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Core Concepts

Understand the key concepts that power Muin — documents, payments, forms, CRM, workflows, agents, tasks, and chat — and how they work together.

Understanding Muin’s core concepts will help you get the most out of the platform. This guide explains the key building blocks and how they work together to automate your business operations.

How It All Connects

Muin brings together multiple capabilities into a unified platform:

 Documents ─┐                    ┌─ Tasks ──→ Completion
 Payments  ─┤                    │
 Forms     ─┼─→ AI Processing ─→ Workflows ─┤
 CRM       ─┤                    │           └─ Agents
 Comms     ─┘                    │         (Autonomous work)
                                 │
                              Chat
                         (Ask anything)

Data flows in from multiple sources — documents, payments, form submissions, CRM records, and communications. AI processing enriches the data, workflows automate actions, and Muin Chat lets you query and act on everything using natural language.

Let’s explore each concept in detail.

Documents

Documents are one of Muin’s core data types. Upload any business document and Muin’s AI extracts structured data from it.

What Counts as a Document?

Any file containing business information:

  • Financial: Invoices, receipts, purchase orders, expense reports
  • Legal: Contracts, agreements, amendments, NDAs
  • HR: Certifications, licenses, policies, employee records
  • Compliance: Insurance certificates, audit reports, permits

Document Types

Muin automatically detects document types using AI:

TypeWhat Muin Extracts
InvoiceVendor, amount, line items, due date, PO number
ContractParties, dates, terms, renewal clauses, obligations
CertificateIssuer, holder, expiration date, certification type
Purchase OrderVendor, items, quantities, total, delivery date
ReceiptMerchant, amount, date, items, payment method

You can also create custom document types for your specific needs.

Document Lifecycle

Every document in Muin goes through stages:

  1. Uploaded - Document received, awaiting processing
  2. Processing - AI extracting fields and indexing content
  3. Ready - Processing complete, document searchable
  4. Linked - Associated with module records (invoice → vendor)
  5. Archived - Retained but moved out of active views

Metadata and Fields

Each document has:

  • Extracted fields - Data automatically pulled by AI
  • System fields - Upload date, uploader, file type, size
  • Custom fields - Tags, notes, and custom attributes you add
  • Confidence scores - How certain AI is about each extraction

Payments

Muin Smart Payments lets you accept and send money without leaving the platform.

Inbound Payments

Accept payments through multiple channels:

  • Cards - Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover via Stripe
  • ACH - Direct bank transfers via Stripe Financial Connections
  • NFC Tap-to-Pay - Contactless payments with the Muin Go mobile app
  • Apple Pay / Google Pay - Wallet payments on all card-collection surfaces (payment pages, forms, kiosk)
  • Payment Pages - Branded pages for invoices, donations, and memberships

Outbound Payments

Pay vendors and contractors directly:

  • Send individual or bulk payments
  • Schedule recurring payments
  • ACH, check, and wire options

Recurring Payments

Muin’s native recurring engine powers scheduled giving, pledges, and membership billing:

  • Schedule payments on any cadence (weekly, monthly, annually)
  • Pledge tracking with fulfillment monitoring
  • Retry logic for failed recurring charges
  • Donor-managed recurring via the Donor Portal

How Payments Connect

Payments integrate with other Muin capabilities:

  • Documents: Invoices link to payment records automatically
  • Workflows: Trigger actions when payments are received or fail
  • CRM: Payment history appears on contact and organization records
  • Reports: Payment data feeds financial dashboards and analytics

Forms

Smart Forms let you collect structured data from anyone — employees, vendors, donors, applicants.

Form Builder

Create forms with drag-and-drop:

  • Field types - Text, number, date, file upload, signature, and more
  • Conditional logic - Show or hide fields based on responses
  • AI suggestions - Muin recommends fields based on your use case
  • Templates - Start from pre-built templates or create your own

Form Lifecycle

  1. Build - Create and configure the form
  2. Publish - Generate a shareable link or embed code
  3. Collect - Submissions flow into Muin in real time
  4. Process - Workflows route, validate, and act on submissions

How Forms Connect

  • Documents: File uploads in forms become documents in Muin
  • CRM: Form submissions can create or update contact records
  • Workflows: Trigger approval flows, notifications, or task creation on submission
  • Tasks: Assign review tasks when new submissions arrive

CRM

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) gives you a unified view of every person and organization you interact with.

