Scouts

Scouts are the core unit in Pilfer for documenting potential purchases. You can create scouts to log items you're considering buying, whether it's equipment, software, machines, furniture, books, or anything else your company might need.

To create a new scout, click the "Create Scout" button on the scouts index page, or use the keyboard shortcut C or N then S to open the create dialog.

When creating a scout, you'll need to provide:

• Name: A descriptive name for the item
• Description: Rich text description with the editor
• URL: Optional link to the product page
• Priority: Urgent, High, Medium, Low, or None
• Status: New, In Review, Shortlist, Purchased, Cancelled, or Archive
• Category: Optional categorization
• Estimated Cost: Your best estimate of the purchase price
• Potential Cost: Alternative or range estimate
• Hero Image: Optional product image

You can also link scouts to projects, spaces, and labels during creation to organize them within your company structure.

Hotkeys

Pilfer provides several keyboard shortcuts to speed up scout creation and navigation:

• C: Opens the create scout dialog from anywhere in the app (when not typing in a field)
• N then S: Alternative shortcut to open the create scout dialog (press N, then S within 1 second)
• / or ⌘K: Focus the search bar on index pages to quickly find scouts

These hotkeys are disabled on mobile devices and when you're actively typing in input fields, text areas, or content-editable elements.

Autofill

The autofill feature automatically populates scout details by analyzing a product URL. This saves time by extracting information directly from the source page.

To use autofill:

1. Open the create scout dialog
2. Expand the "Autofill" section
3. Paste a product URL into the autofill field
4. Click "Autofill" or press Enter

Autofill will:

• Extract the product name from the page
• Generate a description based on the page content
• Detect and suggest a category
• Extract pricing information (if available)
• Download and set a hero image
• Create a source entry with pricing and details

The autofill process uses AI to analyze the page content and extract relevant information. It respects your preferred currency setting and provides timing information so you can see how long the process takes.

If autofill detects pricing information, it will automatically create a source entry for the scout with the detected price, condition, and source type (manufacturer, retailer, marketplace, distributor, reseller, or other).

Scout properties

Scouts have a comprehensive set of properties that help you evaluate purchases as investment decisions:

Basic Properties

• Name: The item name
• Description: Rich text description
• Status: Current state (New, In Review, Shortlist, Purchased, Cancelled, Archive)
• Priority: Urgency level (Urgent, High, Medium, Low, None)
• Category: Organizational category
• URL: Link to product page
• Hero Image: Visual representation

Cost Properties

• Estimated Cost: Your best estimate
• Potential Cost: Alternative estimate or range

Evaluation Properties (1-10 scale)

These properties help frame purchases as investment decisions:

• Need: How necessary is this item?
• Urgency: How time-sensitive is the purchase?
• Use: How frequently will it be used?
• Longevity: How long will it last?
• ROI: Expected return on investment
• System Fit: How well does it fit your existing systems?
• Emotional Pull: Subjective appeal factor
• Infrastructure Fit: Compatibility with your infrastructure
• Activation Potential: Likelihood of immediate productive use

These properties are visualized in a radar chart on the scout detail page, giving you a quick visual overview of how the scout scores across different dimensions.

Organizational Properties

• Projects: Linked projects
• Spaces: Linked spaces for cross-cutting organization
• Labels: Custom tags for additional organization
• Sources: Vendor and pricing information

Sources

Sources track where you can purchase a scout item, including pricing, vendor information, and availability. Each scout can have multiple sources, allowing you to compare options.

To add a source:

1. Open a scout's detail page
2. Navigate to the Sources tab
3. Click "Add Source"
4. Fill in the source details:
   • Name: Vendor or source name
   • Description: Additional details
   • Price: Cost from this source
   • URL: Link to the product page
   • Source Type: Manufacturer, Retailer, Marketplace, Distributor, Reseller, or Other
   • Condition: New or Used
   • Address: Physical location (if applicable)
   • Notes: Additional information

You can also use autofill for sources by pasting a URL, which will automatically extract pricing and details from the page.

Sources can be starred to mark the default or preferred option. This helps you quickly identify which source you're planning to use for the purchase.

Templates

Templates allow you to pre-fill scout descriptions with standard content, saving time when creating similar scouts. This is especially useful for recurring purchase types or when you have standard evaluation criteria.

To use templates:

1. Create a default template in Settings → Scouts Templates
2. When creating a new scout, the template content will automatically populate the description field
3. You can edit or replace the template content as needed

Templates are stored per user and can be set as default for scouts. You can create multiple templates and switch between them, or create scouts without using a template.

To create or manage templates:

1. Go to Settings
2. Navigate to the Scouts Templates section
3. Create new templates, edit existing ones, or set a default template
4. Templates use the same rich text editor as scout descriptions, so you can include formatting, links, and structured content