How it works

Follow these 5 simple steps to start receiving Slack alerts when Shopify inventory runs low

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Inventory Level Updated
This trigger captures every inventory change in real-time, enabling immediate low-stock detection that prevents stockouts rather than discovering them after they've already impacted sales.
When inventory levels change in Shopify (from orders, manual adjustments, restocks, or inventory transfers), this trigger activates the workflow and captures inventory data including {{shopify.inventory_item_id}}, {{shopify.available}} (current available quantity), and {{shopify.location_id}}. The workflow runs for every inventory level change across all products and locations in your store.
Time to complete: Auto-configured (0 minutes)

Filter (Low Inventory Check)
Acts as the threshold gatekeeper that only sends alerts when inventory actually needs attention, preventing alert fatigue from well-stocked items while ensuring critical low-stock situations reach your team immediately.
This filter checks if {{shopify.available}} is less than or equal to "3" (the default threshold). If true (inventory is at or below 3 units), the workflow proceeds to send an alert. If false (inventory is above 3 units), the workflow stops without sending any notification. Customization: Change the "3" to any threshold that makes sense for your business—use "10" for faster-moving items that need more lead time, or "1" for items where you only want alerts at the last unit. The threshold should balance restocking lead time with alert volume.
Time to complete: 1 minute

Retrieve Product Variant Details from Inventory Item ID
Converts the inventory item ID into meaningful product and variant information that makes alerts actionable, showing your team exactly which product and variant needs restocking rather than just an unintelligible ID number.
This step looks up the product variant associated with {{shopify.inventory_item_id}} from the trigger. It returns {{shopify_1.product_title}}, {{shopify_1.product_variant_title}}, and {{shopify_1.product_id}} which are used in the Slack message. Shopify's inventory system uses inventory_item_id as the identifier, but this isn't human-readable, so this lookup step translates it into the product and variant names your team recognizes for quick identification and action.
Time to complete: Auto-configured (0 minutes)

Retrieve Shop
Fetches your store's myshopify domain needed to construct the direct admin link in the alert, enabling one-click navigation from the Slack message to the exact product page for restocking.
This step retrieves your Shopify store information, specifically {{shopify_2.myshopify_domain}}, which contains your store's unique domain (like "yourstore.myshopify.com"). This domain is used to build the admin URL format "https://admin.shopify.com/store/yourstore/products/[id]" that provides immediate access to the low-stock product's admin page from the Slack alert.
Time to complete: Auto-configured (0 minutes)
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Send Message
Delivers an immediate, actionable alert to your team showing exactly which product variant is low, how many units remain, and where to go to restock it, enabling fast response to prevent stockouts.
This step sends a Slack message to your configured channel containing the: product title ({{shopify_1.product_title}}), variant title ({{shopify_1.product_variant_title}}), current inventory quantity ({{shopify.available}}), and a formatted admin link using {{shopify_2.myshopify_domain}} and {{shopify_1.product_id}}. You need to configure the channel field during setup—select the Slack channel where inventory alerts should be sent (you must invite the MESA Slack app to your channel first by typing @MESA and clicking Invite). The message format can be customized to match your team's preferences or add additional information like supplier contact details or reorder quantities.
Time to complete: 2 minutes

Make it your own

Customize this workflow even further:

Set different thresholds by product type or vendor
Add conditional paths before the filter that check product tags, type, or vendor and apply different inventory thresholds—high-velocity items get alerts at 20 units while slow-movers alert at 3 units.
Include location information for multi-location stores
Modify the Slack message to include {{shopify.location_id}} or add a location lookup step to show which warehouse or store location is running low, helping teams route restocking to the right place.
Create reorder tasks automatically
Add steps after the Slack message that create tasks in Asana, tickets in your project management system, or rows in a reorder spreadsheet, ensuring low-stock items enter your purchasing workflow automatically.
Track low-stock events in a database
Add a MESA Data table or Google Sheets step to log every low-stock alert with timestamp, product, quantity, and location, creating a historical record for analyzing stockout patterns and optimizing inventory levels.

Frequently asked questions

Will I get multiple alerts as inventory continues to drop below the threshold?
Yes, every time inventory changes (from a new sale, adjustment, or restock), the workflow runs. If inventory stays below the threshold, you'll receive an alert with each change. Consider adding logic to track which products have already been alerted on today using a database table or tags to prevent duplicate alerts.
Can I set different thresholds for different products?
This workflow uses a single threshold for all products. To use different thresholds, either create multiple copies of this workflow with different filters and product tags, or add conditional logic that checks product properties (like vendor or product type) and uses different threshold values for different categories.
How do I handle variants with multiple inventory locations?
This workflow triggers on each location's inventory level separately. If you have multiple locations, you'll receive separate alerts for each location where a variant drops below the threshold. To aggregate across locations, you'd need to add steps that retrieve and sum inventory across all locations before checking the threshold.
What is a template?
Templates are pre-made workflows by our team of experts. Instead of building a workflow from scratch, these have all the steps needed to complete the task.
Can I personalize a template?
Yes! Every step can be customized to meet your exact requirements. Additionally, you can even add more steps and make it more sophisticated.
Are templates free?
Yes! Our entire library containing hundreds of templates are free to use and customize to your exact needs.

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