Generating products
Permission: Generate Product with AI
Products have four AI surfaces — more than any other module — because a product is more than a name.
| Surface | Produces | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Product suggestion | Whole products, staged for confirmation | Catalogue / editor |
| Metadata | The Advanced Metadata blocks | Editor — the AI button on that section |
| Description | Long-form product copy | Editor |
| Image | A generated hero image | Editor |
1. Product suggestion — and the staging table
Unlike every other generator, suggested products are written to a staging area first
(staging_products) and only become real products when confirmed.
The confirm step is a separate API call gated on the same products.createwithai permission.
They are not products yet, so they do not appear in the list, in a brochure, or on the storefront. The reference tenant has 2 staged products that have sat unconfirmed — easy to forget, because nothing surfaces them outside the review drawer.
2. Description generation
Generates long-form copy for a product from its name and context. Written into the description field of the language you are currently editing.
It fills the active language tab, not all of them. Use Deep Translate in the editor header afterwards if you want the others.
3. Image generation
Produces a hero image for the product.
Images cost materially more credits than text. There is no preview — the credit is spent on Generate, whether or not you keep the result.
Two operational notes that are not visible in the UI:
cwebp must be installed on the server | Generated images are converted to WebP. Without the binary they are saved as multi-megabyte PNGs instead |
| Bulk images are a Storefront feature | For many products at once, use Allow Bulk product Image Upload — a different module in the e-Commerce category |
4. Metadata generation
The AI button on the editor's Advanced Metadata section proposes key/value blocks — nutritional information, provenance, preparation notes.
Nothing in Inventory reads these blocks. They exist for integrations and the external API, so generate them only if something downstream consumes them.
5. What AI does not produce
| Not generated | Must be done by hand |
|---|---|
| Variations and SKUs | The editor |
| Prices | The editor |
| Bills of material | The editor |
| Tax category | The editor, from Finance's list |
| Category assignment | The editor, or Bulk Edit |
It arrives with no variation — and a product with no variation cannot be bought. Generation gives you the identity and the copy; the commercial detail is still a manual pass.
6. Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause |
|---|---|
| No AI controls in the editor | Missing products.createwithai, or the utility is not entitled |
| Generated product missing from the catalogue | It is staged, not confirmed |
| Generated image is enormous | cwebp is missing on the server, so the PNG was kept |
| Description filled only in English | Generation targets the active language tab; use Deep Translate |
| Credits spent with nothing to show | A failed generation still consumes the call |
| Product generated but not purchasable | It has no variations — see §5 |