Lotics AI
Lotics AI is built into every part of the platform. It is not a separate product or an add-on. It has access to over 50 tools that let it query your data, create and update records, build views, generate documents, set up workflows, send emails, and analyze your operations. You interact with it through natural language conversation, and it executes actions directly in your workspace.
What the AI assistant can do
The AI assistant has full access to your workspace. It can read and write data across all your tables, create new tables and fields, build filtered views, generate PDF and Excel and Word documents from templates, configure workflow automations, and send emails on your behalf. Every action the AI takes is the same action you could take manually. It uses the same tools, respects the same permissions, and produces the same results.
| Category | What it can do | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Data queries | Search, filter, aggregate, and analyze records across tables | "What's our total revenue from customer X this quarter?" |
| Record management | Create, update, delete, and link records | "Create a new shipment record for container MSKU1234567" |
| Views & setup | Create tables, add fields, build filtered/sorted views | "Add a priority field and create a view showing only high-priority items" |
| Documents | Generate PDFs, fill PDF forms, create Excel/Word reports from templates | "Generate a gate-in receipt for this container" |
| Workflows | Create and configure multi-step automations | "When a repair is marked complete, update the container status and notify the customer" |
| Send emails, set up email-triggered workflows | "Send the invoice PDF to the customer's email address" | |
| Analysis | Calculate totals, averages, trends, and comparisons across data | "Compare this month's container throughput with last month" |
| Import | Import data from CSV/Excel files, map columns to fields | "Import this spreadsheet and create a customers table from it" |
How the AI assistant works
The AI assistant operates with full workspace context. When a conversation starts, the assistant knows your table structure, field definitions, record relationships, active workflows, and document templates. This context means you can speak in business terms — "overdue invoices," "containers in yard," "pending repairs" — without mapping those concepts to technical field names or table IDs.
The assistant has access to a tool registry of over 50 operations. Each tool performs a specific action: querying records, creating a table field, generating a document, sending an email, or configuring a workflow step. When you make a request, the AI determines which tools to use, in what order, and with what parameters. Complex requests may chain multiple tools together.
The assistant remembers your conversation. You can ask follow-up questions, refine results, and build on previous requests without repeating context. A conversation might flow from "show me last month's revenue" to "break that down by customer" to "create a view that shows this breakdown permanently."
For interactions that require structured input — like configuring a multi-step workflow or reviewing a batch of records — the assistant can create apps. Apps are interactive pages with forms, dashboards, and actions. They live on a dedicated page with live data and filters, accessible from the navigation bar.
Example conversations
Shipment query: "Show me all containers owned by Maersk that arrived this week but haven't been inspected yet." The AI queries your containers table, filters by owner, arrival date range, and inspection status, then returns a formatted list. You can follow up: "Send inspection reminders to the assigned gate clerks for each of these containers." The AI looks up the assigned person for each record and sends individual notification emails.
Document generation: "Generate gate-out receipts for all containers being released today." The AI identifies containers with today's release date, pulls the relevant data (container number, owner, charges, timestamps), fills your PDF template for each one, and attaches the generated documents to the corresponding records. If you have an email workflow configured, it can also send each receipt to the container owner automatically.
Workflow setup: "When an email arrives from a shipping line with a container release order, extract the container number and release date, update the container record, change the status to awaiting-pickup, and notify the gate team." The AI creates a complete workflow: email trigger with sender filter, AI extraction step for parsing the email content, record update step, status change, and notification. The entire workflow is built and activated from a single conversation.
Revenue analysis: "What was our storage revenue last month, broken down by container size?" The AI queries your billing records, groups by container size, sums the amounts, and presents results. Follow up with "How does that compare to the same month last year?" and it runs the comparison without you repeating any context.
Spreadsheet import: "I have an Excel file with our customer list, their contracts, and billing rates all in one sheet. Import it and split it into separate linked tables." The AI reads the file, identifies the logical entities (customers, contracts, rates), creates three tables with appropriate field types, establishes record links between them, and imports the data with proper relationships preserved.
