Every 6 hours

Get warned before BigCommerce products sell out

Slack tells you which SKUs have fallen under their low-stock level, once per item.

Runs: Every 6 hours
Apps: BigCommerce
AI: Not needed
Access: Products read-only scope

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: every 6 hours, check my BigCommerce products and variants and post to #inventory in Slack any that are below their low-stock warning level, with the SKU and how many are left.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

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Why use it

Why teams use this automation

Selling out of a popular product is good news until it happens before you reorder. A BigCommerce store with a few hundred SKUs cannot be checked product by product, and the stock level that triggers a reorder depends on supplier lead time. A bestseller reaches zero on a Friday, the supplier needs three weeks, and the listing sits as out of stock while advertising keeps sending shoppers to it.

Every six hours, ClickRuntime lists your products and variants with their inventory level and their inventory warning level, filters those at or below the warning level and skips any it has already reported. It sends one notification listing the SKUs that need reordering.

It suits stores that keep their own stock and have suppliers with long or unpredictable lead times. It also helps when a supplier raises prices and you want to know which lines to restock first.

What you get out of it

Reorders are placed before stock runs out
An alert at the warning level gives you the lead time you need. You avoid the lost sales and annoyed customers that come with empty shelves. You avoid the lost sales and annoyed customers that come with empty shelves.
Advertising money is not wasted
Ads that send shoppers to an out-of-stock product waste budget. Knowing when stock is low lets you pause or redirect spend in time. You can pause or redirect advertising before more shoppers land on an empty listing.
Thresholds follow each product
Each product has its own warning level in BigCommerce, so a fast-moving item warns earlier than a slow one. Alerts match the real reorder point for each SKU. Alerts follow the real reorder point for each product.
One alert per product prevents noise
Because reported SKUs are remembered, a product at low stock does not trigger a message every six hours. You get one reminder and then silence. You get one reminder and then silence until the situation changes.
Variants are checked individually
A shirt may be out of stock in one size and plentiful in the others. Checking variants shows which exact size or color needs reordering. You see which exact size or color needs reordering, not just the product name.

How it works

What happens, step by step

Every 6 hours, ClickRuntime checks the stock of your BigCommerce products and variants.
It compares each one with the low-stock level set in BigCommerce.
Items you were already warned about are skipped until they are restocked.
New low-stock items are posted to your #inventory Slack channel with the name, SKU and how many are left.

Before it runs live

Connect BigCommerce

What you get

RunsEvery 6 hours

Get warned before BigCommerce products sell outtoday, 9:00Succeeded

Slack · #inventoryBelow low-stock level: • Trail runner, size 9 (TR-BLK-09): 2 left

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.

Your own rules
Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.
Any number of apps
One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.
AI where it helps
Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.
On a schedule or on each event
Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

Run it at a different time, more or less often, or only on weekdays
Add an AI step, for example to summarize, sort or draft a reply
Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
Combine it with other BigCommerce steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.

low_stock_alert_bigcommerce.pyexample

from clickruntime import on_trigger, credentials, http, state, notify

API = "https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/your-store-hash/v3"

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    headers = {"X-Auth-Token": credentials.secret("BIGCOMMERCE_TOKEN"), "Accept": "application/json"}
    low, page = {}, 1
    while True:
        body = http.get(f"{API}/catalog/products", headers=headers,
                        params={"include": "variants", "limit": 250, "page": page}).json()
        for p in body["data"]:
            for v in p.get("variants", []):
                if v["inventory_warning_level"] and v["inventory_level"] < v["inventory_warning_level"]:
                    low[str(v["id"])] = f"• {p['name']} ({v['sku']}): {v['inventory_level']} left"
        if page >= body["meta"]["pagination"]["total_pages"]:
            break
        page += 1
    alerted = set(state.get("alerted") or [])
    new = [line for vid, line in low.items() if vid not in alerted]
    state.set("alerted", list(low))  # restocked variants can alert again
    if new:
        notify.slack("Below low-stock level:\n" + "\n".join(new), channel="#inventory")
    return {"low": len(low), "new": len(new)}

FAQ

Common questions

Where do I set the warning level for a product?

In the BigCommerce admin, edit the product and set the low stock level under inventory tracking. The alert compares the current stock with that number, so the warning appears when stock falls to or below it for that product or variant.

Will it alert again after I restock?

Once stock rises above the warning level, the product is no longer reported. If it falls below the level again later, a new alert is sent, since the memory is cleared for products that are back in a healthy range.

Does it work for products without inventory tracking?

No. Products with tracking switched off have no stock level to compare, so they are skipped. If you want alerts for them, turn on inventory tracking in BigCommerce and enter a stock level and warning level for each item.

What permissions does it need?

Products read-only scope. Nothing else in your accounts is used.

Does it need AI?

No. It runs without AI, so it doesn't use your plan's AI allowance.

How many runs does it use?

One run each time it runs (every 6 hours). Checks that find nothing to do and stop right away aren't counted.

Can I change how it works?

Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

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