WooCommerce Stock Management with AI: Check and Update Stock by Chat

Stock work in a WooCommerce shop is a handful of jobs that come back every week: find what is about to run out, book in a delivery, fix quantities after a stock count, and spot the products nobody buys before they tie up another season of money. WooCommerce stock management with AI turns each job into a sentence. You ask an AI assistant connected to your shop through BEAR's MCP server. It reads stock and sales straight from WooCommerce, and it changes stock fields only after showing you a preview and an exact product count that you confirm.

Stock management with AI: one complete example

A delivery of socks has arrived, and every product in the category gets 24 more units. You type:

The sock delivery is in. Add 24 to the stock of everything in the Socks category, variations included.

Here is what happens. The numbers are only an example.

1. The assistant finds the products. It looks up the category, runs a BEAR filter and freezes the result as a selection. You get the exact count, for example 31 items: 7 simple products, 4 variable products and their 20 variations, each with its current stock. The variations are added because a variable product keeps its stock on its variations, and the category filter on its own only finds the parent.
2. It shows a preview. For a sample of the selection you see each item's stock before and after: 6 becomes 30, 0 becomes 24. Nothing has been written yet. Warnings follow the rows. In this example BEAR names the four variable parents: they do not track stock themselves, WooCommerce keeps no quantity on them, so they stay as they are while their variations get the 24.
3. You confirm. The assistant asks to run the change (woobe_apply_bulk). BEAR accepts it only if the request carries the count you were shown, 31. Any other number is refused, and the assistant has to check with you again.
4. The change is written and recorded. BEAR writes in portions, so a long list can take more than one round, and the assistant tells you how far it has got. When the run is finished, the answer gives the number of items written and says the whole operation is in BEAR's History and can be undone in one go.

Every stock change below follows these steps. Questions about stock only read, so they are answered without any confirmation.

Before you start

You need BEAR 2.2.4 with its MCP server switched on, a shop served over HTTPS, and an AI assistant that can use MCP connectors, such as Claude in the browser, the desktop app or Claude Code. Selling rates and dead stock come from WooCommerce Analytics, so Analytics must be enabled and must have finished importing your past orders. The MCP server documentation explains how to connect the assistant, step by step.

Questions you can ask about stock

Ask the assistant what it can do with your stock and it suggests BEAR's ready-made questions that fit. They are only shortcuts: ask in your own words and it builds the answer from the same reports, for one category, another period or other columns.

What is left in stock, and what runs out first

What do I have on the shelf, how fast is it going, and what runs out first?

This is the ready-made What is left in stock question. The answer opens with the size of your catalogue: product counts by type and status. That number matters because eight products to reorder means one thing in a shop of twenty products and something else in a shop of six thousand. Then comes a table covering the last three months, with one row per product or variation:

• title and SKU
• units sold in the period, and the selling rate per day, per week and per month (the same rate on three scales)
• stock on hand and the stock status
• whether that stock number belongs to the item, is shared with the other variations of the product, or is not tracked
• days of stock left at the current selling rate

Rows are sorted by days of stock, shortest first, so the top of the table is what to reorder. Two kinds of product are left out on purpose: products that do not track stock, which WooCommerce treats as always available, and products that sold nothing in the period, which cannot run out without a selling rate and have their own dead stock list below. Very recent orders may be missing while WooCommerce Analytics imports on a schedule; the answer says how up to date its figures are. The WooCommerce reorder report guide explains how the rate and the days are calculated and how to plan purchases with them.

Low stock and out of stock lists

Show me every product with fewer than 5 in stock, with SKU, stock, stock status and whether it tracks stock.

For a plain inventory list, describe the condition. The assistant filters on Stock quantity and shows a table next to the exact count, at most 50 rows at a time. For a longer list, narrow it by category or brand rather than asking for more rows. Filters on Stock status (In stock, Out of stock, On backorder) and Manage stock work the same way. The Manage stock filter answers "which products do not track stock at all".

