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payroll-prep

skill · 139 lines · Apache-2.0 · small-business/skills/payroll-prep/SKILL.md

The facts

Its description

Gets payroll ready to run without anyone getting shorted: pulls timesheets from Gusto, QuickBooks Payroll, or an uploaded spreadsheet, totals regular, overtime, and PTO hours by person, flags every anomaly it finds — missed punches, overtime spikes, rate changes, mid-period hires and terminations, hours off the schedule — and stages the run for the owner to approve line by line before a dollar moves. Anomalies are always raised, never quietly corrected. Once the owner runs it, the journal posts to the ledger or goes to the bookkeeper. Reach for this whenever payroll comes up at all — "run payroll," "payroll is due," "check the timecards," "did everyone clock out," "how many hours did the crew put in," "why is payroll so high this week," "I need to pay the guys Friday" — and use it after cash-flow-snapshot when the owner is worried about whether payroll clears.

The description the agent reads to decide when to use it.

From its settingsline 3

When it starts

The agent would pick this when payroll is on the owner's mind — running or preparing a pay run, a pay date coming up, checking the crew's timecards or hours, or asking why payroll came out high. It is also reached for right after a cash-flow check when the owner is worried about whether payroll will clear.

Things a person might say (the model's guesses)

  • “Run payroll for this week”
  • “Payroll is due Friday — can you check the timecards first?”
  • “How many hours did the crew put in this period, and did anyone miss a clock-out?”

A model's summary of when it is used.

A model's reading

Tools it may use, or may not

allowed-tools: Read, WebFetch

Tools it may use while it runs without asking you first.

From its settingsline 17

Files it mentions

reference/timesheet_intake.md, reference/anomaly_rules.md (first 5 of 8 lines)

Files the text names, such as ones to read or write. Found by matching words, so treat them as pointers.

Found by matching wordsline 30 line 54 line 60 line 131 line 132

What it leads to

Other skills this one hands off to, calls, requires or offers instead, as a model read them.

A model's reading

What leads to it

Other skills that hand off to this one, call it, require it or offer it instead, as a model read them.

A model's reading

Licence

Apache-2.0, from LICENSE

The terms its author shares it under, which let it be shown here.

From the repositorylicence text
Other files in this skill (5) Close

The text

Open on GitHub

Most marks come from matching words in the file, so treat them as pointers.

1---
2name: payroll-prep
3description: >
4 Gets payroll ready to run without anyone getting shorted: pulls timesheets
5 from Gusto, QuickBooks Payroll, or an uploaded spreadsheet, totals regular,
6 overtime, and PTO
7 hours by person, flags every anomaly it finds — missed punches, overtime
8 spikes, rate changes, mid-period hires and terminations, hours off the
9 schedule — and stages the run for the owner to approve line by line before
10 a dollar moves. Anomalies are always raised, never quietly corrected. Once
11 the owner runs it, the journal posts to the ledger or goes to the
12 bookkeeper. Reach for this whenever payroll comes up at all
13 — "run payroll," "payroll is due," "check the timecards," "did everyone
14 clock out," "how many hours did the crew put in," "why is payroll so high
15 this week," "I need to pay the guys Friday" — and use it after
16 cash-flow-snapshot when the owner is worried about whether payroll clears.
17allowed-tools: Read, WebFetch
18---
20# Payroll Prep
22Get the hours right before anyone gets paid.
24Payroll is the finance workflow with the least room for error. A wrong invoice gets corrected next week. A wrong paycheck is a person who cannot cover rent, and it is the fastest way for an owner to lose a crew. Everything in this skill is built around that asymmetry: the machine assembles and checks, the owner decides.

Payroll Prep

Get the hours right before anyone gets paid.

Payroll is the finance workflow with the least room for error. A wrong invoice gets corrected next week. A wrong paycheck is a person who cannot cover rent, and it is the fastest way for an owner to lose a crew. Everything in this skill is built around that asymmetry: the machine assembles and checks, the owner decides.

