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This page gives you a structured overview of what Charlie does and how it works, drawn from the product documentation. It’s not a user manual — it’s the context you need to hold a credible technical conversation with a client. For the full documentation, visit docs.usecharlie.ai.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://partners.usecharlie.ai/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
How Charlie fits into Shopify.
Charlie runs as Shopify Functions — meaning all routing logic executes natively inside Shopify’s infrastructure at checkout. No external API calls, no latency added, no middleware to maintain. Charlie augments Shopify, it doesn’t replace it:| Shopify native | Charlie adds |
|---|---|
| Available inventory | Sellable inventory with safety stock |
| Basic order routing | 6 types of advanced routing rules |
| Location management | Daily capacity limits + performance data |
| Checkout process | Fulfillment constraints |
Order routing.
Charlie offers 2 complementary layers of routing control.Fulfillment constraints - hard rules.
Constraints block specific locations from fulfilling specific orders. If no eligible location remains, checkout is blocked. Use for absolute business requirements. Examples: fragile items can never ship from a small store, a specific brand must only ship from a dedicated location. Constraint types: product rules, customer rules, cart rules, shipment limits.Routing rules - soft rules.
Routing rules rank locations by preference without blocking any. If the top-ranked location is out of stock, Charlie falls back to the next. Use for optimization. 6 available rule types:| Rule | Logic |
|---|---|
| Ranked location groups | Create priority tiers — warehouse first, then stores, etc. |
| Product rules | Route based on what’s in the cart (collection, brand, product tag) |
| Customer rules | Route based on who’s ordering (B2B, VIP, customer tag) |
| Cart rules | Route based on cart properties (quantity, value, line item attributes) |
| Inventory rules | Prefer locations with more available stock — reduces split shipments |
| Capacity rules | Prefer locations with more available capacity — avoids overload |
Safety stock.
Safety stock reserves a portion of inventory so it never reaches the sales channels. Sellable inventory = available inventory - safety stock. 2 configuration modes:- Prefer other locations — soft approach, overflows when no alternative exists
- Block orders — hard block, location excluded when threshold is reached
- Rules-based (recommended) — apply in bulk across products, collections, and location types. Fixed quantity or percentage.
- Variant-level — set per product variant for granular exceptions
- Online store cart block — prevents checkout when cart exceeds sellable stock
- Theme integration — displays accurate sellable stock on storefront (requires front-end dev — see Custom development)
- Shopify POS — shows sellable stock to store staff, preventing sells through reserves
Analytics.
Charlie’s analytics dashboard tracks fulfillment network performance across all locations. Overview metrics: revenue, average fulfillment time, on-time rate. Fulfillment flow: routed > on hold > rerouted > fulfilled. Breaks down where bottlenecks occur. Per-location table: revenue, orders fulfilled, average time, on-time rate — comparable across all locations. Reroute analysis: which locations orders are being moved between, and at what frequency. Frequent reroutes from the same location signal capacity or stock issues. Export: CSV export per filter (location performance + reroute patterns). PDF available.Automations.
Charlie provides pre-built Shopify Flow templates. No third-party tools, no custom code. Current template: schedule location capacity by day of week — set different order limits per day automatically (e.g., 100 orders Mon-Thu, 50 on Saturday, 0 on Sunday). Custom automations can be built from scratch using Charlie’s Flow action: Set location capacity.Activity logs.
Full audit trail of all configuration changes — who changed what, when, and whether it was a team member or the system. Covers locations, safety stock rules, fulfillment constraints, shipment limits, and app settings. Searchable and filterable by action type, resource type, and date.Locations.
Charlie supports multiple location types (warehouse, store, etc.) with tags for use in routing rules. Each location can have a daily order capacity limit. Capacity feeds directly into routing decisions.Next: Integrations.
Third-party tools and ERP compatibility.