Briefings
Your AI business partner speaks first. Here's how to read what it says.
The Briefing is your home screen
When you open MarginEngine, the Briefing loads automatically. It's not a chart or a table — it's your AI partner telling you what matters today.
Think of it like a smart friend who's good with numbers texting you every morning: "Hey, here's what I found in your store last night."
Briefing structure
Every Briefing follows this format:
| Section | What it does |
|---|---|
| Headline | One hard number (Revenue or Real Profit) with change vs baseline |
| Top Signal | The most important pattern — always starts with dollars |
| Fog line | What we can't see yet and what would clear it |
| Next Move | The single most impactful action you can take |
Then a question: "Want to drill into this?" and a button to see the evidence.
Signal categories
Signals are categorized by what they mean for your money:
- Leak — Money is leaving now. Example: "$800 Leak — Refunds on SKU-RED (62% rate)"
- Risk — A leak could start soon. Example: "$340 Risk — HOODIE-BLU margin dropped 8% this week"
- Fog — We can't see something important. Example: "Gross margin hidden — set Product Costs"
- All Clear — No anomalies. You're good.
Progressive levels
Your Briefing gets richer as you connect more data:
| Level | What you've connected | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| L0 | Shopify only | Revenue, refunds, discount patterns |
| L1 | + Product Costs | Gross margin, profitability by SKU |
| L2 | + Ads (Meta/Google) | Reported vs Real, ROAS, full P&L |
Each level unlocks new Signals that weren't possible before.
Receipts on every number
Every emphasized number in the Briefing has a receipt line underneath. This shows:
- The basis (how many orders/days)
- The date range
- The data source
- The calculation method
Click the receipt to expand the full breakdown. This is how MarginEngine earns trust — not by being right, but by letting you verify.