Variable products need one extra thought. A stock status belongs to the product as a whole, so a hoodie with two sold-out sizes out of five still counts as In stock. The quantity filter does look at variations: it finds the product when any of its variations is in the range. Ask for the result with variations, and you see each size with its own number.

Bulk update stock: quantities, status, Manage stock and backorders

You can change four inventory fields with a prompt. Each change goes through the same find, preview and confirm steps as the example above.

Several fields in one request: the order matters

For all products in the Candles category, turn on stock management and set the stock to 12.

BEAR applies the fields one after another, in the order of your request, and WooCommerce saves the product after each one. Tracking has to be on before the quantity is written, or WooCommerce drops the number. The preview is calculated in the same order. If the fields were sent the other way round, it shows the stock unchanged and a warning lists the products. Ask the assistant to swap them and preview again.

Stock status on products that track stock

On these products a new status usually changes nothing, because WooCommerce works the status out again on save. The preview still shows the status you asked for, so do not read it as the result. To show them as out of stock, set the quantity to 0. To keep selling at 0, allow backorders. To sell without counting, switch Manage stock off first, then set the status. The rules are the same in wp-admin, in BEAR's editor and through the assistant; WooCommerce stock status not changing explains them.

Stock of variations

A variation either counts its own stock or sells from a stock shared by the whole product. Shared stock means Manage stock is on for the parent product and off for the variation. BEAR's reports name the shared case, so you do not read a shared 13 as "13 left in this size". To look at one product, ask "Show me the variations of the Merino Hoodie with their stock": you get every variation with its attributes, SKU, prices, stock, stock status and whether it is enabled.

Add 5 to the stock of every XL variation of the hoodies.

The assistant filters the hoodies by the size attribute and keeps only the XL variations, together with their parent products. Parents that do not track stock are named in the warning and left as they are. If a hoodie keeps one shared stock on the parent, its XL cannot hold a number of its own. The warning names that variation, and the preview shows the parent's shared number going up instead. Shared stock is always changed on the parent.

A filter on stock quantity selects whole products. Ask for "every variation with a stock of 0" and the filter finds the products that have such a variation. Including their variations then adds every variation of those products, the sizes that are in stock too. So check the count and the preview rows before you confirm. When only a few variations need a new number, ask for them by SKU or name. The assistant then changes them one at a time, and each change is recorded in History like an edit you make by hand.

Set the stock of the variation with SKU HD-XL-BLK to 8.

A single edit is refused if it puts a quantity on a product or variation that does not track stock. BEAR explains why and suggests switching tracking on first, so a write that would do nothing never looks like a success.

Dead stock: what is not moving

What has been sitting there without selling?

The ready-made What is not moving question looks back six months, so a seasonal product that sells twice a year is not counted as dead. It lists the published products and enabled variations that sold nothing in that period, with the stock still on the shelf. The items holding the most stock come first, because those tie up the most money. Products that do not track stock appear with an empty stock column. Variable parents are left out, because their variations are listed as their own rows. The report checks up to 1,000 items, and if more qualify the answer says that it did not look at all of them.

Two things to keep in mind. "Sold nothing" counts completed, processing and on-hold orders, the default of every BEAR sales report. And the report does not look at when a product was added, so something you launched last month can appear simply because it is new.

The list ends in a decision: discount it, move it, or stop reordering it. The answer comes back with the product IDs, so you can act on it in the same chat:

• "Put the products on that list on sale at 30% off their regular price."
• "Move them to the Clearance category as well." (the assistant adds the category and keeps the existing ones)
• "Set the five with no stock left to draft."

Simple products from the list are selected exactly. A variation is selected through its parent product, and that brings in all of the product's variations, including sizes that do sell. Compare the count with the list before you confirm. For a few variations, ask for single edits instead. How a discount is previewed and checked is explained in bulk edit WooCommerce prices with AI.

