Who sees a customer's drawing, what the AI reads, how to keep a request away from AI, and what we are not.
QuoteSooner is for commercial RFQs: drawings, models and requirements a buyer sends a machine shop for a price.
Defense-controlled and export-controlled drawings (ITAR, export-controlled technical data, CUI) are not accepted. Every shop confirms this before adding customer files, and a request that looks controlled is flagged and takes no further uploads.
Switching AI off does not change this. A controlled drawing is not accepted with AI or without it.
When a request arrives, OpenAI's model reads the request text, the text of attached PDFs and up to 6 rendered drawing pages, and proposes part numbers, revisions, materials, quantities, tolerances, finish and certifications.
3D CAD files are never sent to the model. Our own CAD worker converts them for the viewer.
Uncertain values are flagged for checking, and an estimator checks every value before anything is quoted. Nothing is sent to a customer until a person approves it.
A shop can mark any request "Don't process with AI" when adding it, or mark a customer so all of their new requests are kept away from AI, including ones forwarded by email.
A request marked this way is never sent to a model: not on arrival, not on a retry, not later. Only a simple rule-based reader runs on our own servers; the estimator fills in and checks the parts.
The choice is recorded in the request's history and shown on the request.
This is for customers whose purchase terms restrict AI tools. It is not a way to handle controlled drawings, which stay refused.
QuoteSooner does not train or fine-tune any AI model on your drawings, requests or quotes.
We are confirming zero-retention and no-training terms with OpenAI in writing. Until we have them, we make no promise about how long OpenAI keeps what we send it, or whether it may use it. If a customer's terms restrict AI tools, switch AI off for that request or that customer.
Requests, drawings and quotes stay in the shop's workspace until the shop deletes them or deletes the workspace.
Deleting the workspace stops intake at once. 30 days later its records and stored files are permanently erased; the delay is there because a deletion can't be undone.
The workspace owner can export everything at any time, from Settings.
We do not keep separate backup copies today. When we start, this page will say how long they are kept.
Each edit to a request's parts is written to a history that can't be edited or deleted while the workspace exists.
For any request, a shop can download its AI extraction record: each field the reader proposed, the source excerpt and page it quoted, what the field says now, and every change a person made, with who and when.
It says which reader ran, an AI model or the rule-based reader, so a customer can see exactly what touched their drawing.
| Service | What it does | What it receives | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | AI model that reads requests | Request text, text from attached PDFs, and up to 6 rendered drawing pages per request. Never 3D CAD files. | On request |
| Supabase | Database, file storage and sign-in | Everything in a workspace: requests, drawings, quotes and account details. | On request |
| Vercel | Hosts the website and the app | Request contents as they pass through the app. | On request |
| DigitalOcean | Hosts our CAD worker, which converts 3D models for the viewer and scans files for malware | Uploaded CAD files and drawings, one job at a time. | Toronto, Canada |
| Nylas | Email: sends quotes, including from a shop's own Gmail or Outlook, and receives forwarded requests | The emails it sends or receives, with attachments. | United States |
| Postmark | Sign-in emails | The email address a sign-in link goes to. | On request |
| Stripe | Subscription billing | Billing contact and payment details. Never drawings or requests. | On request |