Raw lines 1 to 25
26## Step 1 — Fix the period before anything else
28Confirm the pay period start and end dates, the pay date, and who is in this run. Getting the period wrong duplicates or skips a week of someone's pay, and it is a surprisingly easy mistake when a period straddles a month end.
30Confirm the roster too: new hires who started mid-period, anyone terminated, anyone on leave. See `reference/timesheet_intake.md`.

Step 1 — Fix the period before anything else

Confirm the pay period start and end dates, the pay date, and who is in this run. Getting the period wrong duplicates or skips a week of someone's pay, and it is a surprisingly easy mistake when a period straddles a month end.

Confirm the roster too: new hires who started mid-period, anyone terminated, anyone on leave. See reference/timesheet_intake.md.

Raw lines 26 to 31
Reads a file reference/timesheet_intake.md :30
32## Step 2 — Pull the timesheets
34**With Gusto connected**, first ask Gusto itself what stands in the way: call its payroll-blockers check (`list_payroll_blockers`) before building anything. If blockers come back, translate each into plain English — what it means, who fixes it, and where. For example: "check payments unsupported" means this company pays by paper check, which the integration cannot stage, so the owner runs that part in Gusto directly; "bank account not connected via Plaid" means the owner connects the bank in Gusto's settings; "hourly employees unsupported" can block at the account level even when this run is salaried-only. Blockers are a routing signal, not a failure — the run still gets built and validated here, and the deliverable becomes the run sheet with the blocker list riding along.
36Then pull the period's inputs, each from its own tool. **Hours:** `list_time_records` for the pay period; read its `source` field before anything else. `native` returns shifts with clock-in, clock-out, and breaks; `third_party` returns timesheets from the company's time-tracking partner, and `get_time_sheet` gives the per-day line items for any one of them (it refuses native shift ids); `none` means Gusto holds no hours for this company, so the spreadsheet path below supplies them. **Leave:** `list_time_off_requests` for the period with `status: approved` — every approved day is paid as PTO or sick, never as worked, and a pending request is a flag, not a paid day. **Balances:** `get_time_off_balances`, which is what the "PTO beyond available balance" check in Step 4 reads against. **Rates and classifications:** the roster from `list_employees` with each person's compensations. Rates come from Gusto, never from a timesheet. Call shapes for these are in `../../shared/connector-call-shapes.md`.
38**A missing punch the owner can fill.** When Step 4 flags a shift with no clock-out and the owner gives the real times, `record_time` writes them — only the times the owner stated, shown to them first, and as an `update` of the existing shift rather than a second entry. The parameters that refuse if missing (timezone, job on Gusto's own tracking, which id counts as the shift) and the one re-read trap (a contractor's confirmed hours come back with blank clock times; do not write again) are in the `record_time` row of `../../shared/connector-call-shapes.md`. Read that row before the call. This is the only way the skill ever changes a punch; an assumed time is never written.
40**Then prove the source is returning its data before anything is staged.** Pull the roster (`list_employees`) and the schedules (`list_pay_schedules`). A company that reports a headcount while either list comes back empty, or a blockers call that errors instead of answering, is a payroll source that is connected but not delivering. Stop the staging path, say so in one line ("Gusto is connected but returned no employees or pay schedules, so I cannot stage a run against it"), and offer the spreadsheet path below. Never build a run from an empty roster, and never treat a green connection badge as proof the data is there.
42**With QuickBooks Payroll connected**, pull the same fields from there. Two different failures look alike here, and the owner hears them differently. An **empty source** (Gusto's lists come back with no rows on a company that reports a headcount) is a data gap: say so and use the run sheet. A **self-contradicting source** is a tool defect: `qbo_payroll_get_company_payroll_readiness` answering `has_employees: false` and `run_payroll_ready: false` while `qbo_payroll_get_employees` on the same company returns a `total_count` of 50 cannot both be true. This is independent of how much data the company has. When that happens, use the employee list for the roster (it is the call that returned rows), do not stage a run while readiness says not ready, and say both numbers to the owner in one line so the contradiction is on record rather than hidden behind "not ready." Then take the spreadsheet path below with that roster: a validated run sheet the owner keys into QuickBooks Payroll is the outcome, the same as for an empty source. This is a first-class source, not a fallback. It carries the full employee roster with pay type, rate and frequency, employment status, and PTO policy balances; the pay schedule and its frequency; and the last completed run with per-employee gross pay, hours, and the tax lines. Where hours came from a timesheet the record says so, which is what the anomaly checks in Step 4 need.
44Two cautions specific to this source. Employees carry an employment status separate from an active flag, so someone marked active can still be not-on-payroll or on paid leave; read both before putting anyone in the run. And a single employee can hold a dozen or more pay rates, most sitting at zero hours, so total from the rate that actually has hours against it rather than the first rate listed.
46**Without either**, take an uploaded spreadsheet or CSV. This is a fully supported path — a validated run sheet the owner keys into their payroll provider is a complete outcome. Many small crews still run on a paper timesheet photographed at the end of the week, and that works too.
48Normalize into one row per person per day: date, in, out, break, regular hours, overtime hours, PTO, and the job or class if the business tracks labor to jobs.

