Freight-Quoting Assistant AI Agent

What this agent does

Assembles the quote, not the authority to commit it

Rate inputs, lane history and accessorial rules from supported TMS, rating or market-data sources.

Lane, equipment and accessorial fields normalised, each value carried forward with its source and vintage.

Reason

A priced quote for the lane, with the validity window and the expiry stamped on the artefact itself.

Sanity bounds you set applied to the number, so a rate outside them stops instead of going out.

Named sources per line — your own booked history, published indices — and no pooled non-public competitor rates.

Decide

Quote language checked against 49 CFR 371.7(b), so nothing reads as an offer to haul the freight.

Every quote routed to the person authorised to commit the brokerage, whatever the confidence.

Out

The inputs, their vintage, the model version, the quote and the person who committed it, kept on the file.

Write actions only inside the approval boundaries agreed during implementation.

→ Product statement

The agent assembles the quote; a named person commits it, and your firm stays the registered broker of record.

Example workflow

One quote, request to commitment

AgentHuman

1Quote request receivedTMS request, email RFQ, shipper portal or rating API

2Rate inputs gatheredLane, equipment, accessorials, your booked history and published indices, each with its source and vintage

3Quote assembledRate, expiry, sanity result and confidence

4Controls appliedSource and vintage checks, sanity bounds, binding-language checks and confidence threshold

No human action required

Stages 1 to 4 run unaided and commit nothing — an assembled quote is not a sent quote, and the committing lane opens at the confidence gate.

5DecisionBranches at the confidence threshold

High confidence

Goes to the authorised person to commit.

Low confidence

Adds a pricing-desk read first.

Broker commitment

The quote is held with its rate sources, their vintage and the confidence.

Approve · Amend · Send to pricing desk

Approved — released to send▼

6Quoting systems updatedOnly where write access and approval policy allow it

7Outcome evaluatedQuotes held, sanity stops, desk amendments and what the lane actually cost to cover

Amendments

Every desk amendment is counted in the evaluation.

What should not run autonomously

Human approval stays in control

Outside the boundary — human approval required8 items

Sending a quote out to a shipper or a carrier.

Committing the brokerage to a rate or a capacity.

Issuing, signing or returning a rate confirmation.

Waiving, amending or extending the quote terms.

Automation boundaryAgent acts unaided

✓Assemble a priced quote from the sources you configured.

✓Name each rate source on the quote, and how old it is.

✓Stamp the validity window and the expiry on the artefact for the named owner.

✓Stop a quote outside your sanity bounds and hold it for a person.

Any write happens inside the boundaries agreed at implementation, never ahead of approval.

Accepting a counter-offer from a carrier or shipper.

Invoking the manifest-error clause on a live quote.

Deciding who at the brokerage may commit a rate.

Changes to the sanity bounds or quoting thresholds.

Example output

One quote, annotated

Everything the agent assembles is attached to the sources it was priced from.

Quoting output · single laneIllustrative example

Lane

Quoted line

All-in rate

Rate source

Confidence

Quote terms

Regional dry van

Line-haul and fuel, accessorials itemised separately

$2,940.00

Your own booked lane history

89%

Broker status shown, expiry stamped

As receivedTaken from your booked history and the indices you configured — nothing on this side is invented by the agent.

Rate sources used Your booked lane history Published market index Your accessorial schedule

Why this can bindIt is an offer with an expiry — accepted inside the window, it binds the broker.

ActionApproveAmendSend to pricing desk

What the score decidesBelow the configured threshold the quote picks up a pricing-desk read before.

Value

Where AI adds value

The same four claims, placed at the point in the workflow where each one applies.

Where the value landsValue 01 – 04

Every quote requestFrom the TMS or the inbox

03Assembly

Price from named sources

Draw on your own booked history and the published indices you configured for the lane and the mode.

01Approved path

Quote it, a person commits it

Routine lane quotes and accessorial lines arrive already assembled.

02Human review

Send review to what can bind

Sanity stops, stale sources and low-confidence rates are marked, so the desk's read starts where risk concentrates.

04Build an evidence trail

The quote, the rate sources behind it and the person who released it stay on the file.

Integrations

Typical integrations

Five system groups connect to the same agent. Which of them are in scope is decided in discovery.

