inFlow Inventory MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides comprehensive tools for interacting with the inFlow Inventory API. This enables AI assistants like Claude to manage your inventory, orders, customers, and more.

Current package version: 1.4.0-alpha.2

Features

• Products: List, search, create, update products and check inventory levels
• Sales Orders: Create customer orders and patch existing orders without dropping unmentioned lines or serial numbers
• Purchase Orders: Create vendor purchase orders, receive stock, and reverse received stock
• Customers & Vendors: Manage customer and vendor records
• Inventory Operations: Stock adjustments, transfers, counts, and manufacturing orders
• Manufacturing Orders: Create or patch work orders while preserving output/input lines and serial numbers
• Product Manufacturing: Read, compare, preview, and concurrency-check BOM, operation-template, and manufacturing-setting changes
• Product Groups: Discover groups, options, variants, and per-location variant quantities
• Planning & Audit: Product-group manufacturing audit and exact direct/leaf/net BOM requirements
• Prices & Traceability: Exact pricing-scheme rows plus manufacturing-order line/pick/matching trace
• Mutation Safety: Signed previews, dual current-state hashes, timestamps, durable status, idempotency, and readback verification
• Serial Numbers: Query serial numbers from orders or product inventory lines
• Reference Data: Locations, categories, pricing schemes, payment terms, currencies, tax codes
• Webhooks: Subscribe to inFlow events

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22
• An active inFlow Inventory subscription with API add-on
• inFlow API credentials (Company ID and API Key)

Installation

git clone https://github.com/bigl34/inflow-mcp-server.git
cd inflow-mcp-server

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the TypeScript
npm run build

Configuration

Getting Your API Credentials

1. Log in to your inFlow Inventory account
2. Go to Settings > Integrations
3. Find your Company ID on the integrations page
4. Click Add New API Key to generate a new key

Environment Variables

Set the following environment variables:

# Required
export INFLOW_COMPANY_ID="your-company-id"
export INFLOW_API_KEY="your-api-key"

# Optional
export INFLOW_BASE_URL="https://cloudapi.inflowinventory.com"  # Default
export INFLOW_API_VERSION="2026-04-13"  # Default API version
# Safe preview/apply control plane (closed by default)
export INFLOW_ENABLE_SAFE_WRITES="false"
export INFLOW_ENABLE_STOCK_WRITES="false"
# Manufacturing pick-batch additionally requires this gate
export INFLOW_ENABLE_MANUFACTURING_PICK_BATCH_WRITES="false"
# Deprecated diagnostic compatibility inputs; these authorize no safe writes
export INFLOW_ENABLE_MANUFACTURING_WRITES="false"
export INFLOW_ENABLE_PRICE_WRITES="false"
export INFLOW_ENABLE_PRODUCT_GROUP_WRITES="false"
export INFLOW_ENABLE_MO_SERIAL_WRITES="false"
export INFLOW_ENABLE_STANDARD_WRITES="false"
export INFLOW_STATE_DIR="$HOME/.local/state/inflow-mcp"
export INFLOW_RATE_LIMIT="60"  # Requests per minute (default: 60)
export INFLOW_REQUEST_TIMEOUT="30000"  # Request timeout in ms (default: 30000)
export INFLOW_MAX_RETRIES="3"  # Max retries on 5xx/429 errors (default: 3)
export INFLOW_RETRY_DELAY="1000"  # Initial retry delay in ms (default: 1000)
export INFLOW_DEBUG="true"  # Enable debug logging (default: false)

Manufacturing-run coordinator

The manufacturing-run coordinator is a separate HTTP/worker binary; it does not run inside the stdio MCP server. Build first, then use npm run validate:coordinator to validate the secure credential environment without starting the listener, or npm run start:coordinator to start the loopback service. The launcher reads its absolute 0600, single-link, current-user-owned credential file from the Mac runtime configuration. Build identity is derived from the running release artifacts; the coordinator credential file must not contain INFLOW_ADAPTER_MANIFEST_HASH or INFLOW_PROBE_BUILD assertions.

