the_inventory

Features

The Inventory is a comprehensive REST API for managing inventory, procurement, sales, and reporting. It’s built with Django and designed for multi-tenant SaaS deployments.

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Core Capabilities

📦 Inventory Management

Manage your product catalog and stock levels

• Products — Create and manage product catalog with SKU, descriptions, images, and pricing
• Categories — Organize products into hierarchical categories
• Stock Locations — Define warehouse and storage locations with hierarchical structure
• Stock Tracking — Real-time stock levels per product per location
• Stock Movements — Complete audit trail of all inventory changes (receive, issue, transfer, adjustment)
• Low Stock Alerts — Automatic alerts when stock falls below reorder points
• Unit of Measure — Support for different units (pieces, kg, liters, meters, boxes, packs)

🛒 Procurement

Manage supplier relationships and purchase orders

• Suppliers — Maintain supplier contacts, lead times, and terms
• Purchase Orders — Create and manage purchase orders with line items
• Goods Received Notes (GRN) — Track incoming goods and auto-update stock
• Order Status Workflows — Draft → Confirmed → Fulfilled
• Procurement Services — Confirm, cancel, and receive goods with validation

💳 Sales

Manage customer relationships and sales orders

• Customers — Maintain customer contacts and information
• Sales Orders — Create and manage sales orders with line items
• Dispatch/Shipment — Track shipments and auto-update stock
• Order Status Workflows — Draft → Confirmed → Fulfilled
• Sales Services — Confirm, cancel, and process dispatch with validation

📊 Reporting & Analytics

Gain insights into inventory health and business metrics

• Stock Valuation Reports — Weighted average and latest cost analysis
• Movement History — Complete audit trail with filtering by date, type, product, location
• Low Stock Report — Identify items below reorder points
• Overstock Report — Identify overstocked items
• Purchase Summaries — Daily, weekly, monthly aggregations
• Sales Summaries — Daily, weekly, monthly aggregations
• CSV & PDF Export — Export all reports in multiple formats
• Dashboard Charts — Visual analytics (stock by location, trends, order status)

🔐 Multi-Tenancy & SaaS

Support multiple organizations on a single deployment

• Tenant Isolation — Complete data separation between organizations
• Tenant Management — Create and manage organizations
• User Memberships — Assign users to organizations with roles
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) — Owner, Coordinator, Manager, Viewer roles
• Per-Tenant Branding — Customize admin interface per organization
• Subscription Hooks — Support for billing and plan limits

🌍 Internationalization

Support multiple languages

• Multi-Language Support — Backend supports multiple languages
• Language Parameter — API endpoint parameter for language selection
• Translation Workflow — Manage translations for product names, descriptions, etc.
• Supported Languages — English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Swahili, Kinyarwanda

🔌 REST API

Comprehensive REST API for all operations

• RESTful Endpoints — Standard HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE)
• JWT Authentication — Stateless token-based authentication
• Token Authentication — API token support for scripts and integrations
• Session Authentication — Browser-based authentication
• Pagination — Configurable page sizes with max limits
• Filtering — Advanced filtering on all list endpoints
• Search — Full-text search on products, suppliers, customers
• Ordering — Sort results by any field
• OpenAPI Schema — Auto-generated API documentation
• Swagger UI — Interactive API explorer
• Redoc — Beautiful API documentation

🔒 Security & Compliance

Enterprise-grade security features

• JWT Tokens — Secure stateless authentication
• CORS Support — Cross-origin requests for frontend integration
• CSRF Protection — Cross-site request forgery prevention
• Permission Enforcement — Fine-grained access control
• Audit Logging — Track all user actions
• API Impersonation — Support staff break-glass access
• Tenant Scoping — Automatic data isolation per tenant

🛠️ Admin Interface

Wagtail-based admin for platform operators

• Wagtail Admin — Powerful admin interface at /admin/
• Tenant Management — Create and manage organizations
• User Management — Create users and assign roles
• Reports — View all reports in admin
• Imports — Bulk import products, suppliers, customers
• Dashboard — Overview of system health and metrics

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Technical Capabilities

Database

• SQLite — Development (file-based)
• PostgreSQL — Production (recommended)
• Migrations — Automatic schema management

Search

• Database Search — Default full-text search backend
• Elasticsearch — Optional advanced search (Phase 4)

Performance

• Caching — Redis-based caching for frequently accessed data
• Pagination — Efficient data retrieval with configurable page sizes
• Indexing — Database indexes on frequently queried fields
• Async Tasks — Celery support for background jobs

Deployment

• Docker — Container-ready with Dockerfile
• Environment Variables — Flexible configuration
• Gunicorn — Production WSGI server
• Static Files — Optimized static file serving
• Media Storage — Support for local and cloud storage

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What’s NOT Included

Frontend

• No UI included — This is a headless API
• Frontend is separate — See the-inventory-ui for Next.js frontend
• API-first design — Build any frontend you want

Advanced Features (Planned)

• Barcode scanning — Planned for future release
• QR codes — Planned for future release
• Webhooks — Planned for future release
• Advanced analytics — Planned for future release

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Use Cases

Small Business

• Track inventory across single or multiple locations
• Manage suppliers and purchase orders
• Monitor stock levels and reorder points
• Generate reports for decision-making

Growing Company

• Multi-location inventory management
• Supplier and customer management
• Sales order processing
• Financial reporting and analysis

Enterprise

• Multi-tenant SaaS deployment
• Complex organizational structures
• Advanced reporting and analytics
• Integration with other systems

Third-Party Integrations

• Build custom frontends
• Integrate with accounting systems
• Connect to e-commerce platforms
• Build mobile apps

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API Endpoints Overview

Authentication

• POST /api/v1/auth/login/ — User login
• POST /api/v1/auth/refresh/ — Refresh access token
• GET /api/v1/auth/me/ — Get current user profile

Inventory

• GET/POST /api/v1/products/ — Product management
• GET/POST /api/v1/categories/ — Category management
• GET/POST /api/v1/stock-locations/ — Location management
• GET /api/v1/stock-records/ — Current stock levels
• GET/POST /api/v1/stock-movements/ — Stock movement history

Procurement

• GET/POST /api/v1/suppliers/ — Supplier management
• GET/POST /api/v1/purchase-orders/ — Purchase order management
• GET/POST /api/v1/goods-received-notes/ — GRN management

Sales

• GET/POST /api/v1/customers/ — Customer management
• GET/POST /api/v1/sales-orders/ — Sales order management
• GET/POST /api/v1/dispatches/ — Dispatch management

Reporting

• GET /api/v1/reports/stock-valuation/ — Stock valuation report
• GET /api/v1/reports/movements/ — Movement history report
• GET /api/v1/reports/low-stock/ — Low stock report
• GET /api/v1/reports/overstock/ — Overstock report
• GET /api/v1/reports/purchases/ — Purchase summary report
• GET /api/v1/reports/sales/ — Sales summary report

Tenants

• GET /api/v1/tenants/current/ — Current tenant info
• GET /api/v1/tenants/memberships/ — User memberships

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Getting Started

Ready to get started? Follow the Getting Started Guide.

For detailed API reference, see the API Documentation.

For deployment, see the Deployment Guide.

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