VSM — Virtual Store Manager

ALX is the store agent. It is Canary's primary customer-facing differentiator.

What ALX holds

At any moment, ALX has access to:

• Real-time inventory and SKU locations (from T module ingestion of Counterpoint)
• Live promotions and margin targets (P module)
• Active LP alerts and exception queue (Q module)
• Staff availability by zone (L module, where active)
• Device status and sensor data across the store (A module)
• Demand signals from other store agents that day (back office hub)
• Store brand voice, policies, and service standards
• 130+ years of domain knowledge (for L&G: plant diagnostics, care protocols, seasonal calendars)

What ALX does

Customer-facing: - Receives incoming customer Claude agent via MCP handshake - Answers real-time inventory queries: "Is the 5-gallon Meyer lemon in stock?" - Delivers domain-specific intelligence: diagnoses plant symptoms, recommends care protocols, suggests products - Routes to human associates when the conversation requires it - Settles transactions to customer accounts — touchless checkout - Logs visit feedback and purchase context post-transaction

Operator-facing: - Surfaces LP alerts to GM via Owl - Reports exception queue to Fox for case management - Feeds cross-store signals to the back office hub - Monitors device heartbeats via Module A

The interaction model

Customer's Claude (phone / wearable)
         │
         │ MCP / HTTPS + SSE / JSON-RPC 2.0
         ▼
    ALX (store MCP server)
         │
         ├── check_inventory(item, store)
         ├── get_diagnosis(symptom, plant_type, region)
         ├── get_product_recommendation(diagnosis, store)
         ├── get_pricing(sku, customer_tier)
         ├── find_in_store(product, store)
         ├── authorise_transaction(customer_id, basket)
         └── log_visit(customer_id, outcome)
         │
         ▼
    NCR Counterpoint (via REST API / ODBC)

Two agents. One conversation. No human required unless ALX decides otherwise.

Why this is Canary's differentiator

Standard analytics layers on Counterpoint are dashboards that humans read. ALX is an agent that acts. The spine modules (T/Q/D/J) are the knowledge engine. ALX is the interface. A VAR that deploys Canary doesn't just give retailers better reports — they give retailers a store agent that any customer's AI can talk to.

Domain knowledge: the L&G example

For Lawn & Garden deployments, ALX encodes vertical domain knowledge that has never been in a machine-readable system:

An Armstrong customer who walks in and says "My Meyer lemon leaves are yellowing" gets a 136-year-old horticulture firm's answer in their pocket before they reach the soil aisle.

→ Architecture — the full stack → Verticals — L&G playbook → Armstrong Garden Centers — proof case