Cauldron user manual

Cauldron is our own inventory system. One warehouse, three stores (The Healing Hedge Witch, Spellcrafter, The Potionary), one place to receive, transfer, count, label and photograph what we sell. It replaced Thrive on Sunday, September 27, 2026, and it is the system that keeps the stores' stock right.

Address: https://cauldron.thehealinghedgewitch.com. Sign in with the same Google account you use for Hedgekeeper. Nothing to install; it works in the browser on a laptop, a tablet or a phone.

Roles. Staff can do the daily work: receive, transfer, count, print, photograph, and add new products (on the New product page or straight from a purchase order). Managers can also approve counts, make buying decisions, upload label designs and edit products. If a button is missing, that is usually why.

Cauldron is live. Everything you do here moves real stock in the real stores: a receipt, a confirmed transfer, an approved count, an adjustment. There is no practice mode, and there is no longer a second system to keep in step. Thrive stays open for a couple of weeks so old records can be looked up, but its inventory sync is off, so anything typed there goes nowhere. If you are not sure what a button will do, stop and ask Christy before pressing it; a wrong count is easy to fix the same day and hard to find a week later.

Every night Cauldron takes a snapshot of Shopify and checks its own ledger against it. Managers see the result on the Nightly check page and in the morning email. Product details, photos and labels are live too: a photo taken in Photo mode goes straight to the real website.

1. Ordering from a vendor

Start at Purchase orders. The top of the page is Order from a vendor; the bottom half is Receiving. Planning an order and checking a box in are two different jobs, so they have two different doors.

Pick the Vendor (or type a new name), leave Ship to on Warehouse unless the vendor ships direct to a store, and click Start the order.
On the order, click Suggest from reorder points. Every item this vendor supplies whose warehouse quantity is at or below its min goes on the sheet, topped up to its max, with the last cost we paid. Change any quantity, or click the x at the end of a row to take it off. Scan or search to add anything else. Item not in Cauldron yet? Click New product beside the search box (after a search that finds nothing, the button carries what you typed). Fill in the small form; the item is created in the stores you tick and goes straight on this order.
Click Copy order sheet. The whole order is copied as plain text, one line per item with the vendor SKU and barcode. Paste it into Faire, the vendor's site, or the email you send them.
Once the order is really placed, click Mark as placed with vendor. The order moves to Waiting on stock under Receiving, which is where the person who opens the box will find it.

Not sure who to order from? Click Reorder by vendor (in the Order from a vendor box). Pick a category and every vendor we are low on is listed, with the vendors that have the most items at or below min at the top. Each vendor shows what it would cost to restock just the items at or below min, what it would cost to fill everything below max, and how that compares to their minimum order. Switch Show vendors with to Anything below max to see vendors who are not urgent yet. Open a vendor to see all of their items that are below max, in every category. The ones at or below min are already ticked; tick more to get over the minimum, change any quantity, then click Start an order with these. That makes the order for you and takes you to it for step 3. Anything already on a placed order counts as stock, so it will not be suggested twice. Managers can set or change a vendor's minimum right on its card.

An order you started but have not placed yet shows under Still being planned at the top of the page, so you can pick it up tomorrow. Nothing moves stock until the box is received.

2. A package arrives

Start at Purchase orders, the Receiving half of the page.

Got a box? Find its order. Three ways, all on the Purchase orders page:

By what is in it. The cursor is already in the box at the top. Type a word or two from the packing slip or from any item's name ("black tourmaline", "salt soak") and press Find the order. Cauldron finds the open order waiting on that item and opens it. The stock has no Cauldron sticker yet, so there is usually nothing to scan; branded goods whose packaging already carries the barcode we use (a card deck, a boxed candle, tagged jewelry) can be scanned instead of typing.
By the vendor. Type the vendor's name in the filter line above the list. The list opens on orders still waiting on stock, so that vendor's open order is right there.
By the paperwork. Photograph the packing slip or invoice with Start from a document. If an order already exists for it, Cauldron says Hold on, there may already be an order for this and shows it. Click Open it. Nothing new is created.

If nothing comes up any of these ways, no order has this box on it yet: go to step 2.

On a laptop with the paperwork in your hand? Click Use my phone as the camera (next to Start from a document, and on an order next to Add a photo, scan or PDF). A QR code appears; point your phone at it, tap the link, take the photo. The laptop picks it up by itself: a new order opens, or the lines land on the order you were on. Each page of the paperwork is one photo; tap Take another page for the next.