People Records

Every contact has a single record with:

  • Name, email, phone, and contact details
  • Role assignments (donor, volunteer, vendor, employee)
  • Activity timeline showing every interaction
  • Linked documents, payments, and form submissions

Organization Records

Track companies, vendors, nonprofits, and other entities:

  • Organization details and contact information
  • Linked people and their roles
  • Related documents, contracts, and payments
  • Custom fields and tags

Relationships

Connect records to model real-world relationships:

  • Households - Group family members together
  • Employer/Employee - Link people to organizations
  • Custom relationships - Define your own relationship types

Modules

Modules are specialized workspaces for different business functions. Each module has its own dashboard, document types, and workflows.

Finance Module

Manages the money side of your business:

  • Invoices - Process, approve, track payments
  • Expenses - Categorize and approve expense reports
  • Cash Flow - Monitor incoming and outgoing funds
  • Budgets - Set and track departmental budgets

HR Module

Handles people and compliance:

  • Employees - Directory and records management
  • Certifications - Track required licenses and expiration dates
  • Policies - Distribute and track policy acknowledgments
  • Onboarding - Checklist-driven new employee setup

Vendors Module

Manages supplier relationships:

  • Vendor Directory - Centralized vendor information
  • Compliance - Track required documents (insurance, W-9s)
  • Risk Scoring - Assess and monitor vendor risk
  • 1099 Tracking - Automated tax reporting

Nonprofits Module

For nonprofit and foundation operations:

  • Fundraising - Campaigns, giving pages, donor management, recurring donations and pledges
  • Grants - Application tracking, disbursements, reporting (grantor and grantee)
  • Service Programs - Service distribution, case management, eligibility
  • Volunteers - Scheduling, hours tracking, expense management
  • In-Kind - Non-cash donation intake, catalog, and administration
  • Facility Management - Facility rentals, bookings, and calendar

Module Isolation

Documents and data are separated by module:

  • An invoice in Finance won’t appear in HR views
  • You can link records across modules when needed
  • Permissions can be set per module

Workflows

Workflows automate repetitive business processes. Think of them as “if this happens, then do that” rules.

Anatomy of a Workflow

┌──────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐
│   Trigger    │ ──→ │  Conditions  │ ──→ │   Actions    │
│ (What starts │     │ (What filters│     │ (What gets   │
│  the flow)   │     │  the flow)   │     │    done)     │
└──────────────┘     └──────────────┘     └──────────────┘

Triggers

Events that start a workflow:

  • Document uploaded - New file arrives
  • Payment received - Inbound payment completes
  • Form submitted - New form submission arrives
  • Contact created - New CRM record added
  • Field value changed - Data updated on any record
  • Date reached - Deadline or scheduled time
  • Manual trigger - User clicks “Run Workflow”

Conditions

Filters that determine if actions should run:

  • Document type is Invoice
  • Payment amount is greater than $1,000
  • Form submission contains a file upload
  • Contact role is “Donor” and organization is unset

Actions

What happens when conditions are met:

  • Notify - Send email, SMS, or in-app notification
  • Create task - Add item to someone’s queue
  • Route for approval - Start approval process
  • Update status - Change record stage
  • Run agent - Trigger AI agent processing
  • Create record - Add a CRM contact, organization, or document
  • Call webhook - Notify external systems

Example Workflows

Invoice Approval Routing:

  1. Trigger: Invoice uploaded
  2. Condition: Amount > $500
  3. Action: Route to Finance Manager for approval

Donation Thank You:

  1. Trigger: Payment received
  2. Condition: Payment type is “Donation”
  3. Action: Send thank you email, create receipt, update donor record

Volunteer Application:

  1. Trigger: Form submitted
  2. Condition: Form is “Volunteer Application”
  3. Action: Create CRM contact, assign review task, send confirmation email

Agents

Agents are autonomous AI workers that handle complex, multi-step processes without constant human oversight.

Agents vs. Workflows

AspectWorkflowsAgents
LogicRule-based (if/then)AI-driven decisions
ComplexitySingle pathMulti-step, adaptive
OversightRuns automaticallyReports and escalates
Best forRouting, notificationsProcessing, analysis

How Agents Work

  1. Triggered by workflow, schedule, or manual start
  2. Analyze documents and data using AI understanding
  3. Execute multiple steps autonomously
  4. Decide what to do based on context
  5. Report results and escalate exceptions

Pre-Built Agents

Muin includes ready-to-use agents:

AgentPurpose
Invoice Processing AgentExtracts data, matches to POs, routes for approval
Document Verification AgentValidates completeness and accuracy
Compliance Monitoring AgentTracks certifications, alerts on expiration
Reconciliation AgentMatches transactions across documents

Agent Runs

Every agent execution creates a “run” record:

  • What triggered the run
  • Documents processed
  • Decisions made
  • Actions taken
  • Errors or escalations

Tasks

Tasks are work items that need human attention. When automation can’t complete something, it creates a task.

