How to use tobuy

tobuy tracks household items you buy repeatedly and tells you when it is time to order the next pack. The better your stock updates, the sharper the prediction.

Dashboard

• 🔴 Buy now — stock is at or below the buy threshold.
• 🟡 Soon — within the warning window (warn_days, code default 7 days; 21 days is the recommended starting point — tune per item in the Manage tab).
• ⚠️ Needs input — no confirmed stocktake yet.
• 🟢 Plenty — comfortably above target.
• ⚠️ Stale — no update for 14+ days. Please run the quiz or quick confirm.
• ⏳ Pending — a stocktake is waiting for you to press Confirm.

Three ways to log stock

1. Quick actions on each card — tap ➕ Purchase, ➖ Use, or 📋 Check directly from the dashboard.
2. Quiz mode — press 🧮 Quiz me on the dashboard. The app picks items that need attention and asks one question at a time. Easiest on a phone.
3. Manual form — open the Stock entry tab for full control.

Fraction entry

Type the integer part in the quantity box, then tap one of 0 / ¼ / ½ / ¾ to set the fraction. Example: "4" + "¼" → 4.25. For stocktake, "0" + "0" means "empty". You can still type decimals directly (e.g. 0.3) when the fraction buttons don't fit.

Why Confirm matters

A stocktake is saved as pending until you press Confirm. Only confirmed values are used to predict run-out. This guards against typos and unexplained jumps. If a value looks wrong, an admin can exclude it from prediction.

Anomaly detection

If stock goes up without a matching purchase, the event is flagged as 🚨 unexplained increase and excluded automatically. Admins get a Telegram/email alert so the missing purchase can be added back.

Purchase request board

Anyone can request an item. If the name matches an existing item, the current stock and predicted run-out date are captured automatically — this is the strongest signal for the predictor.

3-week rule

Finding the lowest price usually takes about three weeks. That's why 21 days is the recommended starting value for warn_days. The code default when a new item is created is 7 days; bump it to 21 (or whatever fits the item) in the Manage tab → Settings sub-form. Earlier alerts waste storage; later alerts force you to pay more.

Seasonality

Predictions weight observations from the same season more heavily (e.g. bottled water in summer, rice in winter). Monthly correction factors will arrive once a full year of data is collected.

Consumption grouping

Items that serve the same purpose (e.g. rice 10kg + rice 20kg) can be grouped. The dashboard shows a group card with combined stock and a single run-out prediction, so you don't buy more until the whole group runs low. Create groups in the Manage tab and assign items to them.

A typical day (stepper)

1. Buy: tap ➕ Purchase on the card (or use the manual form for full detail). Enter amount, price, date.
2. Use: rarely needed — only when you want to record a one-off drawdown. The predictor infers daily use from periodic stocktakes.
3. Stocktake: open 🧮 Quiz me on your phone, answer one question at a time. Submit → press Confirm in the dashboard.
4. Pending review: open the ⚡ 바로 조치 section to confirm or correct pending stocktakes and anomaly flags.
5. Read briefings: morning and evening Telegram briefings summarize buy-now items, low-stock alerts, and unanswered purchase requests — no need to open the app.

Cases

• Stocktake wrong by typo → don't bother editing it; enter a new stocktake with the correct value and Confirm. The old pending value can be discarded; admin can exclude it from prediction if it was confirmed.
• Stock went up but no purchase logged → the event is auto-flagged as 🚨 unexplained increase and excluded from prediction. Add the missing purchase (date + amount) and the anomaly resolves.
• Item too noisy (alerts every day) → Manage tab → Settings → raise cooldown_hours (default 24h). Same-item alerts are then spaced at least that far apart.
• Cereal 1kg + 3kg packs treated as one → Manage tab → Groups → create a group, drag both items in. The dashboard shows a combined card with a single run-out prediction.