What creates work
Every route by which an item can appear, and the threshold each one applies.
Five routes, and each applies a threshold. A system that made an item for every arrival would be a worse inbox with more steps, so intake is deliberately selective.
| Route | Creates an item when | Does not when |
|---|---|---|
| Customer message | It carries an implied action — a question, a complaint, a request | It is an acknowledgement or a thank-you |
| Stock alert | Cover crosses a threshold you set | Quantity changes without crossing one |
| Supplier reply | It proposes something different from what was agreed | It confirms what you already have |
| Scheduled check | A comparison finds a disagreement | Everything reconciles |
| A person | They lift a message or create one directly | — |
Webhooks versus polling
Some providers push events; others are polled on the agent's interval. A pushed event arrives within seconds and is verified before anything reads it; a polled one arrives at the next interval. Neither is better in general — pushing is faster and depends on the provider being correct about what it sends, polling is slower and sees the true current state.