No order found? Use Start from a document: take a photo or a scan of the invoice, packing slip or Faire order confirmation, or choose the PDF. Cauldron reads it, checks whether an order already exists for it, and if not, opens a new order with the vendor, the invoice number, shipping and every line filled in from the paperwork. Each line is matched to what we carry: matched lines get Add to PO (or Add all matched lines), unknown ones get a proposed house-style name, category and par levels, and a New product button. The price box starts empty with a suggested price beside it (cost times the markup we use on items like it, in whole dollars, or half-dollars under $5): click Use, or type your own. More than 10% away from the suggestion, Cauldron asks why in one pick from a list. That is how the suggestions learn. Three lines that look like sizes of one product get New product (3 variants), which creates one product with three variants. A line that is a new size or stone of something we carry gets Variant of....
Receive. Scan each item out of the box. Every scan adds 1 to that line's Receive now box. Or type the numbers. Add a note like "box 1 of 3" if this is a partial delivery.
Click Receive N units. The stock lands at the ship-to location (usually the Warehouse).
Click Print this receipt's labels to print stickers for exactly what came in this box.
Shelve.

The three ways a box arrives

There is already an order. Find it by an item's name, by the vendor, or by photographing the paperwork (step 1). Receive.
No order, but there is an invoice. Most boxes. The invoice is in the box, in email, or on the vendor's site (Faire: the order confirmation page saved as PDF). Get it in front of you, then Start from a document: photograph it, scan it, or choose the PDF. Cauldron builds the order from it with the costs on, checks it is not a duplicate of an order someone already started, and you receive straight away. Doing it in this order, invoice first, means every item gets its real cost the moment it lands.
No order and only a packing slip. Start from the packing slip. The lines and quantities go on with no costs; receive anyway. The order is marked Needs cost and a manager gets an email. When the invoice turns up later, open that order and add the invoice with From a document on the order itself (not Start from a document on the list, which would begin a second order); its costs fill in the lines, and Cauldron carries them to the items.

If you upload a document and Cauldron says Hold on, there may already be an order for this, someone got there first. Open it, or add your document to it. Only choose "start a new order anyway" if you are sure.

Shipped to a store instead of the Warehouse? Change Ship to at the top of the order before receiving. The stock lands at that store and the Warehouse is untouched.

Shipping and fees typed on the order are spread across the lines, so the Landed column is what each item really cost, and that is the cost the item keeps.

Bought by weight (tumbles, chips). These lines read like a sentence: "6 kg at $13 per kg = $78.00 paid, pieces not counted yet." Open the bag, count the pieces, and type the count in the blue pieces counted box. The cost of one piece appears on the line as you type. Then Receive. After you receive, a Price check box appears under the order: now that we know what one piece cost, it shows the markup the price comes to and a suggested price. Click Keep, or (managers) type a new price and it goes to every store. If the price is more than 10% from the suggestion, pick why, for example better quality. This is how Cauldron learns how we price stones.

No cost on the paperwork? A packing slip has no prices. You can still receive. The order is marked Needs cost, the stock goes in, and a manager gets an email asking them to fill in the cost later. Nothing waits on that.

Half-started order you do not want? Delete moves it to the deleted bin (link at the top of the list). It comes back with one click for 30 days. An order that has received stock is never deleted; complete or cancel it.

Hold on, there may already be an order. If you upload a document and Cauldron finds an order with the same invoice number, or one that already holds most of these items, it stops and shows you the order before creating anything. Choose Open it, Add this document to it, or None of these, start a new order.

3. Weekly transfers to the stores

Start at Transfers.

The steps show across the top of every transfer: 1. Plan, 2. Pull, 3. Put out. The one you are on is highlighted.

Start a draft from the Warehouse to a store. Name it if you like ("T-Faceplant"); otherwise it is numbered.
Plan it. Scan items, type quantities, or click Suggest: choose the categories you are pulling for and the level (at or below min, anything under max, or out at the store). Seasonal items are only suggested in season unless you tick "include out of season". Nothing moves while you plan.
Ready to pull when the list is right. The transfer now opens at the Pull step, on any phone or computer. Back to planning if the list needs changes.
Pull at the shelves on a phone: big rows, a tick per line as it goes in the tote. If the shelf does not hold what the Warehouse says, tap fix count and type what is really there. The correction is posted on the spot, before anything moves.
Confirm pull and move stock when the totes leave. It is only on the Pull step. The stock is now at the store.
Put out at the store, on the store's phone: tick each line as it goes on the floor, or Everything is out.