Step 2 — Pull the timesheets

With Gusto connected, first ask Gusto itself what stands in the way: call its payroll-blockers check (list_payroll_blockers) before building anything. If blockers come back, translate each into plain English — what it means, who fixes it, and where. For example: "check payments unsupported" means this company pays by paper check, which the integration cannot stage, so the owner runs that part in Gusto directly; "bank account not connected via Plaid" means the owner connects the bank in Gusto's settings; "hourly employees unsupported" can block at the account level even when this run is salaried-only. Blockers are a routing signal, not a failure — the run still gets built and validated here, and the deliverable becomes the run sheet with the blocker list riding along.

Then pull the period's inputs, each from its own tool. Hours: list_time_records for the pay period; read its source field before anything else. native returns shifts with clock-in, clock-out, and breaks; third_party returns timesheets from the company's time-tracking partner, and get_time_sheet gives the per-day line items for any one of them (it refuses native shift ids); none means Gusto holds no hours for this company, so the spreadsheet path below supplies them. Leave: list_time_off_requests for the period with status: approved — every approved day is paid as PTO or sick, never as worked, and a pending request is a flag, not a paid day. Balances: get_time_off_balances, which is what the "PTO beyond available balance" check in Step 4 reads against. Rates and classifications: the roster from list_employees with each person's compensations. Rates come from Gusto, never from a timesheet. Call shapes for these are in ../../shared/connector-call-shapes.md.

A missing punch the owner can fill. When Step 4 flags a shift with no clock-out and the owner gives the real times, record_time writes them — only the times the owner stated, shown to them first, and as an update of the existing shift rather than a second entry. The parameters that refuse if missing (timezone, job on Gusto's own tracking, which id counts as the shift) and the one re-read trap (a contractor's confirmed hours come back with blank clock times; do not write again) are in the record_time row of ../../shared/connector-call-shapes.md. Read that row before the call. This is the only way the skill ever changes a punch; an assumed time is never written.

Then prove the source is returning its data before anything is staged. Pull the roster (list_employees) and the schedules (list_pay_schedules). A company that reports a headcount while either list comes back empty, or a blockers call that errors instead of answering, is a payroll source that is connected but not delivering. Stop the staging path, say so in one line ("Gusto is connected but returned no employees or pay schedules, so I cannot stage a run against it"), and offer the spreadsheet path below. Never build a run from an empty roster, and never treat a green connection badge as proof the data is there.

With QuickBooks Payroll connected, pull the same fields from there. Two different failures look alike here, and the owner hears them differently. An empty source (Gusto's lists come back with no rows on a company that reports a headcount) is a data gap: say so and use the run sheet. A self-contradicting source is a tool defect: qbo_payroll_get_company_payroll_readiness answering has_employees: false and run_payroll_ready: false while qbo_payroll_get_employees on the same company returns a total_count of 50 cannot both be true. This is independent of how much data the company has. When that happens, use the employee list for the roster (it is the call that returned rows), do not stage a run while readiness says not ready, and say both numbers to the owner in one line so the contradiction is on record rather than hidden behind "not ready." Then take the spreadsheet path below with that roster: a validated run sheet the owner keys into QuickBooks Payroll is the outcome, the same as for an empty source. This is a first-class source, not a fallback. It carries the full employee roster with pay type, rate and frequency, employment status, and PTO policy balances; the pay schedule and its frequency; and the last completed run with per-employee gross pay, hours, and the tax lines. Where hours came from a timesheet the record says so, which is what the anomaly checks in Step 4 need.