TMS and brokerageMcLeod · MercuryGate
Revenova · Turvo

Rating and market dataDAT · Truckstop
Greenscreens · SMC³

CRM and RFQ intakeSalesforce · HubSpot
Email · shipper portals

Agent

Freight-quoting assistance

Reads the sources
Assembles the quote
Holds for commitment

Documents and confirmationsRate confirmations · BOL
E-signature systems

Observability & evaluationOpenTelemetry · Langfuse
Supported monitoring/evaluation sources

Integration availability depends on the client's existing systems and API access.

Agent controls

Six layers between the model and the quote

The layers nest. What each one misses is named in the map below.

L6 · Outermost — last line of defenceInward → L1 · closest to the model

L6Rollback / safe modeRevert to rate lookup when evaluation or production signals degrade.Roll back

L5Version monitoringTrack model, prompt, sanity-bound and rate-source configuration changes.Track

L4TraceabilityRecord the inputs, their vintage, the quote and the commitment time.Record

L3Broker commitmentHold the quote for an authorised person; it governs release, not whether the rate is right.Gate

L2Sanity boundsTest the rate against the bounds you set and the binding-language rules; a failure returns the quote.Restrict

L1Confidence thresholdsRoute low-confidence quotes to a pricing-desk read before the committing person sees them.Require review

Model coreQuote assembled — rate, validity window, sanity result and confidence

L1 – L2Test whether a quote may stand

L3Puts the commitment in a person's hands

L4 – L5Show what the quote was built from

L6Reverts to rate lookup when signals degrade

How Nestack evaluates it

Evaluate the whole quoting workflow — not only the number at the end.

Coverage runs the whole depth of the workflow, and every layer is cut by slice.

Surface — the quote the customer receives

Depth of coverage ▼

E1Final-output evaluationDid the quote hold against what the lane actually cost to cover?

E2Step-level evaluationDid the agent use the right sources, the right vintage and your lane rules?

E3Tool evaluationDid it read the correct lane and write the correct quote record?

E4Confidence calibrationDo low-confidence quotes actually attract more desk amendments?

E5Slice evaluationHow does performance change across specific lane and mode groups?

E6Business outcomeHow many quotes were amended, and how many were honoured at a loss?

Floor — the margin the brokerage actually keeps

Failure modes

Where each failure originates in the agent

Seven ways a quote goes wrong, set at the stage it starts.

Agent lifecycleDirection of processing →

01 · Retrieval1 mode

AH-03

Stale rate source

The lane is priced from an index older than the file records.

Stage gathersLane, equipment, accessorials, history and indices

02 · Reasoning2 modes

AH-04

Plausible-but-wrong rate

A rate looks right, sits under market, and binds anyway.

AH-06

Carrier-like wording

Quote language reads as an offer to haul the freight.

Stage proposesRate, validity window and confidence

03 · Tool / write2 modes

AH-02

Quote sent without a person

A write releases the quote before anyone commits it.

AH-05

Expired quote re-sent

A lapsed quote goes out again with a live window.

Stage writesOnly where write access and approval policy allow it

04 · Output1 mode

AH-01

Rate without its sources

A number is returned with no source or vintage behind it.

Stage returnsThe quote the customer reads and may accept

05 · Change / Version1 mode

AH-07

Silent bound regression

A model or rule change widens what the sanity bounds let through.

Stage tracksModel, prompt, sanity bounds and source config

Sev-1 · a quote sent outside the boundary Sev-2 · a wrong rate reaches the customer Sev-3 · a source degrades, quote routes to review

See the complete Transportation failure-mode catalogue →

Affected slices

Overall quote quality can hide one bad lane

An aggregate amendment rate can look acceptable while a small number of lane groups absorb most of the rework and most of the margin given away. Nestack reports the desk-amendment rate by slice, not only in total.

Slice performance — reported separately, not only in aggregateIllustrative example

Slice	Failure rate	Lift	Status
Spot quotes on thin lanes	5.1%	3.4×	Review
Accessorial-heavy quotes	4.2%	2.8×	Review
Multi-stop and partial loads	2.8%	1.9×	Watch
Contract lanes with history	1.0%	0.7×	Normal

Bar: desk-amendment-rate lift vs. contract-lane baseline · scale 0–4.0× · tick marks the 2.0× review threshold 2 of 4 slices over threshold

Evidence-linked improvement

No cycle closes on an explanation

A cycle is done when the miss has become a test the next release has to survive. That suite is what the next quote out the door is measured against.

Improvement cycle · five stagesSwitchback — the path turns at Improve and returns at Learn

01Detect

Desk-amendment rate rises in a lane group.