Labels. The Print labels button on a transfer prints stickers for the lines, grouped by which roll each item uses.

4. Counting stock (stocktakes)

Start at Stocktakes.

Start a count: pick the location and, usually, one category. Add a note like "back wall crystals, shelf 3".
Count. Scan every item you see (a handheld scanner, or Scan with camera on a phone). Each scan is +1. Multiples spread around the shelf add up wherever you find them. Or type the number in the box.
Submit. The sheet locks.
A manager clicks Approve. Only lines that differ from the system figure are adjusted. Items you never scanned are left alone unless the approver ticks "Set uncounted items to zero", which is how a full store count works.
A manager counting alone uses Finish and post, which does 3 and 4 in one go.

5. Labels and price stickers

Printing happens from the computer the DYMO printer is plugged into. DYMO Connect must be open on that computer.

Print buttons are on purchase orders (per receipt, or everything received), transfers, and each product page. Every row shows:

Design: which sticker this item uses (1 x 1, the 1/2 x 1 two-up, the jewelry tag, or No label). Cauldron remembers your choice per item, and a new item starts on whatever most of its category uses.
Labels: how many to print.

Rows are grouped by design, with one Print button per group, because one roll is in the printer at a time. Load the roll, press its Print button, load the next.

Filter the rows by name, category or barcode, then Set the N shown to a design or No label to change a whole group at once. Filter to "candle", set to No label, and the candles never ask again.

Print a batch on the Labels page prints stickers for anything, without a PO: by words, category, vendor, which sticker, received in the last day, week or month, or in stock at a location.

Designs are made in DYMO Connect and uploaded on the Labels page by a manager. Name the objects NAME, SHORTNAME, PRICE, BARCODE. For two-up rolls name the second sticker's objects SHORTNAME2, PRICE2, BARCODE2. Cauldron wraps long names onto two lines and leads with the stone, so "Mini Opalite Crystal Ghost" prints as "Opalite Mini Crystal Ghost".

6. Photos

Photos live in Shopify, and HHW and Spellcrafter use different photos of the same item on purpose. Cauldron shows you what each store has and lets you add a photo to one store at a time.

Seeing what is missing. On Products, the Photos column shows one mark per store: the photo itself, a red camera with a line through it for no photo, or a faint camera for not checked yet. The Photos: filter next to Search lists everything missing a photo at one store. That is your to-shoot list.

Photo mode (button on the home page, or https://cauldron.thehealinghedgewitch.com/photos/shoot on your phone). The phone is the camera; the laptop stays where the work is.

Scan the item's label with the phone camera, or type its barcode.
Tap Take HHW photo or Take Spellcrafter photo. Orange means that store has no photo yet. The camera opens.
Shoot. It goes to that store only. Scan the next item straight away.

From the laptop. On a product page, under an item's photos, click Use my phone as the camera. A QR code appears. Point your phone at it, and that exact item opens in Photo mode. The new picture shows up on the laptop by itself.

Outside, in the sun. Cellular is enough. If a photo does not send because the signal is weak, it waits on the phone page and is retried until it goes. Keep the page open until the waiting list is empty.

Replace a photo the same way. The old one stays in the product's gallery in Shopify until someone deletes it there.

7. Products

Products is the search. Type a name, category or barcode. Open a product to edit what Cauldron owns: title, category, price, cost, par levels per location, vendors, seasonal window, and which stores carry it.

New product. Click New product, or create one straight from a purchase order line. As you type the name, Cauldron lists what it already has that this might be, retired items included. If a match is strong it asks "Are you sure this is a new item?" and holds the Create button until you tick that you looked. A new size or stone of something we already sell is + Add a variant at the bottom of that product's page, not a new product: give it a name ("Large"), a barcode (or leave it blank and Cauldron makes one), price, cost, min and max. It goes into every store the product is in. If the product had only one item, Cauldron also asks what to call that one ("Regular").

Suggested price. Once the title and category are in and you type the cost, a suggested price appears under the price box: the cost times the markup we use on items like it, in whole dollars, or half-dollars under $5. Click Use, or type your own. More than 10% away from the suggestion, pick a reason from the list (quality, MSRP, what the market charges...). Those reasons are how the suggestions learn, so a real reason helps more than a quick one.