Two cautions specific to this source. Employees carry an employment status separate from an active flag, so someone marked active can still be not-on-payroll or on paid leave; read both before putting anyone in the run. And a single employee can hold a dozen or more pay rates, most sitting at zero hours, so total from the rate that actually has hours against it rather than the first rate listed.

Without either, take an uploaded spreadsheet or CSV. This is a fully supported path — a validated run sheet the owner keys into their payroll provider is a complete outcome. Many small crews still run on a paper timesheet photographed at the end of the week, and that works too.

Normalize into one row per person per day: date, in, out, break, regular hours, overtime hours, PTO, and the job or class if the business tracks labor to jobs.

Raw lines 32 to 49
Names a skill update :38
50## Step 3 — Total the hours
52Compute regular, overtime, double time, PTO, holiday, and unpaid time per person, then per crew, then for the run.
54Overtime rules vary by state and by how the business classifies people, and getting them wrong underpays someone. Use the owner's stated rule, and when there isn't one, use the plain weekly-overtime default and say which rule you applied. `reference/anomaly_rules.md` covers the calculation edges — mid-week rate changes, multi-job days, and shifts crossing midnight.
56**Never fill a missing punch with an assumed time.** A shift with a clock-in and no clock-out has unknown hours, and unknown hours is what gets reported.

Step 3 — Total the hours

Compute regular, overtime, double time, PTO, holiday, and unpaid time per person, then per crew, then for the run.

Overtime rules vary by state and by how the business classifies people, and getting them wrong underpays someone. Use the owner's stated rule, and when there isn't one, use the plain weekly-overtime default and say which rule you applied. reference/anomaly_rules.md covers the calculation edges — mid-week rate changes, multi-job days, and shifts crossing midnight.

Never fill a missing punch with an assumed time. A shift with a clock-in and no clock-out has unknown hours, and unknown hours is what gets reported.

Raw lines 50 to 57
Reads a file reference/anomaly_rules.md :54
58## Step 4 — Flag every anomaly
60This is the core of the skill. Run the full check in `reference/anomaly_rules.md` and surface everything it finds, each with the person's name, the date, and what specifically looks wrong:
62- Missing punches and shifts with no clock-out
63- Overtime above this person's normal pattern, with both numbers
64- Zero hours for someone who normally works
65- Hours well above what the schedule called for
66- Rate changes since the last run
67- Duplicate or overlapping entries
68- PTO taken beyond the available balance
69- Someone paid last period who is missing from this one
70- A new person appearing with no hire record
72**Flags go to the owner. They never get silently corrected.** A missed punch has a real answer that only the employee and the owner know, and a plausible guess in the middle of that becomes a wrong paycheck that looks correct on the report.

Step 4 — Flag every anomaly

This is the core of the skill. Run the full check in reference/anomaly_rules.md and surface everything it finds, each with the person's name, the date, and what specifically looks wrong:

  • Missing punches and shifts with no clock-out
  • Overtime above this person's normal pattern, with both numbers
  • Zero hours for someone who normally works
  • Hours well above what the schedule called for
  • Rate changes since the last run
  • Duplicate or overlapping entries
  • PTO taken beyond the available balance
  • Someone paid last period who is missing from this one
  • A new person appearing with no hire record

Flags go to the owner. They never get silently corrected. A missed punch has a real answer that only the employee and the owner know, and a plausible guess in the middle of that becomes a wrong paycheck that looks correct on the report.

Raw lines 58 to 73
Reads a file reference/anomaly_rules.md :60
74## Step 5 — Show the run before approving it
76Present the run sheet: person by person, hours by type, gross pay, and every flag attached to the person it belongs to. Then the totals — total hours, total gross, employer taxes and contributions if available, total cash needed, and the pay date.
78Compare against the prior period and explain any move over 10%. A payroll that jumped USD 4,000 has a reason, and the owner should hear it from this skill rather than find it in the bank balance.
80If cash data is available, say whether the run clears. If it is not available, say that plainly instead of implying it is fine.

