Hive CPQ

Configure-price-quote software for manufacturers: rule-driven product configurators, dealer portals and quotes that feed into ERP.

KINDA · partial replacement
price variesestimated build time a weekendreplaced by 0 people

The mechanical core of CPQ is not mysterious: a product tree, option groups, compatibility rules, a pricing formula, a PDF at the end. An agent can produce a working configurator for one product family in a weekend, and if you sell a few hundred SKUs with predictable option logic, that build may genuinely be enough. What you are not one-shotting is the part that makes CPQ a purchase: ERP and CRM sync, dealer accounts with their own price lists and discounts, 3D or 2D visual previews, multi-language catalogs, and someone maintaining the rule set when engineering changes a hinge. Also worth being honest that CPQ failure is expensive: a bad rule ships a quote that cannot be manufactured at the price you promised. So: buildable, and a bad idea to trust for anything you actually invoice on until the rules have been beaten on for months.

Build verification: not recorded. How we judge buildability

What you give up

  • ERP and CRM integrations, so accepted quotes become copy-paste work
  • A dealer or reseller portal with per-account price lists, discount tiers and order history
  • Visual product previews, 3D or otherwise, which is often the thing that closes the sale
  • Anyone but you maintaining the rule engine when the catalog changes
  • Version control on quotes and catalogs, audit trails, and the boring guarantees a buyer expects when a quote is contractual

Why people still pay

Because the software is the cheap part. Manufacturers pay for a vendor who will sit with their engineers, turn a messy catalog and a folder of Excel price lists into a rule set that does not produce impossible configurations, then keep it working as products change and push results into ERP. A solo build covers your own product line if you are the engineer, the salesperson and the person who maintains the rules. A company with fifty dealers and a configurable machine cannot staff that with one person and a JSON file.

Your build guide

The stack, security requirements, and agent rules for a focused replacement.

Before you start

  • Runtime and tools: TypeScript, React, Node, SQLite and decimal.js for explicit decimal calculations.
  • Before starting: A representative CSV with known totals, currency and date conventions, and an agreed calculation specification.
01
TypeScript, React, Node, SQLite and decimal.js for explicit decimal calculations
02
Data design: Store ProductVersion, OptionGroup, Constraint, PriceRule and QuoteSnapshot; selected options must satisfy all constraints and issued quotes preserve their original price/rule versions.
03
Setup: A representative CSV with known totals, currency and date conventions, and an agreed calculation specification
engineering roadmap

Implementation plan

1

Phase 1

Pin the working slice and create its example input: Configure one product family through option groups, validate compatibility, price a reviewed configuration and issue a versioned quotation PDF. Confirm setup: A representative CSV with known totals, currency and date conventions, and an agreed calculation specification.

2

Phase 2

Implement persistence and write-time invariants before decorating the UI: Store ProductVersion, OptionGroup, Constraint, PriceRule and QuoteSnapshot; selected options must satisfy all constraints and issued quotes preserve their original price/rule versions.

3

Phase 3

Connect the working view to real saved state. Preserve imported source rows and units, use decimal arithmetic with stated rounding, and retain correction history. Missing values are unknown rather than zero; reports describe records and assumptions rather than giving advice.

4

Phase 4

Expose the app-specific limits and recovery path in context: Model one deterministic rule language without executing arbitrary expressions. Taxes, discounts and approval thresholds are explicit business inputs; a quote is not a tax invoice or purchase contract.

5

Phase 5

Walk through this concrete acceptance case and preserve its exported evidence: Select a high-power accessory with an incompatible base unit, then change the price list; block the invalid combination and leave an already issued quote unchanged. Finish the README and backup/restore instructions; report unfinished capabilities explicitly.

the pro prompt
download AGENTS.md
Build the following focused alternative to Hive CPQ. This is a deliberately limited personal or small-team substitute, not parity with the paid service.

WORKING SLICE
Configure one product family through option groups, validate compatibility, price a reviewed configuration and issue a versioned quotation PDF.

SETUP AND ARCHITECTURE
Use TypeScript, React, Node, SQLite and decimal.js for explicit decimal calculations. Prerequisites: A representative CSV with known totals, currency and date conventions, and an agreed calculation specification. Before integrating anything, record actual versions and permissions, plus model files or provider limits only where used, in the README; make unavailable dependencies visible rather than simulating success.

DOMAIN MODEL AND INVARIANTS
Store ProductVersion, OptionGroup, Constraint, PriceRule and QuoteSnapshot; selected options must satisfy all constraints and issued quotes preserve their original price/rule versions.