Variants (sizes, stones, scents) each have their own barcode, price and cost. One price and one cost per barcode, the same at every location, because the barcode is what the register reads. Par levels (min and max) are per location: the Warehouse always has them, a store only if it carries the item. Stores that do not carry the item are greyed out.

Barcodes. Scan the vendor's barcode when the item has one. Leave it blank and Cauldron generates an in-store barcode that any scanner reads.

Seasonal. Tick Seasonal on the product page and give the window as month and day, for example 09-01 to 11-30 (a window may wrap the year, 11-01 to 01-15). Inside the window the item is suggested for transfers as usual; outside it, it is not, so par levels can stay set all year. It can still be scanned onto a transfer by hand, and Suggest has "include out of season" for the day the display goes up.

Events and workshops. New product has the choice at the top: *Event or workshop (tickets)*. It takes one store, a ticket count, no vendor and no par levels, and never goes on purchase orders, transfers, stocktakes or labels. Ticket types (adult, child) are variants.

Damage, display, a recount. Beside each location's on-hand number on the product page is Adjust. Type the change (-3 for three taken out for the window) or the count now on the shelf, pick why (display, damaged, sample, counted, found, returned, other), add a note if it helps, save. It is what "adjust inventory" was in Thrive, and it keeps the reason, so nobody has to remember later why the light sets dropped by three.

Descriptions. Each store's description is shown as it is, and you can edit it in place. Draft in the shop voice writes one for that store in our own voice; read it, change anything, then Save to store. Nothing reaches the store until you click Save. New products get a draft written before they go live, so a listing is never up with no description.

8. When we stop buying something

On a product page, under each item, is its Buying line. Managers use three buttons:

Stop buying. The item keeps selling everywhere. It just never goes on a purchase order again. You can also click stop buying on a line while building a purchase order, which is usually where the decision comes up.
When the last one is gone, Cauldron retires it that night: hidden from pickers and searches, everything about it kept. Untick "retire it when the last one is gone" for a seasonal item that may come back; it stays listed at zero.
Bring it back. Same item, same barcode, same sales history. Never create it again as new.

A product is archived in Shopify only when every one of its variants is retired, and comes back when any of them does. Nothing is ever deleted.

One of a kind (tick box on the product page) is for products whose variants are unique pieces, like spheres with their own weight and photo. Once a piece has sold, Cauldron retires it and takes that variant off Shopify that night, so the store never shows it as sold out. Cauldron keeps the record.

9. Stock lookup

Stock lookup on the home page: scan or type a barcode and see how many are at each location.

10. Things to know

Scanning. A handheld or Bluetooth scanner types into whichever box has the cursor. Scan with camera uses the phone's camera instead; allow the camera when the browser asks.
Sums in number boxes. Type 4*12 or 80/3 in any quantity, price or cost box and it works out the answer when you leave the box. Right-click a number box for a small calculator.
Long lists. Click any category or vendor field and the whole list drops down; type to narrow it.
Times are Eastern, 12-hour.
Something looks wrong? Tell Christy what you were doing and what the screen said. The exact wording of a message helps more than a screenshot of the whole page.

Something wrong, or an idea? Click Feedback at the bottom of the sidebar, on any page. Say what happened or what you would like; the page you were on comes along. It goes straight to the people who build Cauldron, small fixes are made without a meeting, and Christy is pulled in when there is a decision to make. You can see everything sent so far on the same page.

11. For managers

Purchase orders: the Needs cost filter lists orders received without costs. Type the cost on the marked lines and it flows to the item.
Products: the Buying filter shows what is retiring, what is at zero and will retire tonight, what is retired, and anything archived in Shopify that still has stock (which cannot sell until it is un-archived).
Labels: upload designs, set how many characters fit on a line for each.
Admin: people and roles (fed by Hedgekeeper), Shopify links, the nightly check, and the catalog sheet.
Price suggestions (link on Purchase orders): the markup each category suggests for new items, what it has learned from the prices people chose, and a box to pin a category's markup by hand. Christy gets a morning email listing the prices changed from the suggestion and why.
The nightly email says whether Cauldron and Shopify agreed last night, what it retired, and anything it needs a person to look at.

Cleaning up the catalog in bulk. On the Admin page, Export catalog CSV gives one row per barcode with the name, category, price, cost, min, max and status. Edit it in a spreadsheet or hand it to Claude, then Choose a CSV to import. Cauldron shows exactly what would change, field by field, and nothing happens until you tick the fields and click Apply. Accepted changes go to every store that carries the item. Leave a cell blank to leave that value alone.