Warehouse Link
Final pre-departure checkpoint — stage warehouse items, load vehicles, reconcile ledgers, and seal the trailer.
Overview
Warehouse Link is the bridge between your warehouse staging area and the active fleet. It is the last checkpoint before a vehicle leaves the yard — you stage items from live warehouse inventory, load them into the bound vehicle, verify total weight against capacity, and seal the trailer to freeze the manifest. Only then can the Dispatcher Console authorise departure.
The Only Screen That Moves Units Between Warehouse and Fleet
Warehouse Link is the only screen authorised to transfer units from warehouse inventory to vehicle cargo manifests. No other screen performs this transfer. This ensures a clean audit trail for every unit that leaves the warehouse floor.
Quick Start
- Navigate to Logistics → Warehouse Link in the sidebar.
- Click an Idle dock tile in the left panel to activate it.
- Use the Vehicle Binding selector in the Reconciliation Centre to bind an active vehicle to this dock. The dock state changes to Docked.
- Use the Stage button next to a SKU in the warehouse inventory list to pull items to the dock staging area. The dock state changes to Loading.
- Click Bulk Load Verified to move all staged items into the vehicle cargo manifest, then click Seal Trailer & Authorize Departure to freeze the manifest and close the dock.
Dock States
Each physical loading dock goes through four states during a loading session:
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Idle | No vehicle is bound to this dock. The dock is available for use. |
| Docked | A vehicle has been bound to the dock via the Vehicle Binding selector. No items have been staged yet. |
| Loading | One or more items have been staged or loaded. The staging/loading workflow is active. |
| Departed | The trailer has been sealed. The manifest is frozen — no further items can be added or removed. The dock returns to Idle after the vehicle departs. |
Dual Ledger Architecture
Warehouse Link reads from and writes to two separate data sources simultaneously:
| Ledger | Source File | What It Contains |
|---|---|---|
| Warehouse Inventory | warehouse-inventory.json | Master stock counts by SKU and bin location. Decremented when items are staged to a dock. |
| Vehicle Cargo | fleet.json → vehicles[].cargo[] | Per-vehicle manifest of loaded items. Appended when items move from staging to the truck. |
The staging area (dock) acts as a temporary buffer between the two. Items exist in the staging area after they are pulled from warehouse stock but before they are formally loaded onto the vehicle.
Two-Phase Transfer
Moving goods from warehouse to vehicle happens in two distinct phases:
Phase 1 — Stage
Pull a SKU line from warehouse inventory to the dock staging area. The warehouse inventory count is decremented immediately, and an outbound movement is logged. Items in the staging area are not yet on the truck.
Phase 2 — Load
Move items from the staging area into the vehicle's cargo manifest. The staging count is decremented and the vehicle cargo is appended. Items are now officially on the truck.
This two-phase approach allows a warehouse picker to stage multiple SKUs into the dock area while a second worker loads them onto the truck — the two operations can happen concurrently without race conditions.
Per-Unit Weight
Every SKU loaded into a vehicle contributes weight toward the vehicle's capacity check. Unit weights are derived deterministically from the SKU's product category using a hash function — they are not stored per-record. The weight ranges are:
| Category | Weight Range |
|---|---|
| Furniture | 8–19 kg per unit |
| Electronics | 2–6 kg per unit |
| Office Supplies | 1–4 kg per unit |
Because weights are deterministic (the same SKU always gets the same weight), they are consistent across sessions and do not require a separate weight field on inventory records.
UI Walkthrough
The Warehouse Link screen uses a two-panel layout:
Left Panel (35%) — Dock Tiles
Shows all available loading docks with their current state badge, the bound vehicle plate, and a load progress bar showing how close the vehicle is to its structural capacity limit.
Right Panel (65%) — Reconciliation Centre
The main work area. Shows the Vehicle Binding selector at the top, two side-by-side ledgers (Staging Bin and Vehicle Cargo) below, and the Load and Seal actions at the bottom.
Staging Bin Ledger
Shows all items currently staged at the dock — waiting to be loaded onto the vehicle. Each line shows SKU, product name, quantity, and computed weight. Two load actions are available:
- Load Single SKU — moves one line from staging to vehicle cargo
- Bulk Load Verified — moves all staged lines at once (use after verifying the full staging list)
Vehicle Cargo Ledger
Shows the current manifest of everything already loaded onto the bound vehicle. Lines cannot be removed once loaded — if a loading error occurs, the item must be returned to warehouse stock via a separate inventory adjustment.
Seal Trailer & Authorize Departure
The Seal Trailer & Authorize Departure button becomes enabled only when all three conditions are met:
- Staging bin is empty — every staged item has been loaded onto the vehicle. No items are left in the dock staging area.
- Vehicle is not overloaded — total cargo weight is within the vehicle's structural capacity. If the vehicle is overloaded, the seal button is disabled and a red warning banner shows the exact overage in kg.
- A vehicle is bound — the dock must have a vehicle assigned via the Vehicle Binding selector.
Clicking Seal moves the dock state to Departed and freezes the manifest. The vehicle's cargo in fleet.json is finalised and the dock returns to Idle for the next loading session.
Overloaded Vehicle Blocks Sealing
If the total cargo weight exceeds the vehicle's structural capacity, you cannot seal the trailer. You must either remove some items (returning them to warehouse stock via an inventory adjustment) or switch to a higher-capacity vehicle. The red banner shows the exact kg overage to help you make the right decision.
AI Assistant
Click the AI Assistant tab anchored to the right edge of the screen to open a chat panel with context on every dock — dock ID, status (idle/docked/loading/departed), assigned vehicle, loaded weight vs. vehicle capacity, staged quantity still waiting outside the vehicle, and whether staged items remain unloaded. When a dock is selected it also focuses on that bay for next-step guidance.
Example Prompts
- "Which docks are currently loading or occupied?"
- "Which docks have staged items not yet loaded?"
- "Summarize vehicle capacity utilization across docks"
- "What should happen next at the selected dock?"
Analyze the Selected Dock
With a dock selected, the panel offers Analyse Selected Dock and Summarize Selected Dock shortcuts that scope the answer to that bay — its status, assigned vehicle, staged manifest, capacity, and recommended next action (assign vehicle, load staging, authorize departure).
Save as Report & Add Knowledge
After the assistant replies, a Save as Report button stores the response in My Reports with an auto-generated title. Use Add Knowledge in the input dock to attach documents so the assistant can reference your loading and dispatch procedures.