In addition to the normal inFlow company/API values, the coordinator credential environment requires:

INFLOW_COORDINATOR_HMAC_CURRENT_KID=coordinator-current
INFLOW_COORDINATOR_HMAC_CURRENT_SECRET=<at-least-32-bytes>
INFLOW_COORDINATOR_RUN_READY_WEBHOOK_URL=https://hooks.zapier.com/...
INFLOW_COORDINATOR_TERMINAL_WEBHOOK_URL=https://hooks.zapier.com/...

Optional rotation and delivery controls are:

INFLOW_COORDINATOR_HMAC_NEXT_KID=coordinator-next
INFLOW_COORDINATOR_HMAC_NEXT_SECRET=<at-least-32-bytes>
INFLOW_COORDINATOR_WEBHOOK_AUDIENCE=zapier-webhook
INFLOW_COORDINATOR_WEBHOOK_MAX_ATTEMPTS=5
INFLOW_COORDINATOR_WEBHOOK_RETRY_DELAY_MS=5000
INFLOW_COORDINATOR_WEBHOOK_TIMEOUT_MS=10000
INFLOW_COORDINATOR_WEBHOOK_CLAIM_TTL_MS=30000

Both callback URLs must be HTTPS and must not contain credentials. Callback events are stored transactionally with their state transition and delivered at least once with deterministic event IDs. The delivery timeout must be shorter than the durable claim TTL. Each request body contains a canonical manufacturing-run-callback/v1 envelope whose HMAC binds the callback kind, event and operation identity, state revision, marker, audience, company, timestamp, nonce, key ID, and payload hash. A callback workflow must verify that body signature before any status, resolve, claim, or Slack action; HTTP headers alone are not callback authorization. Terminal claims are bound to the deterministic notification ID inside the verified payload, so an out-of-order or replayed callback cannot claim another pending notification. Slack notification posts use a separate claim/ack outbox: an ambiguous post must be marked delivery_unknown and reconciled explicitly, never reposted automatically. The coordinator's stock-moving manufacturing writes are controlled by their environment gates alone. That coordinator boundary is separate from product BOM/config confirmation.

New manufacturing runs use manufacturing-run-identity/v2, keeping the source serial and finished serial as separate immutable identities. Before component collection, the coordinator validates the complete rooted expanded MO hierarchy, excludes expanded structural subassemblies from consumption, and binds the source serial to exactly one quantity-one consumable raw line at the selected location. The binding is revalidated at readiness and immediately before the dispatch fence. Exact bound serials may proceed when aggregate availability covers the requested unit even if unrelated inventory is allocated; an unavailable binding blocks with structured evidence and never substitutes another serial.

New v1 begins are refused. Stored v1 runs remain readable: an already-fenced dispatch_uncertain run may perform exact readback-only reconciliation, while other active v1 states are quarantined as blocked and cannot prepare or dispatch a provider mutation.

Claude Desktop Configuration

Add to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "inflow-inventory": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/inflow-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "INFLOW_COMPANY_ID": "your-company-id",
        "INFLOW_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

Product Management

Sales Orders

Purchase Orders

Customers

Vendors

Inventory Operations

Status and safe writes

get_mcp_status returns additive mcp-status/v2 data without exposing the company ID or credentials. writePolicies.safe.operations reports each operation's fixed ordinary or stock classification, static adapter support, effective apply state, required gates, and reason. Every registered set_*, receipt, reconcile, and remove_webhook adapter is statically supported; apply is controlled only by INFLOW_ENABLE_SAFE_WRITES (all) and INFLOW_ENABLE_STOCK_WRITES (stock-affecting). Adapter projections follow the provider swagger: order and adjustment/transfer rows are lines[] with quantity objects, customers and vendors have no nested contacts include, and webhooks carry no rowversion. Old per-domain status fields remain present but are marked deprecated and disabled. legacyBypassActive is always true while deprecated immediate-write tools are registered.

The safe control plane has only two general switches:

• every supported preview/apply dispatch requires

INFLOW_ENABLE_SAFE_WRITES=true;

• stock-affecting dispatch also requires

INFLOW_ENABLE_STOCK_WRITES=true.

