Universal Inventory Engine Core Sector-AgnosticInventory at Scale A high-performance backbone for managing physical and digital assets across any sector. Powers Hospitality, Ticketing, and Retail with atomic concurrency, a unified financial ledger, dynamic attributes, and a built-in barcode engine. Explore Architecture Hook Reference Atomic Locks Dynamic Attributes Hierarchical Nodes Unified Ledger Label Engine Data Portability The Backbone of Every Sector Plugin The Universal Inventory Engine handles database schema, availability calculations and audit trails so every sector plugin — from Hotels to Ticketing to Retail — can focus purely on its unique business rules and tailored UI. Architecture Key Architectural Features Six engineering decisions that make double-bookings impossible and scale inevitable. Dynamic Attributes Define custom fields per item type without altering the database schema. Fully extensible at runtime. No schema migrations needed Per-type attribute definitions Example: "Bed Type" for rooms Example: "Horsepower" for vehicles Type-safe field validation Atomic Concurrency Implements SELECT FOR UPDATE SQL locks. Double-bookings are mathematically impossible under any load. Row-level SQL locking High-concurrency safe Returns Reservation ID on success Returns false on conflict Zero race condition exposure Hierarchical Nodes Items belong to infinitely nestable categories, enabling complex taxonomy trees for any industry. Unlimited nesting depth Taxonomy tree builder Parent-child inheritance Custom attributes per level Sector-agnostic by design Unified Ledger Seamlessly binds Revenue, Payroll and Expenses into a single chronological financial ledger across all modules. Revenue tracking Payroll entries Expense records Chronological audit trail Cross-module consolidation Label Generation Built-in CODE128 barcode engine. Generate and print warehouse-ready labels directly from the item view. CODE128 barcode standard Print-ready label layout One-click from item view Batch label generation Warehouse-optimised output Data Portability Enterprise-grade CSV exports for all Inventory Items and the complete Unified Transaction history. Full item catalogue export Complete transaction history CSV format compatibility External accounting support Scheduled export capability Design Thinking ArchitecturePhilosophy The engine follows a strict separation of concerns — the core handles infrastructure, sector plugins handle identity. This prevents code duplication and guarantees consistency across every domain the engine powers. Core Engine Owns Database schema design, availability calculations, atomic reservation locks, audit trail generation and financial ledger entries. Sector Plugins Own Unique business rules, domain-specific UI components, customer-facing flows, and integration with third-party APIs specific to their vertical. Integration Layer Standard PHP Hook actions bridge communication between the core engine and any number of registered peripheral plugins cleanly and securely. Consistency Guarantee Any plugin using the engine inherits zero-duplication logic, identical locking behaviour and a shared audit trail with zero additional engineering. Getting Started Operational Workflow Three steps from initial configuration to live reservation management. 1 Define Typology Create base item types (e.g., "Room", "Event Ticket") and attach required custom attributes in the Categories tab. No schema changes needed. 2 Provision Assets Upload or manually input physical and digital assets into the Items Master view. Set base stock quantities, pricing and fill out custom attribute values. 3 Process Reservations Manage active locks, releases and confirmations via the Reservations interface. The atomic engine prevents conflicts automatically. Universal Data Sync — Important Notice Don't manually insert records if you are using a Sector Plugin. Instead, navigate to the Data Sync page — external plugins push their localised elements into the core engine cleanly and securely, avoiding duplicate records and schema conflicts. Pages Core Modules & Pages The engine is divided into logical modules. Here is what each page accomplishes. Core Inventory Module Categories & Types Define what you are managing (e.g. "Hotel Room", "Event Ticket"). Attach custom data attributes like "Bed Size" to each type. Items Master Main registry of all physical and digital units. Set stock quantities, pricing and custom attribute values. Supports barcode/label printing. Data Sync Central hub for importing item data from connected Sector Plugins. Replaces manual data entry completely. Data Export Export your full catalogue or complete transaction history to CSV for external analysis or accounting workflows. Operations & Ledger Module Reservations Interface Manage active locks, releases and confirmations. Powered by atomic SQL transactions — conflicts are impossible by design. Unified Financial Ledger Revenue, Payroll and Expenses in a single chronological ledger. All sector plugin transactions flow here automatically. Business ERP Dashboard High-level financial summaries, stock levels, reservation status and cross-sector analytics in one view. Audit Trail Full chronological log of every inventory event — creation, update, reservation, release and financial entry. Developer API Internal Integration API Standard PHP Hook actions used for inter-plugin communication. Sector plugins register and consume these hooks to interact with the core engine. PHP Hook System Hook Signature Type Behaviour inventory_register_types Action Triggered to bulk-sync type schemas from peripheral plugins into the core engine's type registry. inventory_reserve Action Executes the central atomic lock via SELECT FOR UPDATE. Returns a Reservation ID on success, or boolean false on conflict. inventory_release Action Frees an existing lock array, incrementing available_qty for the affected items. inventory_register_sources Filter Crucial filter to register bridging classes for the Manual Sync UI. Sector plugins use this to surface their data in the Data Sync hub. Action inventory_reserve The most critical hook. Any sector plugin that needs to lock a unit must call this action. The engine's atomic SQL layer guarantees that concurrent calls cannot both succeed for the same item, making inventory conflicts impossible. Filter inventory_register_sources Register your plugin's bridging class here to appear as a source in the Data Sync hub. This is the correct way to push data from a Sector Plugin — never insert directly into the engine's tables. Important: Always use inventory_register_sources to push plugin data through the Data Sync hub. Direct table insertion bypasses the atomic concurrency layer and will cause availability calculation errors. Integration Business ERP System The engine acts as the financial backbone for every connected sector plugin. Revenue Ledger All confirmed reservation revenues from every sector plugin flow into a unified, chronological revenue ledger with full audit trail. Payroll Entries Payroll and staff cost events are recorded directly into the unified ledger alongside revenue, providing true P&L visibility. Expense Tracking Operational expenses are bound into the same ledger, enabling cross-sector financial reporting without spreadsheet exports. ERP Dashboard Consolidated view across all connected plugins. Track stock, reservations, revenue and expenses in a single management panel. Ecosystem Compatible Sector Plugins Any plugin that registers via the hook API becomes a first-class citizen of the engine. Hospitality Suite Ticketing System Retail / POS Tour & Travel Job Board Fleet Management Custom Sector Plugin Tip: Any plugin that implements the inventory_register_sources filter and calls inventory_reserve for locking is fully compatible — no engine modifications required. Highlights Key Engine Features What makes the Universal Inventory Engine the right foundation for every plugin. Zero Double-Bookings Row-level SELECT FOR UPDATE SQL locks make concurrent reservation conflicts mathematically impossible, even under extreme load. Schema-Free Custom Fields Add "Bed Type", "Horsepower", or any domain-specific field to any item type without touching the database schema or running migrations. Infinite Category Trees Build taxonomy hierarchies of unlimited depth. Hospitality, ticketing, retail — any industry's classification needs are handled natively. Built-in Barcode Engine Generate CODE128 barcodes and warehouse-ready printed labels for any inventory item directly from the item view — no external tools needed. Universal Data Sync Sector plugins push data cleanly through the Sync hub. No direct table inserts — the engine's integrity layer stays intact across all connected modules. Unified Financial Ledger Revenue, Payroll and Expenses from every connected sector plugin bind into one chronological ledger, giving you a complete ERP view without extra tooling.