Step 5 — Show the run before approving it

Present the run sheet: person by person, hours by type, gross pay, and every flag attached to the person it belongs to. Then the totals — total hours, total gross, employer taxes and contributions if available, total cash needed, and the pay date.

Compare against the prior period and explain any move over 10%. A payroll that jumped USD 4,000 has a reason, and the owner should hear it from this skill rather than find it in the bank balance.

If cash data is available, say whether the run clears. If it is not available, say that plainly instead of implying it is fine.

Raw lines 74 to 81
82## Step 6 — Resolve the flags, one at a time
84Walk the owner through each flag. For each: what was found, what it would mean if left as is, and what they want done. Record the answer and apply it.
86Do not batch flags into a single "looks good?" question. Each one is a person's pay.

Step 6 — Resolve the flags, one at a time

Walk the owner through each flag. For each: what was found, what it would mean if left as is, and what they want done. Record the answer and apply it.

Do not batch flags into a single "looks good?" question. Each one is a person's pay.

Raw lines 82 to 87
88## Step 7 — The approval gate
90**Nothing stages until the owner explicitly approves the run.**
92State plainly before asking: number of people, total hours, total gross, total cash leaving the account, the pay date, and the count of any flags they chose to leave open.
94Then ask. An owner who wants to skip this gate should be told, once and without lecturing, that it stays because a wrong run is not something they can take back after direct deposit lands.
96With Gusto connected, stage the run: find the unprocessed payroll with `list_payrolls` filtered to `processing_statuses: unprocessed` and an `end_date` a few weeks ahead (its date filter is on the pay period, and a bare call can miss a period that has not ended yet), take the one with the nearest check date, read it with `get_payroll`, then write the approved hours, PTO, and any bonus lines with `update_payroll`. Two shapes matter and both are in `../../shared/connector-call-shapes.md`: values **replace** rather than add, so "give Maria five more hours" means sending her new total, shown to the owner as "40 → 45" first; and a payroll whose roster is not yet materialized takes one empty `update_payroll` call to populate it before the real one. Leave `run_payroll` alone — that is the owner's button, in Gusto. With QuickBooks Payroll connected, the connector holds the reads (roster, rates, schedules, readiness, last run) and no run-staging write, so the outcome there is the validated run sheet the owner keys in; that is what the connector holds today, not a lesser path. **The owner submits it** in either system. With neither, produce the validated run sheet for manual entry. If Gusto's blockers from Step 2 prevent staging through the connection, the validated run sheet plus the plain-English blocker list is the outcome — say so without treating it as a failure.

Step 7 — The approval gate

Nothing stages until the owner explicitly approves the run.

State plainly before asking: number of people, total hours, total gross, total cash leaving the account, the pay date, and the count of any flags they chose to leave open.

Then ask. An owner who wants to skip this gate should be told, once and without lecturing, that it stays because a wrong run is not something they can take back after direct deposit lands.

With Gusto connected, stage the run: find the unprocessed payroll with list_payrolls filtered to processing_statuses: unprocessed and an end_date a few weeks ahead (its date filter is on the pay period, and a bare call can miss a period that has not ended yet), take the one with the nearest check date, read it with get_payroll, then write the approved hours, PTO, and any bonus lines with update_payroll. Two shapes matter and both are in ../../shared/connector-call-shapes.md: values replace rather than add, so "give Maria five more hours" means sending her new total, shown to the owner as "40 → 45" first; and a payroll whose roster is not yet materialized takes one empty update_payroll call to populate it before the real one. Leave run_payroll alone — that is the owner's button, in Gusto. With QuickBooks Payroll connected, the connector holds the reads (roster, rates, schedules, readiness, last run) and no run-staging write, so the outcome there is the validated run sheet the owner keys in; that is what the connector holds today, not a lesser path. The owner submits it in either system. With neither, produce the validated run sheet for manual entry. If Gusto's blockers from Step 2 prevent staging through the connection, the validated run sheet plus the plain-English blocker list is the outcome — say so without treating it as a failure.