Manufacturing pick-batch additionally requires its dedicated environment gate. Canary attestations are release evidence only and are not checked at runtime for the coordinator domains. Product BOM/manufacturing configuration retains its explicit-confirmation policy and also requires the master safe-write gate. Every applicable gate is checked again immediately before network dispatch, so closing a gate invalidates an existing preview. Closing a gate cannot reverse a completed write; unknown outcomes remain journalled and are reconciled by readback without redispatch. get_mutation_status reads that durable journal and never repeats a write.

The 1.4.x compatibility line retains the old immediate upsert_*, receipt, and webhook-delete tools as deprecated interfaces. Their descriptions and every invocation emit prominent high-severity bypass telemetry, but they remain callable and are not controlled by INFLOW_ENABLE_SAFE_WRITES. New automation must never fall back to one after a safe rejection and should use the stable preview-first names: set_product, set_sales_order, set_purchase_order, set_purchase_order_receipts, set_customer, set_vendor, set_stock_adjustment, set_stock_transfer, set_stock_count, set_manufacturing_order, set_taxing_scheme, set_webhook, and remove_webhook. Generic product writes reject fields owned by price, product-group, or BOM/manufacturing tools. Unknown and mixed operations fail closed. Static support remains per concrete adapter, so opening a gate cannot expose an unfinished adapter.

set_product is a released ordinary adapter. On every adapter whose writable projection includes customFields (set_product, set_sales_order, set_purchase_order, set_customer, set_vendor, set_stock_adjustment, set_stock_transfer, set_manufacturing_order), patch mode deep-merges the supplied customFields keys into the complete current custom-field object, including explicit falsy and null values; omitted sibling keys are preserved and sent in the PUT body, because inFlow replaces the whole object on write. Patch mode does not delete keys, and a non-object patch customFields container fails closed as INVALID_CUSTOM_FIELDS on every such adapter. Replace mode retains whole-object semantics; only set_product validates the replace-mode container. Before the <resource>/safe-v4 bump only set_product merged; a partial patch on any other adapter replaced the object and blanked its siblings, and readback could not catch it because desired and actual dropped the same keys.

The set_product writable projection is name, description, sku, categoryId, isActive, weight, and customFields — the scalar properties the Product schema actually stores. barcode, cost, reorderPoint, reorderQuantity, and weightUnit are rejected up front with OPERATION_UNSUPPORTED instead of being sent: inFlow keeps barcodes in productBarcodes[] rows and reorder thresholds in per-location reorderSettings[] rows, cost is the read-only ProductCost relation derived from purchase receipts and vendor prices, and the weight unit is a company-wide setting. A PUT carrying any of them returns 200 and silently drops the key, so the readback could never verify. weight is a decimal the provider echoes as four-decimal text (2.5 → "2.5000"), so the semantic projection used for diffs, staleness hashes, update readback and reconciliation canonicalises only the fields a definition declares in decimalFields; sku and every other text field in that projection stay verbatim, so a leading-zero edit is still a real write. (The create path's requested-field comparison keeps its earlier decimal-tolerant matching on every requested leaf.) This moved the product adapter version to product/safe-v5; retained idempotency keys and preview tokens do not cross that bump. The same echo applies to every other decimal the provider stores: exchangeRate (ten decimals), customer and vendor discount (two), lines[].unitPrice / subTotal / tax rates (five), and every quantity.standardQuantity / uomQuantity on order, adjustment, transfer and manufacturing rows (four). Each definition declares those decimalPaths ([] walks a row array) and the projection canonicalises exactly those leaves, so set_sales_order, set_purchase_order, set_customer, set_vendor, set_stock_adjustment, set_stock_transfer and set_manufacturing_order moved to <resource>/safe-v5; set_stock_count, set_taxing_scheme and set_webhook carry no decimals and stay on safe-v2. Row writes in patch or replace mode still compare the caller's rows against the provider's complete rows, so a row that omits provider-populated fields (subTotal, description, tax codes) verifies only through the create path's requested-field comparison. get_mutation_status reconcile=true still settles product/safe-v2..safe-v4 journal records: it hashes the readback with the twelve-field projection those versions recorded, so the reconcilable subset described above is unchanged, while safe-v5 records use the seven-field projection.

