Inventory & Ops · Blog post · source May 7, 2026
A Supplier Order Tracker from Email, WhatsApp, Alibaba and WeChat with Claude Code
Pull supplier messages from four channels daily and track every in-flight order to Amazon
He says that once the scraping worked, the rest went smoothly.
Per source Self-reported by the source, not independently verified.
Copy-paste prompt
Here are this week's messages from my suppliers and forwarder [paste], and my open orders list (order, units, product, status, dates) [paste]. Update each order's status and the date it changed. List anything waiting on me, any supplier who hasn't replied in [3] days, and any Amazon shipment ID the forwarder still needs.
The source didn't publish its exact prompt. We wrote this starter so you can try the same workflow. Replace anything in [brackets].
What they did
Alex Willen deals with about two dozen manufacturers, inspectors and freight agents across Gmail, WhatsApp, Alibaba and WeChat. Claude Code pulls the messages each morning (IMAP for Gmail, a saved WhatsApp Web session, screenshots of Alibaba chat pages read back as text, and Windows UI Automation for WeChat) and updates a dashboard of every in-flight order and what needs his action, including matching Amazon shipment IDs sent to the freight forwarder.
How it went
He says that once the scraping worked, the rest went smoothly. He still downloads WeChat and Alibaba attachments himself and archives finished orders. Claude also keeps notes on each supplier, such as who needs chasing and who knows Amazon's requirements.
We only report what the source says. Results are self-reported unless noted.
Worth knowing
He picked the least detectable method for each app because Alibaba and WeChat terms forbid bots: no clicking on Alibaba, and no memory scraping or database pulls on WeChat. Check each platform's terms before copying this.