Inventory Command
Inventory Command gives you a dedicated dashboard for watching stock levels across your entire catalog — KPIs, a sales-velocity chart, projected stock-out dates, and a searchable, exportable list of every stock-managed variant. On top of that, it can automatically email your store admin the moment a product runs out of stock or drops to a low-stock level you set per category, so you are never caught off guard by an empty shelf.
Requirements
- with PHP 8.3.0 +
- Joomla! 6.x
- J2Commerce 6.x
Purchase and Download
Step 1: Go to our J2Commerce website -> Apps
Step 2: Locate the Inventory Command App -> click View Details -> Add to cart -> Checkout.
Step 3: Go to your My Downloads under your profile button at the top right corner and search for the app. Click Available Versions -> View Files -> Download Now
Install the App
You can install this Inventory Command App using the Joomla installer. The following steps help you with a successful installation.
In the Joomla admin, go to System -> Install -> Extensions
Upload the plugin ZIP file or use the Install from URL option.
Enable the App
Once you have installed the App, you will need to enable it. There are two ways you can access the extension.
Option A: Go to the J2Commerce icon at the top right corner -> Apps
Option B: Go to Components on the left sidebar -> J2Commerce -> Apps
Look for Inventory Command, click the X, and it will turn into a green checkmark. It is now enabled and ready for setup.
Configure the App
Once you click on the Inventory Command Title next to the green checkmark, you are ready to start setting up the parameters.
Click the Toggle Inline Help button in the toolbar and the app will show a description below each field as you configure it.
Basic Options tab
Email Content
The Email Content field gives you two buttons that add the bundled out-of-stock and low-stock email templates under the Stock Notification email type:
- Joomla Editor Version — adds the templates in a format you edit with the standard Joomla text editor.
- Visual Editor Version — adds the templates in a format you edit with the drag-and-drop visual builder.
If templates already exist, clicking either button converts them to that flavor without losing your saved content. Once templates exist, an Email Templates button appears in the toolbar — this is your shortcut straight to the Email Templates manager, filtered to the Stock Notification type, where you write the actual subject and body copy.
NOTE: Inventory Command only decides when an email is queued. The subject and body text always live in the Email Templates manager, not in this settings screen.
Enable Out-of-Stock Notifications
Select Yes to send an email to the store admin the moment a stock-managed product's quantity reaches zero.
Enable Low-Stock Notifications
Select Yes to send an email when a product's stock drops to or below a level you set for its category.
Category Notification Levels
This table only appears when Enable Low-Stock Notifications is set to Yes. Add a row for every category you want to monitor:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Category | The Joomla content category the alert applies to. |
| Low-Stock Level | The stock quantity at or below which a low-stock email is sent for products in that category. Defaults to 5. |
NOTE: Matching is by the product's own category only — a category not listed here (including its sub-categories) will not trigger low-stock alerts, unless the product's variant has its own Notify Quantity set under Products -> [product] -> Inventory tab, or falls back to the store-wide Low Stock Notification level under J2Commerce -> Setup -> Configuration -> Product Settings -> Inventory.
Show Estimated Out-of-Stock Date
Select Yes to include a projected out-of-stock date and day count in the low-stock email, calculated from the product's recent sales velocity.
Estimated Average Days
This only shows up when Show Estimated Out-of-Stock Date is enabled.
Choose how far back to average sales when projecting the out-of-stock date. A longer window smooths out short-term spikes.
| Option | Value |
|---|---|
| Last 30 days | 30 |
| Last 60 days | 60 |
| Last 90 days | 90 |
| Last 180 days | 180 |
Show Alerts on Dashboard
Select Yes to display out-of-stock (red) and low-stock (yellow) alerts directly in the J2Commerce dashboard notification scroller, so a manager sees them without opening Inventory Command at all. Each alert can be dismissed for the session with the x.
Debug Mode
Advanced setting. Select Yes to write detailed logs to the Joomla log directory. Leave this set to No in production.
Set the Notification Email Address
Out-of-stock and low-stock emails go to your store's configured admin address(es), not to a field inside Inventory Command itself.
Go to J2Commerce -> Setup -> Configuration -> Store Settings and confirm the Store Name and Admin Email(s) fields are filled in.
If Admin Email(s) is empty, Inventory Command has nowhere to send the alert. The notification is simply marked complete without being emailed — check the site log with Debug Mode enabled if you suspect this is happening.
Turn On Stock Management for a Product
Inventory Command only tracks and alerts on variants that have Manage Stock switched on.
Open J2Commerce -> Catalog -> Products, edit a product, and go to its Inventory tab. For each variant, set the Manage Stock toggle to Yes.
