| name | upsert-octopus-transactions |
| description | Strict, step-by-step workflow for upserting Octopus card transactions to the ledger. Requires explicit user clarification for any ambiguity. Enforces contextual matching, mapping, and privacy rules. No guessing or inference allowed. |
Upsert Octopus Transactions Skill
🚩 Absolute Rules for Agents
You must follow every step below, in order, with no exceptions.
- Journal file paths must always include the full prefix
ledger/. Never omit it.
- Never guess, infer, or assume. If anything is ambiguous, unclear, or missing, you must stop and ask the user for clarification before proceeding.
- Always use the todo list tool to break down the process, mark each step as in-progress/completed, and update after every change.
- Always use two strict passes: Pass 1 for matching and updating existing transactions only, Pass 2 for adding new transactions only. For todos, label them clearly as Pass 1 or Pass 2.
- Never prepare or transcribe any hledger journal transactions until Pass 2. This is critical to avoid mixing up updates and additions.
- Never skip a mapping, privacy, or contextual check.
Definitions:
- Octopus transactions are the transactions in the raw data (e.g., from statements, screenshots, or app exports).
- Journal transactions are the transactions in the hledger journal files and those that should be produced by the agent.
1. Preparation: Load All Context
- You must always read the confidential payee mapping file:
private.yaml, and ensure you understand which payees are confidential and require UUIDs. This must always be remembered for correct payee handling.
- You must always read the payee mapping file:
.agents/skills/upsert-octopus-transactions/payee_mappings.yml. This must always be referenced for correct payee mapping.
Note: Process Octopus transactions in chronological order; see .agents/instructions/transaction-format.instructions.md for canonical ordering rules.
- Do not transcribe or prepare any journal transactions from the Octopus transactions until Pass 2.
- If any mapping is missing, ambiguous, or unclear, you must ask the user for the correct mapping and update the file before continuing. Never guess.
- For confidential payees, after mapping, must check
private.yaml for a UUID. If a UUID exists, use it as the payee in the journal. Never expose confidential names.
- At this point, if the user has NOT explicitly provided a journal file snippet, you must read the entire current month's journal file (
ledger/[year]/[year]-[month]/self.journal). You must NOT read only a subset, or you may miss existing journal transactions. Do NOT forget the prefix ledger/.
2. Two-Pass Upsert Workflow (MANDATORY)
To ensure correct upserting, you must process Octopus transactions in two strict passes. You must make no changes in Pass 1 other than updates to existing journal transactions. You must make no changes in Pass 2 other than adding new journal transactions. These two passes must be strictly separated.
Examples & worked cases: See ./examples.md for Pass 1/Pass 2 worked examples and matching heuristics. If a new example is needed, add it to ./examples.md and append a one-line rationale to ./lessons.md explaining why.
Pass 1: Match and Update Only
During pass 1, do not transcribe or prepare journal transactions. Keep the Octopus transactions as-is for now. For each Octopus transaction (in chronological order):
- For each Octopus transaction, you must check every journal entry for the correct amount and date, regardless of payee/merchant or any other field. Never filter or restrict by payee/merchant name. Absolutely ignore merchant names, payee names, activity, tags, and the nature or type of the transaction except for the reload/transfer exclusion above. Even if the merchant/payee/nature do not match or seem unrelated, you must still match if date and amount match, and time is within ±1.5 hours. Only date and amount are primary, time is secondary, and all other considerations are tertiary and must be ignored.
- For transport transactions, require exact date, time (allow up to 1 minute rounding), and payee (must use payee mapping if present). Duration is never added or updated for transport.
- For Octopus reload/transfer transactions, never attempt to match or update existing journal entries in Pass 1. Always add them in Pass 2, following the reload pattern (self-to-self transfer between Octopus card and Octopus account).
- A match only exists if date, amount, and time (±1.5 hours) all match. All three are required. Before confirming every potential match, you must always re-confirm the match by re-reading the hledger journal entry header line to confirm. Never use previous reads. Try very hard to confirm the match. If you cannot confirm even after trying very hard, discard the candidate.
- A very important matching heuristic: Ignoring the sign of the amount, transactions more expensive than or equal to $25 are very likely to be dining or eating transactions, which almost always have matches. Transactions less than $25 are very likely to be transport or small purchases, which almost always do NOT have matches. Use this heuristic to help confirm matches, but do not use it as a strict rule.
- If there are multiple journal entries with the same date and amount, each Octopus transaction must be matched to a unique journal entry, even if the payee, merchant, or time is different (as long as within ±1.5 hours).
- If there is a match, apply the update for a match individually using a tiny precise patch to existing journal transactions only. See below. If no match is found, apply the payee mapping logic to attempt the previous steps for exactly once again. After this, if no match is found finally, do nothing in this pass.
- Do not add any new transactions in this pass.
After each match, apply the update for a match individually using a tiny precise patch to existing journal transactions only.
- If a journal entry’s time is earlier and the Octopus time is later, and the journal entry has a
time: tag but no duration:, calculate and add a duration: tag (Octopus time - journal time) if the difference is ≥2 minutes. If the difference is <2 minutes, do not update.
- If the journal entry already has a duration:, do not update it. This is the most frequently overlooked rule; several past imports required a follow‑up correction when the duration was forgotten, so double‑check carefully before finalizing pass 1.
- IMPORTANT: When adding a duration: tag, you must insert it directly into the transaction header comment, immediately after the time: field and before the timezone: field. Do not add a new line or posting. Only the header comment is updated.
