See where your money really goes.
SourceTrace scans grocery receipts and reveals the corporate ownership behind every product you buy — showing which countries and companies ultimately profit from your purchases.
Built by Julian Sauer
| Resource | Link |
|---|---|
| 🌐 Live App | grocerysourcetrace.lovable.app |
| 🔧 n8n Workflow | backend/n8n-workflow.json |
| 💻 GitHub Repo | github.com/JULIAN-SAUER-DEV/SourceTrace |
The core innovation is a multi-step AI agent workflow orchestrating multiple AI capabilities:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ n8n AI AGENT WORKFLOW │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Webhook │───▶│ Image │───▶│ AI Agent 1: │ │
│ │ Trigger │ │ Preprocessing│ │ Receipt OCR │ │
│ └──────────┘ └──────────────┘ │ (Claude Vision) │ │
│ └──────────┬───────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌──────────────────────┐ │
│ │ AI Agent 2: │ │
│ │ Ownership Analysis │ │
│ │ (Claude + SerpAPI) │ │
│ └──────────┬───────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌──────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Structured Output │ │
│ │ Parser + Response │ │
│ └──────────────────────┘ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
| Capability | Implementation | Business Value |
|---|---|---|
| Vision AI Integration | Claude 3.5 Sonnet processes receipt images | Eliminates manual data entry |
| Multi-Agent Orchestration | Separate agents for OCR vs. analysis | Optimized cost & reliability |
| Tool-Augmented AI | SerpAPI integration for real-time lookups | Accurate ownership data |
| Structured Output Parsing | JSON schema enforcement | Consistent frontend integration |
| Error Handling | Graceful fallbacks & retry logic | Production-ready reliability |
| Prompt Engineering | Domain-specific German retail knowledge | 90%+ accuracy on DACH receipts |
When consumers buy groceries, they see brand names — but lack visibility into:
- Who actually owns these brands?
- Which country are they incorporated in?
- Who are the ultimate beneficial owners?
I designed and built an end-to-end AI-powered pipeline that:
- Captures receipt images via mobile-first web app
- Extracts product data using Claude Vision AI
- Enriches with corporate ownership data via intelligent agent workflows
- Visualizes spending breakdown by corporate jurisdiction
| Product | Brand | Parent Company | Jurisdiction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nesquik | Nesquik | Nestlé S.A. | 🇨🇭 Switzerland |
| G&G Mohren | Gut & Günstig | EDEKA Group | 🇩🇪 Germany |
┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐
│ Lovable │────▶│ n8n │────▶│ Response │
│ Frontend │ │ Workflow │ │ JSON │
└─────────────┘ └──────┬──────┘ └─────────────┘
│
┌────────────┼────────────┐
▼ ▼ ▼
┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐
│ Claude │ │ SerpAPI │ │Open Food │
│ Vision │ │ Lookup │ │ Facts │
└──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘
| Layer | Technology | Why This Choice |
|---|---|---|
| Frontend | React (Lovable) | Rapid prototyping, mobile-first |
| Workflow Engine | n8n | Visual AI agent orchestration |
| OCR | Claude 3.5 Sonnet Vision | Best-in-class document understanding |
| Enrichment | Claude + SerpAPI | Real-time ownership verification |
| LLM Gateway | OpenRouter | Model flexibility, cost optimization |
| Hosting | Lovable Cloud + n8n Cloud | Zero DevOps overhead |
- 📸 Receipt Scanning — Upload or photograph any grocery receipt
- 🏢 Corporate Ownership — Identifies parent companies for each product
- 🌍 Jurisdiction Mapping — Shows country of legal incorporation
- 📊 Spend Breakdown — Visual chart of where your money flows
- 🇩🇪 German Market Focus — Optimized for EDEKA, REWE, Lidl, Aldi receipts
This project began with deep market research into German consumer behavior:
| Insight | Statistic | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Regional product preference | 77% | BMEL 2024 |
| Nutri-Score awareness | 88% | BMEL 2024 |
| Sustainable market share (DE) | 42% | NYU Stern |
| Sustainable market share (US) | 23.8% | NYU Stern |
| Label reading behavior | 75% actively read labels | NSF Germany 2024 |
Key finding: No existing tool combined receipt scanning with corporate ownership data — a clear market gap.
Julian Sauer — Program Manager
- 💼 LinkedIn: julian-s
- 💻 GitHub: @JULIAN-SAUER-DEV
- n8n — Workflow automation platform
- Lovable — AI-powered frontend development
- Anthropic — Claude Vision API
- OpenRouter — LLM gateway
Built as a proof of concept for consumer transparency tools.
| 🌐 Try it live | grocerysourcetrace.lovable.app |
| 🔧 n8n Workflow | backend/n8n-workflow.json |