Build a grocery cart from purchase history
I grocery shop at least once a week, but this new free AI assistant just completely changed how it happens and what the experience looks like more than I could have imagined. Task: I grocery shop at least once a week, but this new free AI assistant just completely changed how it happens and what the experience looks like more than I could have imagined. I grocery shop almost every week, and for the last few years, that's largely been shopping online using grocery apps such as Instacart. When you shop online at the same places using the same tools each and every week, it's fair to assume if those apps are paying attention, they know a pretty wild amount about your eating and shopping habits by now. That hypothesis was recently confirmed for me when Instacart rolled out their new free AI grocery shopping assistant, Clementine, and I decided to put on my investigative journalist cap and try it out by doing some experimenting with it during my weekly grocery shopping "trip" (and by trip, I mean, shopping on Instacart from my couch) on a rainy weekend. It was so fascinating because it took just a few minutes to take my shopping history, and vague dinners and turn it into a grocery list into a ready-to-buy cart. Screenshot of my interaction with the Clementine shopping assistant on Instacart. First, It Found My Usual Groceries I asked Clementine to "shop my usuals," and it came back with 27 items, a list created based on my shopping habits and history. I order groceries roughly weekly, depending on my social calendar and travel schedule, and usually do shop using the Instacart app (going back to around the pandemic), so the tool had a good amount of purchase history to work with. It's honest, too. Once you select your store and it finds your usual items to add to the list, it doesn't pretend everything is available. In fact, it specifically mentioned some of the exact products I normally buy were not available at this specific store, and something similar to buy instead. Sure, that sounds like a tiny detail, but it went a long way in helping me to personally understand what this tool actually does, and can do. Any grocery list creator or shopping list can spit out generic grocery suggestions, but as a shopper and a home cook,, but also a food writer, I was really excited that it used my own historical behavior and applied it to what was available at the time and place I was actually shopping. The shopping assistant was able to curate a list of my usual shopping items and organize it into a list of what was available in this current order. Then I Gave It My Actual Shopping List Yes, I can go through my shopping list and copy and paste everything from it to search for it. That's what I've always done. This is so much easier. You take a photo of your shopping list and import it and it finds it for you. It's a whole lot easier than searching and finding each item one by one. But it's not giving up control, either, which I'd never want to do under any circumstances, especially with the food in my home. That's why I'm so resistant to AI as it is. But I was involved every step of the process, from reviewing quantities, to choosing substitutions, to checking prices, to editing and removing or adding things before checking out. So, to me, as a person who is openly resistant to AI, it felt less like AI was shopping for me than AI was doing the boring part of shopping for me. I told Clementine what I was making for Sunday dinner, and it helped me confirm I had everything I needed to create my final dish. But This Was the Part I Really Liked I knew one of the options I could use was it helping me shop based on specific recipes. I already had plans to spatchcock a chicken and roast it in my air fryer tomorrow night, so I asked Clementine what I needed to supplement this ingredient and create a Sunday night dinner out of it. What worked for me is that Clementine didn't merely search for "chicken." It totally understood that I was planning a specific meal and suggested potatoes/root vegetables, herbs, lemons, bread, salad ingredients and dessert. What was really extra cool for me is that it contextualized those recommendations against what was already in sitting in my cart: "Most of your cart is produce-focused already.," it wrote to me in the chat. That's the moment this AI assistant made the transition for me from being a search engine to being an assistant. It was like having a partner in the kitchen, being like hey, I know what you're making. Here's what you are forgetting. Generally, I can only count on my mom for that sort of advice!; tools: custom-built or unnamed agent. Human role: The original post does not say how a person stayed involved.; limitations: The tool relies on extensive prior purchase history to function effectively for 'usuals.' It requires human verification for substitutions and price checks, as the AI does not autonomously finalize purchases. The source does not specify if the AI can handle complex dietary restrictions or if the 'free' status is permanent. Integration depends on the specific grocery app's inventory data accuracy. Proposed advice: Always review AI-suggested substitutions for allergen or preference conflicts..
Tools
custom-built or unnamed agent
Published on Agent Work Atlas:
Overview
I grocery shop at least once a week, but this new free AI assistant just completely changed how it happens and what the experience looks like more than I could have imagined.
