APFlow — AI-Native AP Automation

Esker is a 40-year-old Swiss Army knife for Fortune 500 CFOs. APFlow is a precision-built AI scalpel for mid-market finance teams who need AP automation that works in a week — not a quarter.

🚀 What is APFlow?

APFlow is an AI-native accounts payable automation platform built to compete with legacy vendors like Esker and Basware. We focus on:

• Deploy in days, not months — Self-serve onboarding with no consultants
• AI-native extraction — Built on LLMs (GPT-4o, Claude) + AWS Textract for handwriting
• Transparent pricing — No enterprise sales theater. See the price, pay monthly.
• Best-of-breed AP — We do ONE thing perfectly, not a bloated CFO suite
• Mid-market focus — Built for $10M–$500M companies that Esker ignores

✅ Features

Feature	Status
PDF invoice upload (drag & drop)	✅
AI-powered data extraction (GPT-4o Vision)	✅
Handwritten invoice OCR (AWS Textract)	✅
Multi-invoice batch upload	✅
Invoice approval workflows	✅
No-code workflow builder	✅
GL coding & cost center assignment	✅
Dashboard & analytics	✅
Role-based access control	✅
Audit trails	✅
ERP export (CSV, API)	✅
NetSuite / QuickBooks / Xero integration	🔄 (Phase 2)
Peppol e-invoicing compliance	🔄 (Phase 2)
Supplier portal	🔄 (Phase 2)

📁 Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Backend	Python 3.11, FastAPI, SQLAlchemy 2.0 (async)
Database	PostgreSQL 16
Cache / Queue	Redis, Celery
AI / OCR	OpenAI GPT-4o, AWS Textract, PyMuPDF
Frontend	React 18, Tailwind CSS, Lucide icons
Infrastructure	Docker, Docker Compose

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Docker & Docker Compose
• (Optional) OpenAI API key for AI extraction
• (Optional) AWS credentials for Textract OCR

1. Clone & Configure

git clone <repo>
cd apflow
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env and add your API keys

2. Start Services

docker-compose up --build

This starts:

• Backend API → http://localhost:8000
• Frontend → http://localhost:3000
• PostgreSQL → localhost:5432
• Redis → localhost:6379
• Celery Worker → Background AI extraction

3. API Documentation

Once running, visit:

• Swagger UI: http://localhost:8000/docs
• ReDoc: http://localhost:8000/redoc

4. First Invoice Upload

1. Open http://localhost:3000
2. Sign up for a free account
3. Go to Upload and drag a PDF invoice
4. AI extraction processes in 10–30 seconds
5. Review extracted data in Invoices

🎨 Project Structure

apflow/
├── docker-compose.yml
├── .env.example
├── backend/
│   ├── app/
│   │   ├── main.py              # FastAPI entry
│   │   ├── config.py            # Settings
│   │   ├── database.py          # SQLAlchemy setup
│   │   ├── models/              # Database models
│   │   ├── routers/             # API endpoints
│   │   ├── services/            # Business logic
│   │   └── utils/               # Auth, helpers
│   ├── alembic/               # Database migrations
│   ├── requirements.txt
│   └── Dockerfile
└── frontend/
    ├── src/
    │   ├── App.js
    │   ├── api.js
    │   └── components/
    │       ├── Login.js
    │       ├── Dashboard.js
    │       ├── InvoiceList.js
    │       ├── InvoiceDetail.js
    │       ├── Upload.js
    │       └── Workflows.js
    ├── package.json
    └── Dockerfile

🔧 Development

Backend Only

cd backend
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
uvicorn app.main:app --reload

Frontend Only

cd frontend
npm install
npm start

Run Migrations

cd backend
alembic revision --autogenerate -m "description"
alembic upgrade head

📊 Why APFlow vs Esker?

	Esker	APFlow
Founded	1985 (40 years old)	2026 (AI-native)
Deployment	2–6 months	< 1 week
Pricing	Opaque enterprise sales	Transparent, usage-based
AI	Bolted-on legacy platform	Native LLM architecture
Focus	Bloated CFO suite	AP automation only
Target	Fortune 500	$10M–$500M mid-market
Handwriting	Partial support	Explicit specialty

📝 License

MIT License — build your AP empire.

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Built with ❤️ to destroy boring invoice processing.