Examples & worked cases
See ./examples.md for Pass 1/Pass 2 worked examples and matching heuristics. If you need an additional example, add it to ./examples.md and append a one-line rationale to ./lessons.md explaining why it was needed.
Pass 2: Add Unmatched Transactions
Only in pass 2, transcribe or prepare journal transactions for any Octopus transactions that were not matched in pass 1. At this point, you must remember all payee mapping and confidentiality rules.
- For each Octopus transaction that was not matched in Pass 1:
- Must check the payee mapping file for the merchant name. If missing, ambiguous, or one-to-many and context is insufficient, ask the user for the correct mapping and update the file before proceeding.
- For small beverage or vending-machine merchants such as
太古可口可樂 and 自動販賣機, map to Swire and use expenses:food and drinks:drinks. These 3-5 HKD beverage transactions are easy to miss, so treat them as a separate review category during Pass 2.
- For confidential payees, after mapping, check
private.yaml for a UUID and use it in the journal. Never expose confidential names.
- Add a new journal transaction using the mapping. Note: Insert transactions in strict chronological order; see
.agents/instructions/transaction-format.instructions.md.
- For vending machine transactions (e.g., Swire), use
expenses:food and drinks:drinks as the expense account.
- For bus transport transactions (Kowloon Motor Bus/Long Win Bus), also record the reward accrual and revenue postings. Add an
assets:accrued revenues:rewards posting with the fare amount in _PT/E (positive) and a corresponding revenues:rewards posting with the negative same amount in _PT/E. This ensures accumulated reward points are tracked consistently for bus fares.
- For each new payee, register it in
preludes/self.journal (alphabetized); for confidential payees register the UUID. See add-payee skill for process.
- If any ambiguity exists, ask the user for clarification.
Never add a transaction in Pass 1. Never update an existing transaction in Pass 2.
- Insert new transactions in their correct chronological position (see
.agents/instructions/transaction-format.instructions.md).
- Within each transaction, order postings with debits first (increases), then credits (decreases).
- For each new payee, register it in
preludes/self.journal (alphabetized). For confidential payees, register the UUID.
- If any ambiguity exists in transaction details, ordering, or payee registration, ask the user for clarification.
4. Validation and Commit
Note: Use the canonical formatting and validation workflow: run bun run format then bun run check (or use python -m ... with cwd=scripts/). See .agents/instructions/developer-workflows.instructions.md and .agents/instructions/common-workflows.instructions.md for details. Review changes and stage/commit them using the correct ledger commit header only if the user has explicitly asked you to make a commit; otherwise you may simply stop after validation. If any error or ambiguity arises during validation, ask the user for clarification.
5. Examples of When to Ask for Clarification
- The Octopus merchant name is not in the mapping file.
- The mapping file gives multiple possible payees and context is insufficient to choose.
- The Octopus transaction time is close to multiple journal entries and it is unclear which to match.
- The Octopus row shows an aggregate/group total that does not match any single journal posting or split (e.g. group bill total vs per-person shares). In this case do not attempt to split or match automatically — ask the user for instructions.
- The payee is confidential but no UUID is found in
private.yaml.
- The transaction amount or type is unusual or does not fit known patterns.
- The reload source is unclear (e.g., bank email not provided).
- The food/drink items are unknown for a dining transaction.
- Any other detail is missing, ambiguous, or could be interpreted in more than one way.
In all such cases, STOP and ask the user for clarification before proceeding.
6. Anti-Patterns (STRICTLY FORBIDDEN)
See .agents/instructions/continuous-learning.instructions.md for comprehensive anti-pattern reference across all skills. Critical patterns specific to upsert:
- Never guess or infer a mapping or payee.
- Never add a transaction if a contextual match exists (in Pass 1).
- Never update a transaction in Pass 2.
- Never expose confidential payee names in the journal.
- Never add a transaction for 八達通轉賬 (typo: 八達通專帳) as payee—always map.
- Never skip the todo list tool for multi-step work.
- Never proceed past any ambiguity—always ask the user.
- Most frequently overlooked: If journal entry already has
duration:, leave it alone. This has caused post-import fixes in past sessions.
7. Summary Table (Strict Two-Pass)
| Pass | Octopus Transaction (date & amount primary, time secondary, all else ignored) | Contextual Match in Journal? | Action |
|---|
| Pass 1 | Date, amount, ±2hr (ignore all merchant/payee/nature differences) | Yes | Update existing journal transaction only |
| Pass 1 | Date, amount, ±2hr (ignore all merchant/payee/nature differences) | No | Do nothing |
| Pass 2 | (Unmatched from Pass 1) | N/A | Add new transaction using mapping |
9. Final Checklist
If you are ever unsure, always ask the user for clarification before proceeding.
10. Lessons Learned
See ./lessons.md for active learnings and integration pointers. For consolidated insights across all skills (replaces scattered lessons.md), see .agents/instructions/continuous-learning.instructions.md:
Most critical lesson: When matching Octopus end-time rows, only add duration: if the journal entry doesn't already have one. This is the most frequently overlooked rule; past imports have required manual correction when this was forgotten.
Key patterns (2026):
- Octopus/eDDA statement matching: Use FRN/transfer IDs + timestamp + amount; never use debtor-reference tokens (⭐ integrated into SKILL.md)
- KMB reward accrual: Record reward line + revenue posting for bus fares (⭐ integrated into Pass 2 guidance)
- Duration calculation: Pass 1-matched entries require duration only if missing (⭐ most critical rule; double-check before finalizing)
When adding entries to ./lessons.md, keep them brief (1-2 lines per dated entry) and integrate findings into this SKILL.md, examples.md, or specialized_transaction_import.md after resolving.