How BEAR protects your stock data

• Reports cannot write. The ready-made questions run only tools that read, so a prepared question can never change your shop.
• A frozen selection. A change runs only on a selection that has already been found, never on a filter. Products added later are not in it, and it expires after 24 hours.
• A preview before every bulk change. Before and after values for a sample, how many items the change reaches, and the warnings, such as the products that do not track stock and will stay as they are. The assistant is told to read the warnings out to you.
• A count you confirm. The write is refused unless it carries the exact count of the selection, so a filter cannot quietly widen to your whole catalogue. If the selection holds every product, the assistant says so first.
• Refusals instead of silent failures. A quantity on a single product that does not track stock is refused with an explanation. So is a field that is closed in your version, for bulk and single edits alike.
• Permissions per user. The shop owner can let a shop manager's assistant read reports but not change products, or close the reports entirely. The assistant never gets more than the user's own WordPress rights.
• A limit in the free version. At most 100 products every 30 minutes, refilling continuously. A larger job runs in portions: the assistant shows the progress, and you say "continue". The other limits are in free version limitations.

Undo a stock change

Undo the stock change you just made.

Each bulk change has its own key in BEAR's History. The assistant rolls the change back by that key, and every field it touched gets back its previous value, product by product. Quantity, stock status and Manage stock come back together: if you switched tracking off, the rollback restores the switch, the quantity and the status at once. Undoing never counts against the free version's allowance.

• A rollback puts back the old number, not the difference. Raise a stock from 12 to 36, sell two, roll back, and the stock is 12 although 10 are left. Undo a wrong change straight away. If orders have come in since, correct it with "subtract 24" instead.
• On backorder does not come back. History stores a previous stock status only as in stock or not in stock, so a product that was On backorder returns as Out of stock. Check those products after a rollback.
• Single edits are undone in wp-admin. A change made one product at a time is in BEAR's History tab next to your manual edits, marked with who made it and whether it came through an AI agent, and has its own revert button.
• The free version keeps the last two operations of each user. Older ones are deleted and cannot be rolled back, so undo a mistake before you make two more changes.

Ready prompts for WooCommerce stock

• "What is about to run out? Show stock, units per week and days of stock left."
• "List every product with fewer than 3 in stock in the Kitchen category, with SKU and stock status."
• "Which products do not track stock at all?"
• "Show the variations of the Merino Hoodie with their stock."
• "The delivery is in: add 24 to the stock of everything in Socks, variations included."
• "After the stock count, set the stock of SKU MUG-BLU-01 to 17 and SKU MUG-GRN-01 to 4."
• "Turn on stock management for all candles and set their stock to 12."
• "Allow backorders, but notify customers, for everything in Preorders."
• "What has not sold in the last six months, and how much of it is still on the shelf?"
• "Undo the last stock change."

Checklist

• Analytics is enabled in WooCommerce and has imported your past orders, so selling rates and dead stock have data behind them.
• Before confirming, check the count. Is it the number of products and variations you meant, and not your whole catalogue?
• Read the warnings, above all the list of products that do not track stock and will stay as they are.
• Products that track stock: change the quantity or the backorder setting, not the status.
• Switching tracking on and setting a quantity: the switch must come first in the request.
• Shared stock of variations is changed on the parent product.
• Undo a wrong change at once, before new orders move the stock, and before two more changes on the free version.
• After a rollback, check the products that were On backorder.

For stock work by hand in the editor, see BEAR as a WooCommerce stock manager. If something in your shop behaves differently from what is described here, ask on the BEAR support forum.

Questions

Does the assistant change stock on its own?

No. Questions and ready-made reports only read. Every change needs a preview and your confirmation of the exact count. The assistant also cannot act between conversations: it works only while you are talking to it, and a long job continues when you say so.

Does WooCommerce stock management with AI work in the free version of BEAR?

Yes. The stock reports work in full, and the assistant can change Stock quantity, Stock status and Manage stock, at most 100 products every 30 minutes. Allow backorders is closed to the assistant in the free version. You can still change it by hand, product by product, in BEAR's editor.

Can I change the low stock threshold or the out of stock threshold in bulk?

Not through BEAR. The per-product low stock amount is not one of its fields, and the shop-wide thresholds live in WooCommerce under Settings, Products, Inventory. The out of stock threshold there decides when a tracked product turns Out of stock, so check it when statuses look wrong.