A variant with Manage Stock off is invisible to Inventory Command — it will not appear on the Inventory list, the dashboard, or trigger any alert, no matter how low its stock quantity is.
The Inventory Command Dashboard
Go to J2Commerce -> Setup -> Inventory Command to open the dashboard. It gives you a store-wide health check for every managed variant.
- Date filter bar — pick a custom From/To range, or use the Last 7 Days / Last 30 Days / Last 90 Days preset buttons, then click Refresh. This scopes the sales-velocity chart and the top-sellers chart.
- Inventory health badge — a single Healthy / Needs Attention / Critical badge, weighted more heavily toward out-of-stock variants than low-stock ones.
- KPI tiles — Out of Stock, Low Stock, Healthy, Units On Hand, Inventory Value, and Stock-Outs In 30 Days.
- Sales Velocity / Projected Stock-Outs / Top Sellers charts — a tabbed chart showing units sold per day, a bar chart of how many variants will run out within 7 days, 8–14 days, 15–30 days, or over 30 days, and the average units per month for your busiest products.
- Inventory Health chart — a doughnut chart of the Out of Stock / Low Stock / Healthy split.
- Quick Links — one-click shortcuts to the Inventory list (all, out-of-stock only, or low-stock only), the Email Templates manager, and the plugin's own Settings screen.
- Currently Out of Stock / Low Stock / Running Out Soonest cards — the ten (or eight) most urgent variants in each category, each linking straight to the product edit screen, with a View All button to the full Inventory list.
NOTE: If neither Enable Out-of-Stock Notifications nor Enable Low-Stock Notifications is turned on, the dashboard shows a banner reminding you the figures are still accurate, but no emails are being sent.
The Inventory List
Go to J2Commerce -> Setup -> Inventory Command -> Inventory (or click Inventory in the toolbar from the dashboard) to see every stock-managed variant in one sortable, filterable table.
Columns: Status, Product, Variant, SKU, Category, In Stock (with an "on hold" note when applicable), Low-Stock Level, Estimated OOS (out-of-stock date and days remaining), and Stock Value (quantity x price).
Filters: Search by product name or SKU, filter by Stock Status (Out of Stock / Low Stock / Healthy), and filter by Category.
Sorting: Every visible column is sortable from the column header or the Sort By dropdown.
Toolbar actions:
- Send Notification — select one or more rows with the checkboxes, then click Send Notification to queue an out-of-stock or low-stock email for those variants right now, regardless of the automatic trigger. A variant that already has a matching notification queued is skipped.
- Export CSV — downloads the currently filtered and sorted list as a CSV file, including status, product, variant, SKU, category, stock, threshold, estimated out-of-stock date, and stock value.
- Email Templates — jumps to the Email Templates manager filtered to Stock Notification.
- Settings — jumps back to the plugin's configuration screen.
NOTE: When the list is completely empty (no stock-managed variants exist yet and no filters are active), you'll see a No Stock-Managed Variants message with a Go To Products button.
Editing the Email Content
The subject line and body of the out-of-stock and low-stock emails are edited in the core Email Templates manager, not in the Inventory Command settings screen.
Go to J2Commerce -> Setup -> Email Templates, or use the Email Templates button on the dashboard, the Inventory list toolbar, or the app's own Basic Options tab. Filter by the Stock Notification email type to find the Out of Stock and Low Stock context rows.
Available merge tags for these templates:
| Tag | Inserts |
|---|---|
| Product Name | The product's title. |
| Product SKU | The variant's SKU. |
| Current Stock | The stock quantity at the moment the alert fired. |
| Notification Level | The low-stock threshold that applied to this variant. |
| Category Name | The product's category. |
| Store Name | Your store name from Store Settings. |
| Date | The date the notification was queued. |
| Estimated Out of Stock | A formatted callout combining the estimated date and day count. |
| Estimated Out-of-Stock Date | The projected stock-out date on its own. |
| Estimated Days to Out of Stock | The projected day count on its own. |
The estimated-date tags only render when Show Estimated Out-of-Stock Date is turned on and the plugin has enough recent sales history to project from.
How It Works
- Every time a variant's stock quantity changes, Inventory Command checks whether Manage Stock is on for that variant.
- If the new quantity is zero or less and Enable Out-of-Stock Notifications is on, an out-of-stock notification is added to the J2Commerce queue.
- If the new quantity is above zero and Enable Low-Stock Notifications is on, the plugin resolves the applicable low-stock level — the category's configured Low-Stock Level first, falling back to the product's own Notify Quantity (or the store-wide default) if the category is not listed. If the new quantity is at or below that level, a low-stock notification is queued.
