Automate the busywork
Statuses advance, notifications go out, and records update themselves when the event that should trigger them happens.
AI at MainStem · since 2019
We’ve been putting AI to work since 2019.
It started with a prediction engine that forecast each customer’s next four weeks of purchasing. Today AI runs through the whole platform, matching products, answering questions, and watching for exceptions, while a swarm of agents keeps purchasing moving around the clock.
claude → mcp.mainstem.io/purchasingLive
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Built on
2019
Our first procurement prediction engine
24/7
The swarm never clocks out
8+
Ways to connect: Slack, Teams, email, Phenom, Claude, ChatGPT, MCP, and API
Our story
From a prediction engine to a swarm of agents
AI isn’t a feature we bolted on last quarter. It has been part of how MainStem works for years, and every generation has made the platform do more of the work for you.
2019
Predicting your next order
Our procurement prediction engine learned from each customer’s purchase history and forecast what they would need over the next four weeks, so reorders were lined up before anyone went looking.
2020
Matching every product
Advanced product matching compared items by what they are, not just the words on the listing, so the same product from different suppliers lined up and every item landed in the right category on its own.
2023
Answers on demand
We built our own AI search over MainStem’s support knowledge and your order history, so support questions and order lookups get real answers grounded in your data, in seconds.
Generative
Reading the paperwork
Large language models read supplier invoices and remittance files, pull out every line, and match them to the purchase orders and invoices they belong to.
Today
Agents, everywhere
MainStem Phenom™ in the apps, an MCP server and an API for your own AI, and a swarm of agents working in the background around the clock.
Across the platform
AI in the everyday work of buying
Since those first models, we’ve deployed AI across Purchase Pro and Supplier Core, taking on the repetitive, error-prone work that used to eat a buyer’s or an AP clerk’s afternoon.
Match items
What was asked for, what was ordered, and what was billed are lined up by SKU, quantity, and price, with AI to settle the close calls.
Watch for exceptions
Orders, invoices, and shipments are watched continuously, so the price that drifted or the line that never arrived surfaces on its own.
Read documents
Invoices and remittance files are read by AI, line by line, and turned into structured records you can approve.
AI proponents
We run on it, too
We’re unapologetic AI proponents. Our own team uses MainStem with Claude and ChatGPT for our internal processes, through the same MCP connectors we hand to our customers. If it helps us, it’s probably going to help you.
And we love helping you do it yourself:
- Connect Claude or ChatGPT to your MainStem account over MCP
- Build prompts and workflows around the way your team buys
- Scope every agent to the right people and permissions
We don’t just sell AI. We use it every day to run MainStem.
Many ways in
Wherever your team already works
Reach MainStem from Slack, Teams, or email, from Phenom inside the apps, from Claude or ChatGPT, or straight through MCP and the API. Every door opens onto the same MainStem API, and the API checks the caller’s permissions every time.
MainStem APIIn the app
MainStem Phenom™
Phenom is the assistant built into Purchase Pro™ and Supplier Core™. It calls the same API the app does, with the signed-in user’s token, so it can help with anything that user can do and nothing they can’t.
- Ask about the record you’re on, in plain language
- Search the marketplace and build requisitions by asking
- Acts only with the signed-in user’s permissions
In your assistant
MainStem MCP
Purchase Pro and Supplier Core each run an MCP server. Point Claude, ChatGPT, or any MCP client at it, sign in, and your assistant can search, requisition, and reconcile as you.
// Claude, ChatGPT, or any MCP client{ "mcpServers": { "mainstem": { "url": "https://mcp.mainstem.io/purchasing/mcp" } }}- search_shop
- create_requisition
- list_invoices
- get_three_way_match
- recheck_three_way_match
- omni_search
In your own code
MainStem API
Build your own agents, dashboards, and automations on the Purchasing API. It’s the same data Power Query and Excel read, ready for whatever model you want to put on top of it.
# Every shipment across your locationscurl -X POST https://api.mainstem.io/api/v1/shipments/list \ -H "MAINSTEM-API-KEY: $MAINSTEM_API_KEY"- /v1/invoices
- /v1/orders
- /v1/shipments
- /v1/products
- /v1/locations
- /v1/suppliers
- /v1/reports/line-item
The MainStem Swarm
A swarm of AI agents, working while you sleep
Behind every MainStem account is a swarm of agents that pick up work the moment it happens: tracking shipments, reconciling invoices, matching remittances, and more. Your team starts the day with it already done.
Swarm activity
IllustrativePermissioned by design
Every agent works inside your permissions
AI on MainStem is powerful because it is constrained. Nothing gets more access than the person who authorized it.
Your token, never a back door
Phenom, the MCP tools, and the API all call the same MainStem API, and the API authorizes every request.
Role-aware by default
A buyer and a finance lead get different reach because their permissions are different, and so do their agents.
Work you can audit
Agents record what they did on the record they touched, so automated steps leave a trail you can follow.
Let’s build it together
Put AI to work on your purchasing
Phenom in the app, Claude or ChatGPT over MCP, or an agent watching your invoices. Tell us where the hours go, and we’ll help you set it up.