02Diagnose

Not the number but the sources are read first, until one cause holds.

03Improve

Version-stamp the change and attach the quotes that exposed it.

04Verify

The affected cases run again, and a fail stops the release.

05Learn

It becomes a standing test, and the quoting rules change with it.

Learn → DetectThe return edge. Every cycle hands the next one a longer suite to clear.

Typical build scope

Twelve workstreams across six weeks

The build scope read against the delivery timeline. Week structure follows the six-week plan — discovery, sources, quoting workflow, evaluation, integration, then production validation and handover.

Workstream Week 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6

01Quoting workflow discovery and automation-boundary definition.

02Rate-source and rating-engine assessment.

03Sanity bounds, expiry and quote-terms rule mapping.

04Rate-input ingestion and normalisation.

05Quote assembly and source binding.

06Confidence scoring and sanity routing.

07Broker commitment workflow.

08TMS and rating-engine integration.

09Binding-language cases.

10Guardrails and approval controls.

11Quote-trail instrumentation.

12Deployment, documentation and Agent Care handover.

12 workstreams · 6 weeks · bar shows the weeks a workstream is active — several run in parallel Final scope and sequence confirmed in discovery

Engagement tiers

What each tier includes

Rows are the capabilities named in each tier's scope. Higher tiers include everything below them.

Capability✓ in scope · — not at this tier PilotOne lane set, one desk ProductionProduction quoting systems AdvancedMultiple entities / modes

Introduced at Pilot

Quoting to your sources and bounds✓✓✓

Broker commitment✓✓✓

Quote-accuracy baseline✓✓✓

Introduced at Production

Reporting by lane and mode—✓✓

Commitment workflow in your systems—✓✓

Approved write-back—✓✓

Rating-engine integration—✓✓

Introduced at Advanced

Multi-mode pricing rules——✓

Multi-stage pricing approvals——✓

High quote volume——✓

Multi-entity quoting controls——✓

Build price From $5,000 From $8,000 Custom quote

Final build priceConfirmed after discovery based on integrations, workflow complexity, transaction volume, approval controls and deployment requirements.

Separate from buildBuild pricing is separate from recurring Agent Care, which covers managed monitoring, evaluations, incidents and verified improvements after launch.

What we need from you

What you bring, and what we build with it

Each input maps to a piece of build scope and a week in the delivery timeline.

You bringWe build with it

01Your lanes, modes and accessorial rules → Rate-input ingestion and source mappingWeek 1

02Representative historical quotes → Quoting baseline, source binding and the expiry stampWeek 2

03Your rate sources and your sanity bounds → Sanity bounds, expiry and quote-terms rule mappingWeek 1

04Access to relevant APIs, feeds or exports → Rate-source and rating-engine assessment, then integration setupWeek 2

05Quotes you would not want honoured → Formation cases and the evaluation suiteWeek 4

06What a quote may never commit on its own → Confidence scoring, sanity routing, guardrails and approval controlsWeek 3

07Named people authorised to commit a rate → Broker commitment workflow, then pilot and production validationWeeks 5–6

Nothing else is required Deployment, documentation and Agent Care handover are ours.

Delivery timeline

Four phases across six weeks

Phases are drawn over the weeks they actually occupy, which is why week 5 doubles up rather than padding.

Phase W1W2W3W4W5W6

Discovery W1

Build W2 – W3

Evaluate W4 – W5

Pilot & Launch W5 – W6

Week focus W1Quoting workflow discovery, bound mapping and the automation boundary W2Rate-source and rating integration and the quoting baseline W3Quoting workflow, confidence logic and commitment controls W4Evaluation suite, binding-language cases and failure-mode testing W5Rating-engine integration, pilot lanes and targeted corrections W6One quoting cycle assembled under the desk, then handover

Reading the bandEach bar covers only the weeks its work is named in. The week 5 overlap is real, not padding.

At the end of W6The last checks clear on live quotes and monitoring moves to Agent Care.

DurationSix-week plan shown · typical delivery 4–6 weeks depending on scope confirmed in discovery.

Next step · Transportation AI agent

Build a quoting agent that assembles, and leaves the commitment with a person.

Show us your rate sources, your lanes and your quote terms. If you can name who may commit a rate and the bounds they work inside, we'll set the automation boundary around them.

Discuss this agent →

Nestack Agents · Freight quotingAGT-TR-02 · Agent Care available after launch