inFlow stores checkbox custom fields as the text True/False and date custom fields as MM/DD/YYYY 00:00:00, whatever JSON type the write supplied. Every generic adapter with a customFields projection therefore reads the tenant's /custom-field-definitions (cached per process for five minutes; CUSTOM_FIELD_DEFINITIONS_UNAVAILABLE fails the call closed) and canonicalises only the slots whose definition type is checkbox or date inside the semantic projection used for diffs, staleness hashes, readback verification, and get_mutation_status reconciliation: on a checkbox slot true/"True" compare equal, and on a date slot 2026-09-18, 2026-09-18T00:00:00.000Z, and 09/18/2026 00:00:00 compare equal. Text slots are compared verbatim, so a case-only text edit is still a real write. The dispatched body is not rewritten. Values a checkbox or date slot holds outside those exact forms (Yes, -, non-midnight timestamps, impossible dates) are compared verbatim, so a write that inFlow reshaped in any other way still reports VERIFICATION_MISMATCH. This changed the product adapter version to product/safe-v4 and the other customFields-bearing adapters to <resource>/safe-v3; the sibling-preserving patch merge then moved those other adapters to <resource>/safe-v4. Retained idempotency keys and preview tokens do not cross either bump (a retained key is refused as IDEMPOTENCY_KEY_CONFLICT). Product journal records written under earlier versions keep the desiredHash computed from their raw values, so reconciliation advances them only when that raw projection already equals the canonical readback (boolean-only patches on a product whose date slots are empty); records that carried a date value stay applied_unverified and need a fresh preview/apply. get_mutation_status reconciliation is registered only for product, product-prices, and product-manufacturing-config; a non-product record left under safe-v2 or safe-v3 returns ADAPTER_RECONCILIATION_NOT_REGISTERED, so it cannot be advanced and needs an owner check of the journal before state plus a fresh preview/apply.

Product creation verifies the planned product ID and explicitly supplied fields, allowing inFlow to populate omitted fields with defaults. The signed preview, idempotency mapping, and operation journal bind the canonical create input, including the distinction between omission and explicit null. Existing-product updates retain full desired-state verification. Recovery of a failed create requires the original request and retained idempotency key; readback can then verify the same operation without dispatching another write. Legacy records missing the input binding require a reviewed recovery from the recorded original request before that key can be reused: MutationJournal.restoreInputScope(operationId, inputHash) binds the hash of that request to the record and its idempotency mapping, only for reconcilable keyed creates that carry no binding yet, after the caller has confirmed the request reproduces the journaled desiredHash. The CLI runs the server from dist/, so a source fix is not live until npm run build has been rerun.

Idempotency keys are required for creates, additive changes, stock-affecting changes, and multi-step mutations. Deterministic full replacement with conclusive readback does not require a key. Deletes bind the exact target in the preview, verify absence, and return already_absent when repeated against a missing target.

Serial Numbers

Reference Data

Webhooks

Usage Examples

List Products

List all active products in the "Electronics" category

Create a Sales Order

Create a sales order for customer "Acme Corp" with:
- 5 units of product SKU-001 at $29.99 each
- 10 units of product SKU-002 at $15.00 each
Required by next Friday

Patch a Sales Order

Update sales order SO-1001:
- change the required date to next Monday
- update line abc123 to quantity 2 with serial numbers SN-001 and SN-002
- remove line def456

Receive a Purchase Order

Receive all remaining items on purchase order PO-1001 at the Main Warehouse

Reverse a Purchase Order Receipt

Unreceive 1 unit of product SKU-001 from purchase order PO-1001 as a dry run first

Check Inventory

What's the current stock level for product "Widget Pro" across all locations?

Compare and update a BOM safely

Call compare_product_boms with the target product and analogous variants, then preview the desired change:

{
  "productId": "target-product-id",
  "mode": "replace",
  "components": [
    { "childProductId": "component-id", "quantity": "1" }
  ],
  "dryRun": true
}

Apply only by repeating the request with dryRun:false, the signed previewToken, currentSemanticHash, currentWriteShapeHash, entityTimestamp, desiredHash, any returned idempotencyKey, and confirmation:{scope,confirmationHash} copied from the reviewed fresh preview. The confirmation hash must be the full lowercase 64-character value. The server reconstructs the scope from live state and runtime identity and trusts neither supplied field. It validates confirmation before no-op, idempotency creation, journalling, or dispatch; a stale build, tenant, source, target, or state requires a new preview and confirmation.

