AI add-on suggestions live in the Sales Matrix presentation flow (/app/sales-matrix/present), on the Additional Services step — the screen where a rep wraps up a visit by offering extra services on top of whatever the customer already picked (tint, PPF, ceramic coating, and so on). It takes no typed input from the rep: it reads the vehicle already tied to the session, whatever's already been selected elsewhere on this visit, and the shop's own list of active additional-service items, then returns 1 to 3 suggested add-ons — a name, a price, and a short one-line reason for each. Nothing is added to the sale automatically: a rep has to tap Add on a suggestion before it counts toward the order, and the order itself still isn't saved until the rep continues off the screen the normal way.
Getting a suggestion
The "AI add-on suggestions" panel only shows up if the shop has at least one active additional-service item configured — with nothing to suggest from, there's nothing to show. Tapping "Suggest add-ons" is what actually fires the AI call; the button shows "Thinking…" while it runs, then either a short list of suggestions or "No suggestions right now" if nothing in the catalog was judged a good fit. Reaching this screen, or leaving it idle, never triggers a suggestion on its own — it only runs when a rep asks for it. Once a result comes back, the button relabels to "Suggest again," and tapping it re-runs the request — you can get a different set of picks on a second try.
Adding a suggested item
Each suggestion in the list shows the item's name, price, and the one-line reason the AI attached to it. Tapping Add on a suggestion bumps that item's quantity by one, exactly the same as picking it manually from the category list below — the button then reads "Added" and won't let you add it again from that same suggestion card. Suggested items aren't treated any differently from manually picked ones from that point on: they sit in the same running total, and nothing is committed to the customer's sale until the rep continues off this screen through the normal advance flow.
Things to know
- No plan-tier requirement. This feature isn't gated by a specific plan — it's only limited by the shop's normal monthly AI spend cap, the same as SalesThumb's other AI add-ons.
- Suggestions are checked against your real catalog before you ever see them. The system only returns items that match a real, currently-active item in your shop's catalog — anything else (a stale id from a deactivated item, or anything that doesn't match) is silently dropped rather than shown.
- "No suggestions right now" can mean more than one thing. If the workspace doesn't have an `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` configured, the shop is over its AI spend cap for the period, or the AI request itself runs into a hiccup, the tool returns an empty result rather than inventing something to show or surfacing an error — you'll see the same "No suggestions right now" message in every one of those cases, so this state isn't distinguishable on screen from the AI genuinely finding no good fit in the catalog. Tap "Suggest add-ons" again any time you want to retry.
- It only looks at other categories for context, not this one. The AI considers what's already been picked in every other part of this visit, but not items already added within Additional Services itself during the same run — so a re-run can technically resurface something you already added. The Add button on that suggestion will already read "Added" and won't double it up.
- Capped at 3 picks per run, each with a short, one-line reason meant to be something a rep could say out loud to the customer.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Does the AI add anything to the customer's order by itself?
A: No. It only returns suggestions — a rep has to tap Add on each one before it affects the sale, and the sale still isn't saved until the rep continues off the screen the normal way.
Q: What plan do I need for this?
A: There's no specific plan tier required. It's limited only by the shop's normal monthly AI spend cap, same as SalesThumb's other AI tools.
Q: Can it suggest something that isn't really in our catalog, or that we've deactivated?
A: No. Every suggestion is checked against the shop's real, currently-active catalog before it reaches the screen. Anything that doesn't match a real active item — a stale id, for example — is dropped rather than shown.
Q: Why does it keep saying "No suggestions right now"?
A: That message covers more than one situation that all look identical on screen: the AI ran and genuinely didn't find a good fit in your catalog, the workspace is in stub mode (no ANTHROPIC_API_KEY configured) or over its AI spend cap for the period, or the request itself ran into a hiccup. Either way, you'll never get a made-up suggestion — it's an honest empty result rather than placeholder content, and tapping "Suggest add-ons" again simply retries.
Q: Can I run it more than once on the same visit?
A: Yes. Once you've gotten a result, the button relabels to "Suggest again," and tapping it re-runs the request — it can come back with a different set of picks each time.
Q: Does clicking "Suggest add-ons" cost anything if the customer doesn't select any extra service?
A: Every tap draws a small amount against the shop's monthly AI spend cap, whether or not the rep ends up adding a suggested item — just visiting the screen without tapping the button costs nothing.