Email automation: "Set up a workflow that sends a weekly summary email every Monday to the operations manager with the number of containers received, released, and currently in yard." The AI creates a scheduled workflow with a recurring Monday trigger, adds query steps to count records by status and date range, composes the email body with the aggregated data, and sends it to the specified recipient.
Use cases by role
Different team members use the AI assistant for different tasks. The assistant adapts to each person's permissions and typical workflows. A gate clerk interacts with it for fast operational lookups and record creation, while a business owner uses it for strategic analysis and system configuration.
The table below shows common use cases. Each role can also ask the assistant for help with tasks outside their usual scope — the assistant guides them through unfamiliar operations.
| Role | Common Request | What the AI Does |
|---|---|---|
| Gate Clerk | "Log gate-in for container TCLU7654321, 40ft, Hapag-Lloyd" | Creates a container record, sets the status, timestamps the entry, and generates a gate-in receipt PDF |
| Operations Manager | "Show containers in yard more than 14 days" | Queries containers by arrival date, filters for overstays, and returns a summary with owner contact details |
| Accountant | "Generate invoices for storage charges due this week" | Calculates charges based on storage days and rate tables, fills invoice templates, and attaches them to customer records |
| Sales Rep | "Utilization rate this month vs last month?" | Counts occupied vs total capacity across date ranges and presents the comparison with percentage change |
| Business Owner | "Set up daily report: revenue, container count, pending repairs" | Creates a scheduled workflow that aggregates data across tables and emails a summary report each morning |
Skills: reusable instruction sets
Skills are saved instruction sets that customize how the AI assistant behaves for specific tasks. Instead of repeating detailed instructions every time you need the AI to perform a particular operation, you create a skill once and invoke it by name.
A skill can include business rules, formatting preferences, data validation logic, and multi-step procedures. For example, a "container gate-in" skill might instruct the AI to:
- Always ask for container number, size, condition, and owner
- Validate the container number format
- Check for duplicate entries
- Create the record with the correct status
- Generate the gate-in receipt
When a gate clerk invokes this skill, the AI follows these instructions consistently every time, reducing errors and ensuring process compliance.
Skills are shared across the workspace. An operations manager can create skills that standardize how the entire team interacts with the AI. This turns the AI assistant from a general-purpose tool into a customized operations partner that knows your specific business rules and procedures.
Permissions and safety
The AI assistant respects workspace permissions. It can only access data that the current user is authorized to see. If a team member has restricted access to certain tables or views, the AI operates within those same restrictions.
For destructive actions like deleting records or sending emails, the assistant asks for confirmation before proceeding. You review and approve before anything irreversible happens. Most actions are undoable.
Language support
The AI assistant understands and responds in both English and Vietnamese. You can switch languages mid-conversation. It handles Vietnamese business terminology, company names, and document formats.
Frequently asked questions
Does the AI assistant have access to all my data?
The AI assistant respects workspace permissions. It can only access data that the current user is authorized to see. If a team member has restricted access to certain tables or views, the AI operates within those same restrictions.
Can the AI assistant make mistakes?
The AI executes actions in your workspace, so it is important to review results. For destructive actions like deleting records or sending emails, the assistant confirms before proceeding. You can also undo most actions. The more specific your instructions, the more accurate the results.
Does the AI assistant work in Vietnamese?
Yes. The AI assistant understands and responds in both English and Vietnamese. You can switch languages mid-conversation. It handles Vietnamese business terminology, company names, and document formats.
How is the AI assistant different from ChatGPT or other general AI tools?
General AI tools can answer questions but cannot take action in your systems. The Lotics AI assistant is connected to your workspace with over 50 tools. It can query real data, create records, generate documents, send emails, and build workflows. It operates on your actual business data, not hypothetical scenarios.
Is there a limit to how much I can use the AI assistant?
The AI assistant is included in all Lotics plans. Usage scales with your subscription tier. For most teams, the included capacity covers all daily operations. Contact us if you have unusually high volume requirements.