IMPLEMENTATION CONTRACT
Preserve imported source rows and units, use decimal arithmetic with stated rounding, and retain correction history. Missing values are unknown rather than zero; reports describe records and assumptions rather than giving advice. Provide an input/setup view, the main work view, and a review/export view appropriate to this workflow. Preserve the last saved state if a job or save fails. Include empty, loading, permission-denied, partial and retryable-error states. Log identifiers and error categories without secret values or unnecessary private content.

APP-SPECIFIC BOUNDARY AND RECOVERY
Model one deterministic rule language without executing arbitrary expressions. Taxes, discounts and approval thresholds are explicit business inputs; a quote is not a tax invoice or purchase contract.

ACCEPTANCE SCENARIO
Select a high-power accessory with an incompatible base unit, then change the price list; block the invalid combination and leave an already issued quote unchanged. Also reopen the app after an interrupted operation, confirm the saved record/export remains inspectable, and document the recovery action. These are implementation acceptance requirements, not a claim that this guide has been tested.

DELIVERY
Deliver a runnable repository with migrations or project-format versioning, a non-sensitive example, environment/permission setup, the exact manual acceptance steps, and a backup/export-and-restore walkthrough. Implement the working slice before optional integrations; list any deferred paid-product capabilities honestly. Do not add capabilities outside the working slice just to resemble the original product.

PROJECT RULES FOR AGENTS.md
Keep the domain invariants above executable at the write boundary. Propose scope changes before adding providers or permissions. Never fabricate source evidence, publish results, identity matches or successful delivery. Preserve user originals and require an explicit confirmation for destructive changes or external publication.

$ open in your agent (prompt prefilled, you press enter), copy the prompt or copy or download AGENTS.md

prior art · use these instead of building, if you'd rather

No prior-art project is listed yet. Compare the scoped build with the paid product before choosing.

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Questions about Hive CPQ

Can you build your own Hive CPQ with AI?

Partly. The mechanical core of CPQ is not mysterious: a product tree, option groups, compatibility rules, a pricing formula, a PDF at the end. An agent can produce a working configurator for one product family in a weekend, and if you sell a few hundred SKUs with predictable option logic, that build may genuinely be enough. What you are not one-shotting is the part that makes CPQ a purchase: ERP and CRM sync, dealer accounts with their own price lists and discounts, 3D or 2D visual previews, multi-language catalogs, and someone maintaining the rule set when engineering changes a hinge. Also worth being honest that CPQ failure is expensive: a bad rule ships a quote that cannot be manufactured at the price you promised. So: buildable, and a bad idea to trust for anything you actually invoice on until the rules have been beaten on for months.

What does the Hive CPQ build prompt cover?

The prompt starts with this scope: Configure one product family through option groups, validate compatibility, price a reviewed configuration and issue a versioned quotation PDF. Full-product capabilities excluded from the comparison include: ERP and CRM integrations, so accepted quotes become copy-paste work; A dealer or reseller portal with per-account price lists, discount tiers and order history; Visual product previews, 3D or otherwise, which is often the thing that closes the sale. Follow the implementation plan and its prerequisites before expanding the build.

How do I use the prompt, AGENTS.md and agent skills?

Start with the Hive CPQ prerequisites and stack, then copy the prompt into your coding agent. Save the project rules as AGENTS.md in the project root. Linked skills are optional packages or source instructions for specific tasks; review their current contents and install only those matching the chosen stack. A skill does not supply API credentials or verify the finished app.

How long will this Hive CPQ project take?

The catalogue estimate is a weekend for the limited scope. Setup, integration approvals, debugging, deployment and ongoing maintenance can add time. This is an estimate, not a delivery guarantee.

What would I give up by replacing Hive CPQ?

ERP and CRM integrations, so accepted quotes become copy-paste work; A dealer or reseller portal with per-account price lists, discount tiers and order history; Visual product previews, 3D or otherwise, which is often the thing that closes the sale; Anyone but you maintaining the rule engine when the catalog changes; Version control on quotes and catalogs, audit trails, and the boring guarantees a buyer expects when a quote is contractual. Because the software is the cheap part. Manufacturers pay for a vendor who will sit with their engineers, turn a messy catalog and a folder of Excel price lists into a rule set that does not produce impossible configurations, then keep it working as products change and push results into ERP. A solo build covers your own product line if you are the engineer, the salesperson and the person who maintains the rules. A company with fifty dealers and a configurable machine cannot staff that with one person and a JSON file.

What can I use instead of building Hive CPQ?

No alternative is listed in this entry yet. That is a gap in this catalogue, not proof that no suitable product exists. Compare the paid product and the proposed scope before committing to a build.

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