Workflow
I grocery shop at least once a week, but this new free AI assistant just completely changed how it happens and what the experience looks like more than I could have imagined. I grocery shop almost every week, and for the last few years, that's largely been shopping online using grocery apps such as Instacart. When you shop online at the same places using the same tools each and every week, it's fair to assume if those apps are paying attention, they know a pretty wild amount about your eating and shopping habits by now. That hypothesis was recently confirmed for me when Instacart rolled out their new free AI grocery shopping assistant, Clementine, and I decided to put on my investigative journalist cap and try it out by doing some experimenting with it during my weekly grocery shopping "trip" (and by trip, I mean, shopping on Instacart from my couch) on a rainy weekend. It was so fascinating because it took just a few minutes to take my shopping history, and vague dinners and turn it into a grocery list into a ready-to-buy cart. Screenshot of my interaction with the Clementine shopping assistant on Instacart. First, It Found My Usual Groceries I asked Clementine to "shop my usuals," and it came back with 27 items, a list created based on my shopping habits and history. I order groceries roughly weekly, depending on my social calendar and travel schedule, and usually do shop using the Instacart app (going back to around the pandemic), so the tool had a good amount of purchase history to work with. It's honest, too. Once you select your store and it finds your usual items to add to the list, it doesn't pretend everything is available. In fact, it specifically mentioned some of the exact products I normally buy were not available at this specific store, and something similar to buy instead. Sure, that sounds like a tiny detail, but it went a long way in helping me to personally understand what this tool actually does, and can do. Any grocery list creator or shopping list can spit out generic grocery suggestions, but as a shopper and a home cook,, but also a food writer, I was really excited that it used my own historical behavior and applied it to what was available at the time and place I was actually shopping. The shopping assistant was able to curate a list of my usual shopping items and organize it into a list of what was available in this current order. Then I Gave It My Actual Shopping List Yes, I can go through my shopping list and copy and paste everything from it to search for it. That's what I've always done. This is so much easier. You take a photo of your shopping list and import it and it finds it for you. It's a whole lot easier than searching and finding each item one by one. But it's not giving up control, either, which I'd never want to do under any circumstances, especially with the food in my home. That's why I'm so resistant to AI as it is. But I was involved every step of the process, from reviewing quantities, to choosing substitutions, to checking prices, to editing and removing or adding things before checking out. So, to me, as a person who is openly resistant to AI, it felt less like AI was shopping for me than AI was doing the boring part of shopping for me. I told Clementine what I was making for Sunday dinner, and it helped me confirm I had everything I needed to create my final dish. But This Was the Part I Really Liked I knew one of the options I could use was it helping me shop based on specific recipes. I already had plans to spatchcock a chicken and roast it in my air fryer tomorrow night, so I asked Clementine what I needed to supplement this ingredient and create a Sunday night dinner out of it. What worked for me is that Clementine didn't merely search for "chicken." It totally understood that I was planning a specific meal and suggested potatoes/root vegetables, herbs, lemons, bread, salad ingredients and dessert. What was really extra cool for me is that it contextualized those recommendations against what was already in sitting in my cart: "Most of your cart is produce-focused already.," it wrote to me in the chat. That's the moment this AI assistant made the transition for me from being a search engine to being an assistant. It was like having a partner in the kitchen, being like hey, I know what you're making. Here's what you are forgetting. Generally, I can only count on my mom for that sort of advice!
Reported result
The assistant successfully converted vague dinner plans and historical data into a ready-to-buy cart in minutes. It accurately identified 27 usual items and flagged unavailable products with alternatives. The user reported that the tool handled the tedious aspects of shopping, such as searching for individual items and remembering missing ingredients like lemons. The author noted that saved time could accumulate significantly given weekly usage, though no specific financial savings or error rates were quantified.
Human role
The original post does not say how a person stayed involved.
Limitations
The tool relies on extensive prior purchase history to function effectively for 'usuals.' It requires human verification for substitutions and price checks, as the AI does not autonomously finalize purchases. The source does not specify if the AI can handle complex dietary restrictions or if the 'free' status is permanent. Integration depends on the specific grocery app's inventory data accuracy. Proposed advice: Always review AI-suggested substitutions for allergen or preference conflicts.
Try it
Act as a grocery shopping assistant agent. I will provide my purchase history, a photo of my current shopping list, and a specific meal plan. First, analyze my purchase history to identify my 'usual' items and generate a preliminary cart. Second, process the uploaded shopping list image to extract items and match them to available products in the store inventory. Third, based on my meal plan [replaceable input: e.g., 'spatchcock chicken dinner'], suggest complementary ingredients, checking against the current cart to avoid duplicates. For any out-of-stock items, propose suitable substitutes. Output a structured JSON list of items with prices, availability status, and substitution notes. Do not place the order. Present the final cart for my review. I will confirm quantities and accept or reject substitutions. Only after my explicit approval should you proceed to checkout. If any input is missing, ask for clarification before proceeding. Start by asking for my purchase history file and shopping list photo.
Source reports are not independently verified. Publication date is the catalog publication date, not the original article date.