Raw lines 88 to 97
98## Step 8 — Sync to the books
100After the run is submitted, post the journal entry to the ledger: gross wages, employer taxes, and any labor allocated to jobs. Test the capability, not the logo: a connected ledger whose connector has no journal-write path cannot take the post, so say so in one line and hand the balanced entry to the owner or bookkeeper to key in — a complete outcome, not a failure. Confirm the amounts match what actually ran, not what was proposed — those differ whenever the owner edited something at the last step.

Step 8 — Sync to the books

After the run is submitted, post the journal entry to the ledger: gross wages, employer taxes, and any labor allocated to jobs. Test the capability, not the logo: a connected ledger whose connector has no journal-write path cannot take the post, so say so in one line and hand the balanced entry to the owner or bookkeeper to key in — a complete outcome, not a failure. Confirm the amounts match what actually ran, not what was proposed — those differ whenever the owner edited something at the last step.

Raw lines 98 to 101
102## What not to do
104- **Do not guess a punch, a rate, or a classification.** Unknown hours get named with the person and the date.
105- **Do not correct an anomaly silently,** even an obvious-looking one. The owner may know something you do not.
106- **Do not submit payroll.** Stage it; the owner submits. `run_payroll` is never called by this skill. This holds for QuickBooks Payroll exactly as it holds for Gusto — a connected payroll system is not permission to run payroll.
107- **Do not send a delta to `update_payroll`.** Its values replace. Compute the new total from `get_payroll`, show both numbers, send the total.
108- **Do not write a punch the owner did not state.** `record_time` carries only times the owner gave, and only after they saw the entry.
109- **Do not read a pay rate without checking the hours against it.** In QuickBooks Payroll one person can carry many rates with zero hours on most of them.
110- **Do not bury flags in a summary.** Attach each one to the person it affects.
111- **Do not batch the flag review.** One decision per person per issue.
112- **Do not treat a missing connector as a blocker.** A spreadsheet in, a validated run sheet out, is a designed path.
113- **Do not skip the prior-period comparison.** A large move with no explanation is the most useful warning available.
114- **Do not stage a run from a payroll source that reports employees but returns none.** A connected badge is not data. Say the source is not delivering, and use the spreadsheet path.
115- **Do not reproduce an employee's SSN, date of birth, home address, or bank or card number** in the run sheet, the chat, or any rendered page. Gusto and QuickBooks Payroll payloads carry them; read past them (`../../shared/personal-data.md`).

What not to do

  • Do not guess a punch, a rate, or a classification. Unknown hours get named with the person and the date.
  • Do not correct an anomaly silently, even an obvious-looking one. The owner may know something you do not.
  • Do not submit payroll. Stage it; the owner submits. run_payroll is never called by this skill. This holds for QuickBooks Payroll exactly as it holds for Gusto — a connected payroll system is not permission to run payroll.
  • **Do not send a delta to update_payroll.** Its values replace. Compute the new total from get_payroll, show both numbers, send the total.
  • Do not write a punch the owner did not state. record_time carries only times the owner gave, and only after they saw the entry.
  • Do not read a pay rate without checking the hours against it. In QuickBooks Payroll one person can carry many rates with zero hours on most of them.
  • Do not bury flags in a summary. Attach each one to the person it affects.
  • Do not batch the flag review. One decision per person per issue.
  • Do not treat a missing connector as a blocker. A spreadsheet in, a validated run sheet out, is a designed path.
  • Do not skip the prior-period comparison. A large move with no explanation is the most useful warning available.
  • Do not stage a run from a payroll source that reports employees but returns none. A connected badge is not data. Say the source is not delivering, and use the spreadsheet path.
  • Do not reproduce an employee's SSN, date of birth, home address, or bank or card number in the run sheet, the chat, or any rendered page. Gusto and QuickBooks Payroll payloads carry them; read past them (../../shared/personal-data.md).
Raw lines 102 to 116
117## Output
119**Deliver the validated run sheet per the owner's stored output preference — never default to a markdown file.** Check the `## Business context` block's `Output preference` (shared style guide rule, `../../shared/artifact-style.md`):
121- **Visual artifact (the default):** render the run sheet as an HTML page in the house style — headcount, total gross, and cash leaving the account as stat tiles, each person a row with hours and pay in tabular-nums, and a pill on every flag attached to the person it belongs to. Blockers, when Gusto reports them, get their own plain-English panel.
122- **docx / md / notion / canva preference:** deliver the same content in that form — a DOCX or markdown file, a Notion page created via the connector (named destination, never overwriting), or a Canva Doc created via the Canva connector (a new design each run, named with the date; tables become lists); fall back to the visual artifact if Notion or Canva is not connected — and say that is why.
123- **Best for skill:** use the visual artifact — this output is a sheet the owner approves person by person.

