| name | renewal-tracker |
| description | Show contracts with cancel-by deadlines coming up and warn before notice windows close, working from a maintained renewal register. Use when the user asks "what's renewing soon", "what renewals are due", "did we miss a cancellation window", "add this to the renewal tracker", or on a scheduled basis. Receives handoffs from saas-msa-review.
|
| argument-hint | [--days N to change window | --missed for lapsed windows] |
/renewal-tracker
Surfaces what's renewing and when you have to cancel by.
Instructions
-
Read ~/.codebuddy/plugins/config/legal-workflows/commercial-legal/renewal-register.yaml (the config directory — survives plugin updates).
-
Default mode: Mode 2 — what's coming up in the next 90 days, grouped by urgency using half-open intervals so each deadline lands in exactly one band: 🔴 0–13 days, 🟠 14–44 days, 🟡 45–89 days. Days 14, 45, and 90 are boundaries — each belongs to exactly one band, not two.
-
--days N: Change the window.
-
--missed: Mode 4 — cancel-by deadlines that passed without recorded cancellation.
-
If register is empty and the [CLM] is connected: Offer Mode 3 — scan the [CLM] for active agreements with renewal dates and bulk-load.
-
Output includes recommended actions: who to ping (the business owner from each register entry), which ones have uncapped pricing (get leverage before window closes).
Examples
/commercial-legal:renewal-tracker
/commercial-legal:renewal-tracker --days 180
/commercial-legal:renewal-tracker --missed
Purpose
Nobody reads a contract twice. The renewal date is extracted once, at review time, and then it lives somewhere — ideally somewhere that shouts at you 45 days before the cancel-by deadline, not 45 days after.
This skill maintains the renewal register and surfaces what's coming.
The register
Lives at ~/.codebuddy/plugins/config/legal-workflows/commercial-legal/renewal-register.yaml (the config directory — survives plugin updates). Each entry:
- counterparty: "Acme SaaS Inc."
agreement: "Acme Platform Subscription Agreement"
signed_date: 2025-06-15
initial_term_end: 2026-06-15
current_term_end: 2026-06-15
renewal_mechanism: "auto-renew annual"
notice_period_days: 60
notice_method: "email"
transit_buffer_days: 0
cancel_by_calendar: 2026-04-16
cancel_by_effective: 2026-04-16
send_by_effective: 2026-04-16
cancel_by_roll_note: ""
cancel_by_provenance: "[model calculation — verify against the notice clause]"
price_on_renewal: "then-current list (uncapped)"
annual_value: 48000
business_owner: "jane@company.com"
clm_id:
Notice transit time — alert off send_by_effective, not cancel_by_effective. A 60-day window with a certified-mail requirement is really ~55 days. The tracker that alerts on the received-by date is the tracker that misses the deadline. Compute send_by_effective = cancel_by_effective - transit_buffer_days and fire alerts (the 🔴 / 🟠 / 🟡 urgency bands in Mode 2) off send_by_effective. Mode 2's urgency column shows send_by_effective; a detail column surfaces cancel_by_effective, notice_method, and transit_buffer_days so the reader can see the delta and challenge the buffer.
Rolling renewals — the register that doesn't roll forward is the register that's right once. Store initial_term_end for the record, but compute cancel_by_* from current_term_end. When a renewal fires (the cancel window passes and no notice was given), prompt:
This contract auto-renewed on [date]. Update the register: new current_term_end is [date + renewal period], new cancel_by_effective is [computed], new send_by_effective is [computed]. Confirm?
After year one, initial_term_end is wrong and only current_term_end produces a correct cancel-by date.
Business-day check on every cancel-by date
The register's cancel-by date must be the last BUSINESS DAY on which notice
is effective, not the calendar date. A calendar date that falls on a
weekend is the single most common way a renewal deadline gets missed. The
register catches it.
When you compute (or ingest) a cancel-by date:
- Compute the calendar date.
cancel_by_calendar = initial_term_end − notice_period_days (or whatever the clause specifies). This is the raw arithmetic.
- Business-day roll-back keyed to governing law. The contract's governing law determines which holidays count. US: federal holidays + the state's holidays if governing law is a state. England & Wales: bank holidays. Germany: Feiertage (vary by Bundesland — ask which). Canada: federal + provincial. Singapore: public holidays. If Saturday, roll back to Friday. If Sunday, roll back to Friday. If a holiday in the governing-law jurisdiction, roll back to the prior business day. Roll BACK, never forward — forward means notice arrives after the window closes. For non-US governing law, if you can't determine the holiday calendar, flag it: "Governing law is [X] — business-day roll-back uses US federal holidays as a placeholder. Verify against the [jurisdiction] holiday calendar before relying on the effective date."
- Check the contract's own day-counting rule. Look for "business day," "received by," "deemed received," "5:00 p.m. [local time]," or a notice-method clause. If the contract defines "business day" or specifies receipt mechanics (certified mail, email with read receipt), that definition controls. Flag any mismatch between the default roll-back and the contract's own rule.
- Record BOTH dates in the register.
cancel_by_calendar is the raw arithmetic; cancel_by_effective is the last business day on which notice is effective; cancel_by_roll_note records why they differ (e.g., "rolled back from Sunday 2026-11-01; verify against contract's business-day definition"). Every computed cancel_by_effective carries a cancel_by_provenance tag of [model calculation — verify against the notice clause] so the verify flag travels with the date, not with the surrounding prose.
- Fire alerts off the EFFECTIVE date, not the calendar date. Urgency bands (🔴 / 🟠 / 🟡 in Mode 2) use
cancel_by_effective. Mode 2 output shows cancel_by_effective in the urgency column and surfaces cancel_by_calendar and cancel_by_roll_note in a detail column where the roll-back happened, so the reader can see it and challenge it.
A Mode 2 report that prints cancel_by: 2026-11-01 (a Sunday) with no weekday and no warning is a silently wrong effective deadline. The register is the place to catch it — once, at ingest — not later, when the window has already moved.
Modes
Mode 1: Ingest a renewal (handoff from review)
When saas-msa-review or vendor-agreement-review finds a renewal clause, it hands off a record. Append it to the register. If the counterparty already has an entry, ask whether this is a replacement (renewed agreement) or an additional agreement.
Mode 2: What's coming up
Default lookback window: next 90 days.
Urgency bands are half-open intervals — a deadline lives in exactly one band. Use days-until-cancel-by (cancel_by_effective - today). Day 14, 45, and 90 each belong to exactly one band, not two; an off-by-one here puts the most-urgent items into the less-urgent bucket.
- 🔴 0–13 days (cancel-by in less than 14 days — including today)
- 🟠 14–44 days
- 🟡 45–89 days
- (everything 90+ days is outside the default lookback window; include only if the user passed
--horizon beyond 90)
## Renewals — next 90 days
### 🔴 Cancel-by deadline in 0–13 days
| Counterparty | Cancel by | Renewal date | Annual $ | Owner | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [name] | **[date]** | [date] | $[n] | [email] | [notes] |
### 🟠 Cancel-by deadline in 14–44 days
[same table]
### 🟡 Cancel-by deadline in 45–89 days
[same table]
---
**Recommended actions:**
- [ ] [Counterparty] — ping [business owner]: do we want to keep this?
- [ ] [Counterparty] — pricing is uncapped; get a quote from an alternative before we lose leverage
If the register has more than ~10 renewals in the window, or any time the user asks: offer the dashboard (see practice-profile.md ## Outputs → Dashboard offer for data-heavy outputs). Shape the offer for this output — counts by urgency tier (🔴 / 🟠 / 🟡), a cancel-by timeline, and a sortable register with counterparty, renewal date, annual $, and owner.
Mode 3: Scan the [CLM] / e-signature tool to populate the register
If MCPs are connected and the register is empty or stale:
- Query the [CLM] for all agreements with status "Active" and a renewal date field
- Query DocuSign for completed envelopes in the last 24 months with "subscription" / "renewal" / "auto-renew" in metadata
- For each hit, extract renewal mechanics and add to register
- Flag any where the renewal date can't be determined from metadata — those need a human to read the contract
This is a one-time bulk load. After that, ingest happens at review time.
Mode 4: Missed windows (the bad news report)
## Missed cancellation windows
The following agreements had cancel-by deadlines that have passed and no
cancellation was recorded:
| Counterparty | Cancel-by was | Renewal date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| [name] | [date] | [date] | Will auto-renew on [date] |
**Options:**
- Negotiate late cancellation (rarely works but worth asking)
- Accept the renewal, mark next year's cancel-by now
- Check the agreement for any other termination rights (for convenience, for cause)
Gate: accepting or declining a renewal
Tracking a renewal date is research. Acting on it — sending a notice of non-renewal, letting an auto-renewal fire, or countersigning a renewal form — is a consequential legal step.
Before proceeding to accept or decline a renewal (including sending a non-renewal notice or letting an auto-renewal run past the cancel-by date): Read ## Who's using this in ~/.codebuddy/plugins/config/legal-workflows/commercial-legal/practice-profile.md. If the Role is Non-lawyer:
This step has legal consequences (you're either committing to another term or terminating the relationship). Have you reviewed this with an attorney? If yes, proceed. If no, here's a brief to bring to them:
[Generate a 1-page summary: counterparty, current term end and cancel-by date, renewal price mechanism, what happens if we do nothing, alternative vendors if we want to shop, and the three things to ask the attorney before the window closes.]
If you need to find an attorney, solicitor, barrister, or other authorised legal professional: contact your professional regulator (state bar in the US, SRA/Bar Standards Board in England & Wales, Law Society in Scotland/NI/Ireland/Canada/Australia, or your jurisdiction's equivalent) for a referral service.
Do not proceed past this gate without an explicit yes.
Integration: renewal-watcher agent
The renewal-watcher agent in this plugin runs this skill on a schedule (weekly by default) and posts the "coming up" report to the channel named in ~/.codebuddy/plugins/config/legal-workflows/commercial-legal/practice-profile.md → ## House style → where work product goes. Mode 2 is the agent's primary output.
What this skill does not do
- It does not cancel contracts. It tells you when to decide.
- It does not decide whether to renew. It surfaces the deadline and the business owner.
- It does not read contracts to find renewal dates — that happens at review time. If a contract is in the register without a renewal date, it was added manually and someone needs to fill in the gap.