INFLOW_ENABLE_MANUFACTURING_WRITES and attestations/manufacturing.json are deprecated compatibility inputs and do not authorize or block set_product_manufacturing_config or copy_product_manufacturing_config. Those tools retain exact preview confirmation and now require INFLOW_ENABLE_SAFE_WRITES=true at apply. The manufacturing probe remains useful as non-authorizing API/serializer and optimistic-concurrency characterization. Stock-moving manufacturing-order writes require both general gates; pick-batch also requires its dedicated coordinator gate.

Manufacturing pick-batch live canary v2

npm run probe:manufacturing-canary -- --mode pick-batch --scenario <absolute-path> --approvals <absolute-path> --runtime-material <absolute-path> runs the checkpointed v2 protocol through the credentialed launcher. The launcher reads the existing owner-only coordinator credential file, requires all JSON materials to be absolute owner-only regular files, and refuses to run unless the master, stock, and coordinator production gates are closed. It never prints credentials or material bodies. The lower-level npm run probe:manufacturing-pick-batch entry point remains useful for offline tests but is not the live operator boundary. The older manufacturing-pick-batch-canary-scenario/v1 manifest is refused as not live-executable. Keep INFLOW_ENABLE_MANUFACTURING_PICK_BATCH_WRITES absent/false throughout the canary and use a dedicated idle INFLOW_RATE_LIMIT=20 process. The command uses:

• INFLOW_MANUFACTURING_PICK_BATCH_CANARY_SCENARIO_JSON for the strict v2

two-subject manifest (complete has no operations; staging has operations);

• INFLOW_MANUFACTURING_PICK_BATCH_CANARY_APPROVALS_JSON for the array of

stage approvals printed from the current checkpoint/plan;

• INFLOW_MANUFACTURING_PICK_BATCH_CANARY_RUNTIME_MATERIAL_JSON for reviewed

component intents, canary-only component serials, sentinel exclusion evidence, and exact expected rejection status/code pairs. V2 accepts only a predeclared HTTP status in 400, 409, 412, or 422 plus a non-empty provider code; the observed status and code must both match exactly. The characterized unavailable-serial response is HTTP 400 with provider code NegativeSerialNumberInventory.

The command is intentionally multi-run. With no approval it creates an owner-only checkpoint and prints the exact create plan. After each approved stage it stops at the next approval boundary: create, stock-move, negative-probes, read-only manual-completion-read, generated cleanup, and attest. Every mutation is durably fenced before dispatch, is dispatched at most once, and resumes with readback only. Full manufacturing-order reads use the provider-supported lines/operations/picks/matchings/puts include set; operation timesheets are normalized when present but are not a live include relationship. Cleanup is generated from the latest full bodies and rowversions; attestation is issued only after exact canonical inventory/serial restoration and real residual discovery. The final attest rerun performs fresh full-MO, order-number/marker list, and product inventory-line reads after approval; cached cleanup evidence cannot mint an attestation if any provider state has drifted.

Live prerequisites are five already isolated, operator-approved canary products: two finished products, one nonserialized structural subassembly, one serialized leaf component with dedicated serials, and one nonserialized leaf component. Each finished product has only the structural subassembly in its BOM; the subassembly owns both leaf components so the expanded-subassembly leaf-only contract is exercised. A dedicated location/reason, exact BOM and operation shapes, and approval of the two deterministic inert MO IDs are also required. This command does not provision or seed them. Provisioning, exact stock-adjustment apply/reversal, and cleanup must first pass through the separate checkpointed fixture workflow before the higher-risk canary stock stage runs.

