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+# Phase 2: AI Pipeline - Context
+
+**Gathered:** 2026-04-10
+**Status:** Ready for planning
+**Mode:** Auto-generated (autonomous mode)
+
+<domain>
+## Phase Boundary
+
+Users can submit 1-3 photos and receive a structured NetBox-ready record with AI-extracted specs, suggested category/tags, and a quality gate status reflecting confidence. This phase delivers the oMLX setup (or mocked interface), three-tier AI orchestrator, photo intake endpoint, and confidence-based quality gate wiring.
+
+</domain>
+
+<decisions>
+## Implementation Decisions
+
+### AI Tier Configuration
+- Single `go-openai` client with configurable BaseURL per tier
+- Tier 1: oMLX at http://localhost:8000/v1 (Gemma 4 E4B default)
+- Tier 2: OpenRouter at https://openrouter.ai/api/v1 (research agent)
+- Tier 3: OpenRouter (Opus for Lab Advisor — deferred to Phase 6)
+- Config JSON drives tier routing — no code changes to swap providers
+
+### Photo Intake
+- POST /api/intake accepts multipart/form-data with 1-3 photo files
+- Photos encoded as base64 and sent to Gemma 4 vision endpoint
+- AI extracts: serial number, model, manufacturer, specs, category, suggested tags
+- Confidence score determines catalog_status: high → indexed, low → needs_research
+
+### Quick Add Mode
+- Config flag enables skip-review flow for high-confidence items
+- High confidence = no review screen, goes straight to NetBox CREATE
+
+### Development Strategy
+- oMLX may not be installed on dev machine — use a mock AI client for unit tests
+- Integration tests skip gracefully when oMLX unreachable
+- Expose `AIClient` interface so production uses oMLX, tests use mock
+
+### Infrastructure
+- PostgreSQL at postgresql://homelabby:homelabby_2024_secure@10.5.0.109:5432/homelabby (if needed)
+- DragonFlyDB at redis://:nUq/IfoIQJf/kouckKHRQOk7vV0NwCuI@10.5.0.10:6379 (WAQ available)
+- NetBox at http://10.5.0.130:8000/api (placeholder token — integration tests skip)
+- SearXNG at http://10.5.0.129:8080/search (Phase 7 will use — stub only)
+- oMLX target: http://localhost:8000/v1 (will be running on Mac Mini M4)
+
+### Claude's Discretion
+All implementation details are at Claude's discretion. Use phase 1 artifacts (NetBox client, quality gate, HW-ID) as building blocks. Function calling for SearXNG is deferred to Phase 7.
+
+</decisions>
+
+<code_context>
+## Existing Code Insights
+
+### Reusable Assets from Phase 1
+- `internal/netbox/client.go` — NetBox CRUD (ListDevices, GetDevice, PatchCustomFields)
+- `internal/netbox/hwid.go` — AllocateNextHWID for intake ID assignment
+- `internal/netbox/custom_fields.go` — BuildCustomFieldsPatch for writing AI results
+- `internal/netbox/tags.go` — SyncTags for AI-suggested tag sync
+- `internal/inventory/quality_gate.go` — CatalogStatus state machine
+- `internal/inventory/catalog_updater.go` — UpdateCatalogStatus wires gate to NetBox
+- `internal/api/router.go` — chi router (add POST /api/intake)
+- `internal/config/config.go` — viper config (add AI provider config)
+- `internal/queue/waq.go` — write-ahead queue for deferred NetBox writes
+
+### Established Patterns
+- All files use package path git.georgsen.dk/hwlab
+- Integration tests use t.Skip() when credentials unavailable
+- Concrete values over references in all code
+- chi HTTP handlers in internal/api/handlers/
+
+### Integration Points
+- POST /api/intake → internal/api/handlers/intake.go (new)
+- AI orchestrator → internal/ai/ (new package)
+- Mock AI client for tests → internal/ai/mock.go
+
+</code_context>
+
+<specifics>
+## Specific Ideas
+
+- Use sashabaranov/go-openai as recommended in STACK.md
+- AI config lives in ai_config.json (separate from main config.json for easy swap)
+- Intake handler should use the write-ahead queue if NetBox unreachable
+- Photo encoding: accept JPEG/PNG, convert to base64, send as vision message
+
+</specifics>
+
+<deferred>
+## Deferred Ideas
+
+- SearXNG function calling (Phase 7)
+- Lab Advisor tier 3 (Phase 6)
+- Natural language search (Phase 7)
+- Actual Gemma 4 model tuning/fine-tuning
+- React UI for intake (Phase 3)
+
+</deferred>