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AI quote drafts

Describe a project in plain language and have AI draft priced line items, using your own OpenAI or Claude API key.

AI drafting turns a project description into line items with hours, rates, variance and descriptions. You review every line before it’s added, then edit the quote as usual. It’s a quick way to get a first draft, not a replacement for your own judgment on scope and price.

Before you start: add an API key

AI drafting runs on your team’s own OpenAI or Anthropic (Claude) account. Tillage doesn’t include AI usage, so you need at least one API key. Usage is billed by OpenAI or Anthropic to that account.

  1. Get a key from OpenAI or Anthropic.
  2. Go to Team Settings → AI.
  3. Paste it into OpenAI API Key or Claude API Key, or both.
  4. Click Save Team Settings.

Keys are encrypted and shared with everyone on the team. Once a key is saved, the field reads Key configured — enter new key to replace. Only owners and admins can save team settings.

If you open the AI dialog with no key saved, you’ll see AI Setup Required. You can paste a key there and click Save & Continue, or click Open Team Settings.

See AI providers for more on keys and models.

Draft line items

  1. On a quote, choose a client and enter a Project Name. The AI buttons stay disabled until both are set.

  2. In the Line Items card, click AI Generate. If the quote already has lines, click Add with AI instead.

  3. Fill in the dialog:

    Field What it does
    AI Prompt The instructions the AI follows. Uses your default prompt unless you pick another. See Prompt library.
    AI Provider OpenAI or Claude. A provider without a saved key is disabled.
    Model The model to use. The defaults are GPT-4.1 Mini for OpenAI and Claude Sonnet 4.5 for Claude.
    Pricing Tier The kind of client you’re pricing for: Enterprise, Mid-Market (default), Small Business, Local/Mom & Pop or Non-Profit. The AI adjusts suggested rates to match.
    Items Auto, or a fixed number of lines from 3 to 10.
    Project Description What you’re building. Be specific about deliverables, timeline and complexity.

  4. Click Generate Quote.

  5. In Review AI Line Items, check each suggestion. Edit the quantity, rate and variance, and untick any lines you don’t want.

  6. Click Add Selected Items.

The selected lines are added to the quote. Any notes the AI writes are added to Additional Notes, and its suggested category is used only if the quote doesn’t have one.

With Add with AI, the AI sees the lines you already have and suggests items that complement them rather than repeating them.

If generation fails, the error appears with a button to try the other provider when you have a key for it.

Write a better description

The AI works from your description, the prompt you choose and the details on the client record, such as their company, industry, size and business type. Fill those in on the client for better results. Good descriptions include:

  • The deliverables and how many of each, such as page counts or number of concepts
  • Platforms, integrations and anything custom
  • Deadlines or phases
  • What’s out of scope

For example: “Marketing site for a local bakery: five pages (home, menu, about, contact, gallery), built on WordPress, with an online ordering integration. Launch in six weeks. Copy supplied by the client.”

Check the pricing

AI suggestions are a starting point. Before you send, check the hours against your own experience, set rates to your actual rates, and review variance on risky lines. See Line items and pricing.

Prompt library

The prompt library holds the instructions the AI follows when drafting. Open it from Quotes → Prompt Library in the sidebar.

Built-in prompts

Prompt Use it for
Tillage Default Balanced detail and industry-aware pricing. Used unless you set another default.
Detailed Technical Granular, technical quotes with 6–12 items, from architecture to post-launch support
Quick & Simple Concise quotes with 3–5 items in plain language, for smaller projects or non-technical clients

Built-in prompts can’t be edited. To change one, choose Duplicate as Custom and edit the copy.

Create a custom prompt

  1. Click New Prompt.
  2. Enter a Name and Description.
  3. Write the System Prompt, up to 6,000 characters. Use Seed with Template to start from an existing prompt.
  4. Use Insert Variable to add client details the AI should consider.
  5. Turn on Default if this prompt should be selected automatically.
  6. Click Create Prompt.

Tillage handles pricing, formatting and the output structure for you, so focus your prompt on how you scope and describe work: your services, your terminology, the phases you use.

Variable Filled with
{industryLabel} Your team’s industry, such as Web Agency
{clientCompany} The client’s company name
{clientIndustry} The client’s industry
{clientBusinessType} The client’s business type
{clientSize} The client’s company size
{serviceBuckets} Recommended service categories for your industry

Manage prompts

Use the menu on a custom prompt to Edit, Duplicate, Set as Default, view Version History, Deactivate or Delete it. Version history keeps the last three versions.

The prompt you pick also appears in the AI Prompt list in the generator. Click + beside the list to create a new prompt from there.