Task Queue

Your personal inbox for action items:

  • My Tasks - Assigned directly to you
  • Team Tasks - Visible to your team
  • Overdue - Past their due date
  • Watching - Tasks you’re following

Task Sources

Tasks come from various places:

  • Workflows - “Create task” action
  • Agents - Escalations needing human review
  • Approvals - Items awaiting your approval
  • Form submissions - Reviews and processing
  • Manual - Tasks you create yourself

Task Properties

Every task has:

  • Title - What needs to be done
  • Description - Details and context
  • Due date - When it’s needed
  • Priority - High, Medium, Low
  • Assignee - Who’s responsible
  • Related records - Linked documents, payments, contacts, or submissions

Completing Tasks

When you complete a task:

  1. Take required action (approve, update, etc.)
  2. Add any notes
  3. Click Complete or appropriate action button
  4. Task moves to completed, workflow continues

Muin Chat

Chat is your conversational interface to everything in Muin. Ask questions, get answers, take actions — all in natural language.

What You Can Ask

Document Questions:

  • “What’s the total on invoice #1234?”
  • “When does our Acme Corp contract expire?”
  • “Summarize the key terms in this agreement”

Payment Questions:

  • “How much did we collect this month?”
  • “Show me failed payments from last week”
  • “What’s our average donation amount?”

CRM Questions:

  • “Who are our top donors this year?”
  • “Show me contacts without an organization”
  • “What’s the last interaction with Acme Corp?”

Business Questions:

  • “What invoices are overdue?”
  • “Which employees have expiring certifications?”
  • “What needs my attention today?”

Taking Actions via Chat

Beyond asking questions, you can act:

  • “Create a task to follow up on this invoice”
  • “Route this for approval”
  • “Set a reminder for contract renewal”
  • “Export these results to CSV”
  • “Send a payment link to this contact”

Chat Context

Chat remembers your conversation:

  • Follow-up questions work naturally
  • “What about last month?” after asking about expenses
  • Switch topics anytime
  • Start fresh with a new chat session

Connectors

Connectors link Muin to external systems and storage.

Cloud Storage Connectors

Import documents from where you already store them:

  • Google Drive - Sync folders, automatic import
  • OneDrive - Microsoft 365 integration
  • Dropbox - Business file sync

Business Tool Connectors

Sync data with your existing tools:

  • QuickBooks - Financial data sync
  • Xero - Accounting integration (coming soon)
  • HubSpot - CRM data sync
  • Slack - Notifications and commands

How Sync Works

  1. Connect your account
  2. Select what to sync (folders, record types, etc.)
  3. Import existing data (one-time or ongoing sync)
  4. Monitor for new data automatically
  5. Process new items as they arrive

Putting It All Together

Here are examples of how these concepts work together across different use cases:

Invoice Processing Flow

  1. Document: Invoice arrives via email forward or cloud sync
  2. AI Processing: Muin extracts vendor, amount, line items
  3. Workflow Trigger: “Invoice uploaded” starts approval workflow
  4. Condition Check: Amount > $1,000? Route to manager
  5. Task Created: Approval task appears in manager’s queue
  6. Agent (Optional): Three-way match against PO
  7. Chat: CFO asks “Show me pending high-value invoices”
  8. Completion: Manager approves, invoice status updated

Donation Processing Flow

  1. Payment: Donor gives via payment page
  2. CRM: Donor record updated with giving history
  3. Workflow Trigger: “Payment received” starts thank-you flow
  4. Actions: Receipt emailed, thank-you sent, tax record created
  5. Reports: Donation appears in fundraising dashboard
  6. Chat: Director asks “How are we tracking against our Q1 goal?”

Vendor Onboarding Flow

  1. Form: Vendor submits onboarding form with documents
  2. CRM: Vendor organization record created
  3. Documents: W-9, insurance certificate processed by AI
  4. Agent: Compliance agent verifies certifications
  5. Workflow: Approval routing based on vendor risk score
  6. Task: Procurement manager reviews and approves vendor

Each piece plays its role in automating what would otherwise be manual work.

Next Steps

Now that you understand the concepts: