Personal Finance Update

Finance Pipeline Refresh

Run the full finance pipeline, extract current numbers from master CSVs, diff them against the Obsidian personal finance note, and update any stale tables in-place.

Phase 0: Pre-flight

1. Read ~/.claude/skills/personal-finance-update/config.json.
2. Validate every value path exists on disk.
3. If any path is missing: STOP. Report MISSING: <key>: <path> to the user and do not proceed. Do not attempt to infer a new location or continue with partial data.

Phase 1: Pipeline

1. Run the finance pipeline:

   bash the `pipeline_script` path from config.json --quick
   

2. Check the exit code:
   • Exit 0: Continue silently to Phase 2.
   • Exit 1: Warn the user about validation warnings, then continue to Phase 2.
   • Exit 2: STOP. Report validation failures to the user and do not proceed.

Phase 2: Extract

1. Run the extraction script:

   python3 ~/.claude/skills/personal-finance-update/scripts/finance_extract.py
   

2. Check the exit code:
   • Exit 0: Capture the JSON output from stdout. Save it to /tmp/finance_extract_output.json.
   • Non-zero: STOP. Report the stderr output to the user and do not proceed.

Phase 3: Diff

1. Run the diff script against the Obsidian note:

   python3 ~/.claude/skills/personal-finance-update/scripts/finance_diff.py /tmp/finance_extract_output.json the `obsidian_note` path from config.json
   

2. Capture the JSON output. Also check stderr — if any Warning: section '...' not found messages appear, note the missing sections and report them in Phase 7.
3. If cells_changed is 0: report "All tables up to date -- 0 changes" and skip directly to Phase 6.

Phase 4: Update

For each table in tables_changed:

1. Use the Edit tool to replace the section in the Obsidian note.
2. The old_string is everything from the heading line through the end of the postscript.
3. The new_string is the regenerated heading + preamble + table + postscript from new_markdown_sections.
4. Only touch tables that actually changed. Leave unchanged tables alone.

Phase 5: Verify

1. Run finance_extract.py again:

   python3 ~/.claude/skills/personal-finance-update/scripts/finance_extract.py
   

2. Save to a new temp file and run the diff again:

   python3 ~/.claude/skills/personal-finance-update/scripts/finance_diff.py /tmp/finance_extract_verify.json the `obsidian_note` path from config.json
   

3. If cells_changed is 0: good, continue to Phase 6.
4. If non-zero: warn the user about the discrepancy and flag for manual review, but continue.

Phase 6: Audit

From the extract JSON's validation array, flag:

1. Uncategorized transactions from validation notes.
2. Large transactions over $5,000 that may need review.
3. Category distribution warnings (unusual spikes or missing categories).
4. Partial-year status for the current year (note how many months of data exist).

Phase 7: Report

Present a summary to the user:

1. Tables updated: count of tables changed.
2. Cells changed: total number of cell-level changes.
3. Specific changes: list each change from the diff output changes array (table name, field, old value, new value).
4. Audit findings: any flags from Phase 6.

Troubleshooting

• Pipeline script not found: Verify the pipeline_script path from config.json exists and is executable.
• No master CSVs found: Check the master_dir path from config.json has *_master.csv files.
• Obsidian note not found: iCloud sync may be delayed -- check the path exists.
• Table not found in note: The diff script couldn't find the expected ### heading -- check the Obsidian note structure hasn't changed.