# Welcome to Riff Riff is built for procurement and operations teams in manufacturing — connecting directly to your ERP to take action, not just report on it. Riff builders build **two things**: * **Apps** — a screen your team opens and uses. Humans drive the flow; AI is a feature inside it. *Build something people open.* * **Agents** — a worker that runs a job. Clear trigger, clear done, runs without you, escalates only what it can't decide. *Configure something that runs and reports back.* Your first decision: which one fits your problem? ## What will you build? **Build an App when:** * Your team needs a screen to see data, take action, or make calls in one place * Humans are driving the flow — the product is the interface * You want to surface ERP data without giving everyone full ERP access **Build an Agent when:** * The job has a clear trigger — a schedule, an inbound message, a new ERP record * The outcome is clearly defined: done means done * The work repeats at volume and currently lands on a person's plate > **Not sure?** Most procurement automation starts with an Agent. If your team also needs a screen to work the results, you'll often end up building both. ## Think of an agent like a hire The fastest way to understand Riff: **building an agent is like bringing someone on for a job.** You define the role. You explain the inputs and outputs. You set the rules. The agent works. Instead of writing a job description, you describe the agent's job in plain language: > "Chase supplier order confirmations for all open POs more than 3 days past due. Send a reminder email, log the response in our ERP, and escalate anything unresolved after 48 hours." Riff turns that description into a working agent — one that reads from your ERP, sends emails, logs results, and escalates exceptions, every day, without manual intervention. ## What Riff agents do Riff agents handle the work that happens *around* your ERP — the chasing, checking, matching, and escalating that your team does manually today: * **Supplier confirmation chasing** — read open POs, contact suppliers, log responses, escalate exceptions * **Invoice matching** — match supplier invoices to POs and GRNs, flag discrepancies, route for approval * **RFQ automation** — send RFQs to approved suppliers, chase responses, summarise bids for buyers * **Exception management** — monitor ERP queues, categorise exceptions, take first-line action ## What Riff apps do Riff apps give your team the screen they need to work the data your ERP holds: * **Supplier performance dashboard** — buyers see open POs, delivery status, and at-risk orders at a glance * **Invoice approval queue** — finance reviews and approves matched invoices without full ERP access * **PO status portal** — supply chain tracks order progress in a purpose-built view * **Goods receipt visibility** — ops confirms deliveries and flags discrepancies in real time ## Who builds on Riff Riff builders are procurement managers, supply chain leads, and operations specialists — domain experts who know their process inside out. You don't need to write code. You need to know: * **What data you're starting with** — usually ERP records: POs, invoices, supplier master data * **What needs to happen** — send a message, update a record, route for approval, display a status * **What counts as an exception** — no response after N days, amount over threshold, supplier not on approved list If you can brief a new hire, you can build a Riff agent. If you can sketch a screen on a whiteboard, you can build a Riff app. ## Your ERP stays central Riff doesn't sit *around* your ERP — it works *on* it. Native connectors for Infor LN, Infor M3, SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics mean your agents read live data and write results back to the system of record, not to a spreadsheet. Apps surface the same live data in purpose-built screens for your team. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.riff.ai/welcome-to-riff-v2.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.