- A duplicate check skips queuing a second notification of the same type for the same variant while one is still pending, processing, or failed.
- The J2Commerce: Process Queue scheduled task (System -> Scheduled Tasks) picks up queued notifications, resolves the matching Stock Notification email template, fills in the merge tags, and sends the email to your Admin Email(s).
- If Show Alerts on Dashboard is on, the same out-of-stock and low-stock variants also appear as dismissible entries in the main J2Commerce dashboard notification scroller.
Display Conditions
An out-of-stock email is queued when:
- Enable Out-of-Stock Notifications is set to Yes, and
- the variant has Manage Stock turned on, and
- its stock quantity reaches zero or below.
A low-stock email is queued when:
- Enable Low-Stock Notifications is set to Yes, and
- the variant has Manage Stock turned on, and
- its product's category has a Low-Stock Level configured (or the variant/store has its own Notify Quantity), and
- its stock quantity drops to or below that level while still above zero.
Dashboard scroller alerts appear when:
- Show Alerts on Dashboard is set to Yes, and
- the underlying product is published and enabled, in either case above.
Tips
- Set category levels before turning on low-stock alerts — without at least one row in Category Notification Levels (and no variant-level fallback), low-stock alerts for that category will never fire.
- Confirm the Admin Email(s) field first — a beautifully configured alert with nowhere to send is a silent failure. Check J2Commerce -> Setup -> Configuration -> Store Settings before relying on this app.
- Use the Inventory list's Export CSV before a big restock meeting — it gives you a shareable snapshot of exactly what's low, filtered however you left the screen.
- Turn on Show Estimated Out-of-Stock Date for your fast movers — the day-count projection is a fast way to prioritize which reorder to place first.
- Use Send Notification sparingly — it's meant for a one-off nudge on a handful of rows, not as your primary alerting mechanism; let the automatic triggers do the day-to-day work.
Troubleshooting
No Emails Are Being Sent
Cause: Notifications are not enabled, the admin email is missing, or the scheduled task is not running.
Solution:
- Go to J2Commerce -> Apps -> Inventory Command and confirm Enable Out-of-Stock Notifications and/or Enable Low-Stock Notifications is set to Yes.
- Go to J2Commerce -> Setup -> Configuration -> Store Settings and confirm Admin Email(s) is filled in.
- Go to System -> Scheduled Tasks and confirm J2Commerce: Process Queue exists, is enabled, and has run recently.
- Turn on Debug Mode in the app settings and check the site log for entries tagged
app_stocknotification.
A Product Never Shows Up on the Inventory List or Dashboard
Cause: The variant does not have Manage Stock turned on, or the product/article is not published.
Solution:
- Go to J2Commerce -> Catalog -> Products and open the product.
- Go to the Inventory tab and set Manage Stock to Yes for the variant.
- Confirm the product is enabled and its linked article is published.
A Category Never Triggers a Low-Stock Alert
Cause: No Low-Stock Level row is configured for that category, and the fallback variant/store level is also empty or zero.
Solution:
- Go to J2Commerce -> Apps -> Inventory Command and add a row for the category under Category Notification Levels.
- Alternatively, open the product's variant under Products -> [product] -> Inventory and set its own Notify Quantity.
- Or set a store-wide default under J2Commerce -> Setup -> Configuration -> Product Settings -> Inventory -> Low Stock Notification.
Duplicate Emails Keep Arriving
Cause: A prior notification failed and was retried, or Send Notification was used manually while an automatic alert was also queued.
Solution:
- Go to the Inventory list, select the variant, and check whether a notification is already pending before clicking Send Notification.
- Turn on Debug Mode and review the log to confirm whether the duplicate came from the automatic trigger or a manual send.
The Estimated Out-of-Stock Date Is Missing
Cause: The feature is off, or the variant has no recent sales to project from.
Solution:
- Go to J2Commerce -> Apps -> Inventory Command and confirm Show Estimated Out-of-Stock Date is set to Yes.
- Check that the variant has sold at least one unit within the Estimated Average Days window — a variant with no sales in that window cannot be projected and is intentionally left blank rather than showing a misleading "0 days."
The CSV Export Downloads Empty or Truncated
Cause: Active filters on the Inventory list exclude every row, or the catalog exceeds the export cap.
Solution:
- Clear the Search, Stock Status, and Category filters on the Inventory list and try again.
- If your catalog is very large, narrow the filters (for example, by category or status) before exporting — the export is capped at 5,000 rows to protect server memory.