finance-task-lifecycle

name	finance-task-lifecycle
description	Finance task lifecycle management — auto-pay bill cleanup, payment-logged cluster clearing, and bill reminder task creation/cancellation rules. Use when agent says "bill paid", "auto-pay", "payment logged", "clear reminders", "cancel bill task", "finance cleanup", "bill already paid", "duplicate payment task", or handles any bill-payment task lifecycle.

Finance Task Lifecycle Skill

Canonical rules for creating, maintaining, and clearing bill-payment related tasks across the platform.

Core Principle

One payment event must clear ALL related reminder tasks. Bill payment tasks exist only to ensure a payment happens. Once it has happened (by auto-pay, manual payment, or confirmed log), every related task must close immediately.

Rule 1: Auto-Pay Cleanup (from {{PARENT_1}}, 2026-05-02)

When {{PARENT_1}} says a bill is on auto-pay:

1. Cancel all existing bill-payment reminder tasks for that account
2. Do NOT create future payment reminders for auto-pay bills
3. Keep legitimate non-bill finance tasks active:
   • SSI / benefits enrollment
   • Medical bill tracking (manual, not auto-pay)
   • Proof-of-income/residency gathering
   • Credit monitoring / score actions
   • Budget reviews and savings goals

Task types to cancel when auto-pay confirmed:

• "Pay [bill]" reminders
• "Due date" alerts
• Snowball/debt-payoff payment tasks
• Auto-pay confirmation tasks
• Any task whose ONLY purpose is reminding about a bill payment

Rule 2: Payment Logged = Clear Cluster (from {{PARENT_1}}, 2026-05-05)

When a payment is confirmed (any of these signals):

• {{PARENT_1}} says "I paid [bill]"
• A matching transaction appears in the budget ledger (get_transactions)
• A payment confirmation email is detected

Immediately:

1. Mark ALL matching human-facing reminder tasks for that payment done or cancelled
2. Check for sibling/duplicate tasks on the same account — clear them all
3. Do NOT leave any related reminder task open

Before serving a bill-payment task:

1. Check get_transactions for same-day payment evidence on that account
2. Check task system for recently completed/cancelled sibling tasks on same account
3. If payment already logged → mark task done, serve next task instead

Rule 3: Bill Reminder Creation Pattern

When creating a bill payment reminder:

add_task(
  title: "Pay [bill name] — $[amount] due [date]",
  category: "finance",
  priority: "high",
  assignee: "{{PARENT_1}}",
  due_date: "[3 days before due date]",
  notes: "Amount: $X. Account: [provider]. Due: [date]. Payment method: [manual/auto-pay].",
  created_by: "[agent-name]",
  surface: "human"
)

Only create for MANUAL payment bills. Auto-pay bills get no reminders.

Rule 4: Social Media Reply Tasks — Not Finance

Social media comment/reply work is NOT a finance task and should never appear in finance queues. If discovered, cancel or move off the human queue immediately.

Consuming Agents

Agent	Usage
finance-manager	Creates bill reminders, detects payments, cleans up on auto-pay confirmation
task-coach	Validates before serving bill tasks, skips if payment already logged
heartbeat	Email scan may detect payment confirmations → triggers cluster clear
health-coach	Medical bill tracking (manual payments only)

Anti-Patterns

• ❌ Keeping bill reminders open after payment is confirmed
• ❌ Creating reminders for auto-pay bills
• ❌ Re-serving a bill task that was just completed/cancelled in same cycle
• ❌ Leaving duplicate sibling tasks for the same payment event
• ❌ Treating all finance tasks as bill tasks (SSI, benefits, credit monitoring are NOT bill tasks)