Output

Deliver the validated run sheet per the owner's stored output preference — never default to a markdown file. Check the ## Business context block's Output preference (shared style guide rule, ../../shared/artifact-style.md):

  • Visual artifact (the default): render the run sheet as an HTML page in the house style — headcount, total gross, and cash leaving the account as stat tiles, each person a row with hours and pay in tabular-nums, and a pill on every flag attached to the person it belongs to. Blockers, when Gusto reports them, get their own plain-English panel.
  • docx / md / notion / canva preference: deliver the same content in that form — a DOCX or markdown file, a Notion page created via the connector (named destination, never overwriting), or a Canva Doc created via the Canva connector (a new design each run, named with the date; tables become lists); fall back to the visual artifact if Notion or Canva is not connected — and say that is why.
  • Best for skill: use the visual artifact — this output is a sheet the owner approves person by person.
Raw lines 117 to 124
125## After the run
127The run is staged, the flags are resolved, and the books entry is posted. If cash was the worry going in, the natural next step is "can I make payroll" — `/plan-payroll` runs the forecast and the invoice chase in front of the next run. Also nearby: "cash forecast" (`cash-flow-snapshot`) to see what this run does to the next 30 days, and "taxes" (`/tax-prep`) when quarterly estimates or 1099s are coming due. Offer at most three, and skip any offer the owner already declined this session.

After the run

The run is staged, the flags are resolved, and the books entry is posted. If cash was the worry going in, the natural next step is "can I make payroll" — /plan-payroll runs the forecast and the invoice chase in front of the next run. Also nearby: "cash forecast" (cash-flow-snapshot) to see what this run does to the next 30 days, and "taxes" (/tax-prep) when quarterly estimates or 1099s are coming due. Offer at most three, and skip any offer the owner already declined this session.

Raw lines 125 to 128
Names a skill plan-payroll :127
Names a skill cash-flow-snapshot :127
Names a skill tax-prep :127
129## Reference files
131- `reference/timesheet_intake.md` — Gusto pull, spreadsheet upload, roster and period setup
132- `reference/anomaly_rules.md` — every check, its threshold, and how it is worded
133- `reference/run_sheet_format.md` — the run sheet layout and the totals block
134- `reference/books_sync.md` — journal entry structure and job-cost allocation
135- `reference/gotchas.md` — the mistakes that shortchange a person or double-pay a period

Reference files

Raw lines 129 to 136
Reads a file reference/timesheet_intake.md :131
Reads a file reference/anomaly_rules.md :132
Reads a file reference/run_sheet_format.md :133
Reads a file reference/books_sync.md :134
Reads a file reference/gotchas.md :135
Boilerplate, lines 137 to 139. The same text appears in 38 other files here. Close
137## Using a tool that isn't listed
139The connectors named in this skill are the tested paths, not a wall. If the owner wants this flow to use a tool that isn't connected or listed, offer `build-connector` — it checks the connector directory first and connects through Zapier otherwise, never hand-building against a raw API. Once the connection exists, the tool joins this skill like any other optional connector, under the same approval gates.

From anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins at 2574e29, 2026-10-27. Skills read by DeepSeek V4.1 Flash on 2026-11-04. Summary and techniques by Claude Opus 5.5 on 2026-11-06.