Cord AI: automatic quotes
Paste an email or upload a PDF or a photo of a napkin and Cord fills the lines from your catalog.
What it is
Cord AI is the artificial intelligence engine in the quote and invoice editor. It reads an order as text, a PDF, or an image, extracts products and quantities, and matches them against your real catalog. It doesn’t save or send anything on its own: it fills the editor’s lines and you decide.
Requirements
- Permission: Quotes, to open New quote.
- Plan: all, with a monthly allowance per plan (see below).
- Catalog: Cord AI matches against your products. Without a catalog, everything comes in as free lines.
How to use it
- Open Quotes › New quote. The first block, above the editor’s three steps, is Build the quote with AI. You can also get there from the command palette with Build with AI.
- Paste the order into the text box, attach a file with the clip (Attach photo or PDF), or both.
- Click Build quote with AI. When it finishes, Cord tells you how many lines it built, for example “3 lines ready. Check quantities and prices.”
- Review the lines that were added, pick the client, adjust prices and terms, and save or send.
If you’d rather enter lines by hand, you don’t need the AI block: go straight to step 1 and add lines from the catalog search (see Products and discounts).
When it shows and when it folds
- New quote or invoice with no lines: the block shows open.
- A document that already has lines (for example, a draft you reopen): the block starts folded as a one-line bar with an Open button. Open it to use it again.
- New version of a sent quote: the block doesn’t appear; in a version you adjust lines by hand.
- Invoice: the same block appears as Build the invoice with AI, with the Build invoice with AI button, and uses the same monthly allowance.
If the document already has lines when you build with AI, Cord asks “Replace the current lines?” and lets you choose Replace or Add at the end.
What it can read
| Input | Limit | What Cord AI does |
|---|---|---|
| Text (email, WhatsApp, notes) | 2,000 characters | Finds matches in your catalog, takes the list price and, if the client mentions a lower price, proposes it as negotiated. |
| PDF (purchase order, requisition, tender) | 3 MB, can have several pages | Reads it with the same vision model as a photo, with no separate OCR. |
| Image (JPG, PNG, or WEBP) | Cord compresses it before uploading | Reads the photo and builds the lines. |
Anything it can’t find in your catalog comes in as a free line so you decide what to do with it; if the order had no price, the line asks you for one before saving. The list price and product data always come from your catalog, not from the text.
Human review
Cord AI is a copilot. You:
- confirm the products are the right ones;
- adjust quantities if something was misread;
- choose the client, prices, and terms before saving or sending.
Your connected systems
If you connected other systems in Settings › Artificial intelligence (your CRM, your ERP or an MCP-compatible database), Cord AI can look them up while building the quote. It’s available on Scale and Developer, with these rules:
- No tools by default. A newly connected system starts with no tools allowed. In its row, click Tools and turn on, one by one, the ones the AI may use.
- Read or write. Cord only treats a tool as read-only when the system itself declares it that way. Any other tool can change data and shows as Can change data · asks to confirm.
- Confirmation before every write. If Cord AI wants to use a tool that can change data, it stops and shows you the system, the tool name and what it will send. It only runs if you click Use the tool; with Don’t use it nothing is sent and Cord AI finishes the quote without it. Each confirmation works once, for 15 minutes, and your decision is recorded in the Audit log.
- Nothing with photos, PDFs or emails. When you attach a file, or quote from the Gmail add-on, Cord AI reads the order without access to your connected systems: a document or an email from someone else could carry hidden instructions.
Read-only tools run without asking, so turn on only the ones you need. Removing a permission or pausing the connection doesn’t undo what a tool already did in that system.
Limits by plan
Each build that identifies products uses one unit of the monthly allowance. If it identifies none, nothing is used.
| Free | Starter | Pro | Scale | Developer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Builds included per month | 3 | 20 | 50 | 500 | No cap |
| Beyond the allowance | Stops | Overage billed | Overage billed | Overage billed | Not applicable |
See your usage in Settings › Plans & subscription › Subscription.
Common problems
“Write the order, paste it or attach a photo or PDF.” You clicked the button with no text and no file.
“The PDF is over 3 MB.” Scan it at a lower resolution or upload a photo instead.
“Upload a photo (JPG, PNG or WEBP) or a PDF.” You attached another format. Spreadsheets aren’t processed by this assistant; to load many products use the CSV import.
I don’t see the AI text box. The block is folded because the document already has lines: click Open. A new version of a sent quote has no AI block.
It matched a product wrong. Clear names and defined SKUs in your catalog improve matching. Fix the line before sending.
Frequently asked questions
Does Cord AI replace the seller? No. It fills a draft that a person always reviews before it’s sent.
Does it work in any language? Yes. It understands orders in Spanish, English, and other languages and matches them against your catalog.