Ordinary-domain canaries are release tests, not expiring runtime permissions. Every live canary requires separate operator approval for an exact inert resource; none runs merely because a safe-write gate is open. The approved inactive-product price fixture must start inactive with no price rows, and its two exact pricing schemes must be safe for disposable test prices:

INFLOW_CANARY_APPROVED=true \
INFLOW_CANARY_RESOURCE_ID="inactive-product-id" \
INFLOW_CANARY_BASELINE_PRICING_SCHEME_ID="baseline-scheme-id" \
INFLOW_CANARY_PRICING_SCHEME_ID="candidate-scheme-id" \
npm run probe:domain -- prices "inactive-product-id" --approve-external-write

This probe exercises the production price serializer (including server-assigned row IDs), stale timestamps, preservation, remove/clear, and cleanup, then emits release evidence. Product-group and MO-serial release canaries use the same entry point with product-groups or mo-serials, exact INFLOW_CANARY_RESOURCE_ID, and the reviewed INFLOW_CANARY_PRODUCT_GROUP_FIXTURE or INFLOW_CANARY_MO_SERIAL_FIXTURE JSON. They prove full-array preservation/compensation or serial/inventory net-zero restoration respectively. A passing result does not open a runtime gate or make an adapter supported; release still requires a code change and normal review.

Product-group configuration and variant creation are supported under the master safe-write gate.

Concurrency, compensation and response-loss paths have automated tests. Retain the original preview token and idempotency key through apply and replay; never regenerate a create after an uncertain result.

Look Up Serial Numbers

Show all in-stock serial numbers for product "Widget Pro"

Create Stock Transfer

Transfer 50 units of "Widget Pro" from "Main Warehouse" to "Retail Store"

API Features

Filtering

Most list operations support filtering. For example:

list_products with name="Widget" and isActive=true

Pagination

Large result sets are paginated. Use skip and count parameters:

• count: Number of records to return (max 100)
• skip: Number of records to skip

Note: The default page size is 20 records. Always specify count when you need all records.

Sorting

All list operations support sorting:

• sort: Property name to sort by (e.g., "name", "modifiedDate", "orderDate")
• sortDesc: Set to true for descending order

list_products with sort="modifiedDate" and sortDesc=true

Total Count

To get the total number of matching records (useful for pagination UI), use includeCount:

list_sales_orders with status="Open" and includeCount=true

Response includes:

{
  "data": [...],
  "totalCount": 42
}

Smart Search

Some endpoints support smart parameter for fuzzy searching across multiple fields:

list_customers with smart="acme"  // Searches name, email, phone
list_sales_orders with smart="SO-2025"  // Searches order fields

Includes

Use the include parameter to fetch related data:

get_sales_order with include=["customer", "lines", "lines.product"]
get_product with include=["inventoryLines"]

The 2026-04-13 API rejects itemBoms.childProduct even though nested includes work for relationships such as productOperations.operationType. The BOM tools therefore fetch the product/BOM once, then resolve child products with a rate-limited concurrency of four. Failed child enrichment produces warnings and never drops a BOM row.

Partial Updates

upsert_sales_order and upsert_manufacturing_order support safe partial updates when id is provided:

• Existing fields and lines that are not mentioned are preserved.
• Line patches merge by explicit line ID, or by product ID when there is exactly one matching line.
• Sales order lines listed in deleteLineIds are removed.
• Manufacturing order input lines listed in deleteInputLineIds are removed.
• Serial numbers can be patched without rebuilding the whole order manually.

Concurrency Control

When updating records, include the timestamp field from the original record to prevent conflicts.

Rate Limiting

The inFlow API has a rate limit of 60 requests per minute. This server implements:

• Token bucket rate limiting: Automatically paces requests to stay within limits
• Automatic retries: Retries on 5xx errors and rate limit (429) responses with exponential backoff
• Configurable limits: Override via INFLOW_RATE_LIMIT environment variable

Error Handling

The server returns descriptive error messages from the inFlow API. Common errors include:

• 401 Unauthorized: Invalid API key
• 404 Not Found: Resource doesn't exist
• 409 Conflict: Timestamp mismatch (record was modified)
• 429 Too Many Requests: Rate limit exceeded (automatically retried)

Development

# Watch mode for development
npm run dev

# Build for production
npm run build

# Run the server
npm start

# Run tests
npm test

# Run tests in watch mode
npm run test:watch

# Run tests with coverage
npm run test:coverage

API Documentation

• inFlow API Documentation
• inFlow API Support Guide

License

MIT