provides the local quoting workflow and the server boundaries for catalog, offer, PDF, auth, and AI features. Production implementations usually still need company-specific work around:

• catalog field mapping and price rules,
• ERP or CRM synchronization,
• approval workflow,
• final offer document design,
• user provisioning and SSO,
• observability and backups.