AI Automation for Logistics: A Beginner's Guide (Video)

AI is only as useful as what it can see. In most logistics teams, the loads live in the TMS, the customers live in the inbox, the trucks live in the ELD app, and half the real story sits in a spreadsheet on somebody's desktop.

This episode of The Benmore Brief starts from zero: what AI actually is, what Claude and Claude Code are, what a terminal is, and how to set everything up one step at a time. Then the important part: how to connect your systems so AI can work across all of them. No coding experience needed.

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The tools, in plain English

AI. The AI tools everyone's talking about learned by reading a huge amount of writing, so they understand language and write it back the way a person would. You don't learn a special system; you just talk to it. The catch: it only knows what you show it, and it can make mistakes, so a person should check anything important.

Claude. An AI assistant made by Anthropic (ChatGPT is a similar one, made by OpenAI). The Claude app is a chat window: you type, it answers, and you can drag in a PDF or spreadsheet. It can only see what you hand it.

Claude Code. If the Claude app is a smart assistant on the phone, Claude Code is the same assistant sitting at your desk. It's installed on your computer, works inside one folder you choose, opens your files, uses your programs and connects to your other systems. You still just talk to it in plain English. If your company runs on ChatGPT, OpenAI's version is called Codex, and everything here works with either one.

The terminal. A plain window where you type instructions instead of clicking. Every computer has one, and you can't break anything by opening it. Once Claude Code is running inside it, you just type normal sentences.

Set it up in 5 steps

1. Make a Claude account at claude.ai. Claude Code needs a paid plan; Pro is the cheapest one that includes it.
2. Open your terminal. On a Mac, hold Command, press Space, type "terminal" and press Enter. On Windows, click Start, type "PowerShell" and press Enter.
3. Install Claude Code. On Anthropic's Claude Code page, click copy next to the install line, paste it into your terminal and press Enter. You don't need to understand that line.
4. Pick your folder. Make a folder on your desktop called "logistics". In the terminal, type cd and a space, drag the folder into the window and press Enter.
5. Type claude and press Enter. Sign in when your browser opens, and say yes when it asks whether you trust the folder.

The 4 ways to connect a system

From easiest to most hands-on. Most teams end up using all four.

1. MCP, a plug built for AI. Gmail, Outlook, Google Drive and Slack have one. In the Claude app, go to Settings, then Connectors. In Claude Code, just ask it to set one up. Your inbox is usually the easiest system to connect first.
2. CLI, a program you control by typing. If a vendor makes one, Claude Code can run it, because it lives in the terminal right where those programs run.
3. API, a drive-through window for software. The big one for logistics. Most TMS platforms, ELD providers and load boards don't have an AI plug yet, but almost all of them have an API. Ask your rep three things: do you have an API, can I get a key, and where's the documentation? Save the key in your folder, then hand Claude Code the documentation and ask it to build the connection. You never have to read the code.
4. Export, the fallback. Almost every system can export a spreadsheet. Save it in your folder and Claude Code can read it on day one. For a hands-off version, Claude can work in your browser: log in, click export and save the file every morning.

Start with read-only access, and only connect accounts your company has approved.

Instructions to try once it's connected

A customer emailed asking about load 48213. Find the load in the TMS, get the truck's last location from the ELD, check the delivery appointment, and draft a reply. Don't send it.

Which loads delivered this week but still don't have a POD in the TMS? Search the inbox for the paperwork and match up what you find.

Which customers emailed today about a load that's running late?

What to build first

• Quotes: read quote requests from the inbox, pull your history on that lane and draft a reply with the rate left blank.
• Check calls: every couple of hours, find the loads that went quiet and draft a text to each driver.
• Billing: before an invoice goes out, compare the rate con, BOL, POD and carrier invoice, and list anything that doesn't match.
• Morning briefing: one page with the loads that need you, the customers waiting on an answer and what's stuck in billing.

Guardrails

Keep a person approving anything that goes to a customer or a carrier. Don't let AI skip carrier vetting, because fraud and double brokering are real. And give it its own API keys, so you can see exactly what it did and turn it off anytime.

Want it wired in for you?

Benmore builds AI systems for logistics teams: your TMS, inbox and phones connected, so it all runs on its own. Talk to us.