# AGENTS.md — Build guide for Everhour

## Project scope
Log time against project tasks, mark entries billable, apply historical rates and show remaining hours or budget for each client project.

Catalogue verdict: yes. Everhour's solo core is compact: build a private time + budget tracking ledger that imports user-supplied CSV files, categorizes entries, reconciles balances, and exports reports. A competent builder can reach a useful personal version in one sitting, while the paid product mainly wins on banking, compliance, trust.
Use the implementation prompt below to define the deliverable. Complete each phase's acceptance checks before extending the scope.

## Working agreement
- Inspect the repository and its existing instructions before choosing paths, dependencies or commands. Keep one coherent stack and explain changes to the proposed architecture.
- Plan a vertical slice that accepts a real input and produces the useful output described below. Persist only the state the prompt calls for; respect memory-only and upstream-managed workflows. Use fixtures only when they are clearly labelled.
- After scaffolding, document the actual install, development, check and build commands in README and keep them synchronized with the package or project manifest. Do not report commands as successful unless they ran.
- Work in small steps. At handoff, list implemented flows, checks actually performed, remaining blockers, and any credentials or provider setup the owner must supply.
- Do not publish, spend money, contact customers, delete source data or run irreversible migrations without the project owner's authorization.

## Prerequisites
- Runtime and tools: TypeScript, React, Node, SQLite and decimal.js for explicit decimal calculations.
- Before starting: A representative CSV with known totals, currency and date conventions, and an agreed calculation specification.

## Stack and architecture
- TypeScript, React, Node, SQLite and decimal.js for explicit decimal calculations
- Data design: Store Project, Task, TimeEntry, RatePeriod and Budget; only one timer runs per user, and billed entries retain their applied rate rather than using today's rate.
- Setup: A representative CSV with known totals, currency and date conventions, and an agreed calculation specification

## Security and data integrity
- Preserve imported source rows and units, use decimal arithmetic with stated rounding, and retain correction history. Missing values are unknown rather than zero; reports describe records and assumptions rather than giving advice.
- First deliver manual/timer entry and CSV export. Browser-extension integrations and payroll are separate; imported entries need duplicate review and an audit trail for corrections.
- Keep secrets outside client bundles and exported projects; document what leaves the device and make retention/deletion controls visible.

## Agent implementation rules
- Project rule — domain: Store Project, Task, TimeEntry, RatePeriod and Budget; only one timer runs per user, and billed entries retain their applied rate rather than using today's rate.
- Project rule — scope and recovery: First deliver manual/timer entry and CSV export. Browser-extension integrations and payroll are separate; imported entries need duplicate review and an audit trail for corrections.
- Project rule — acceptance: Stop a timer after changing the project rate and cross a midnight boundary; the report follows the chosen rate policy and duration without double-counting either day.
- Project rule — delivery: document real setup commands and permissions; do not claim a build, accuracy level, performance result or security certification that has not been demonstrated.

## Optional agent skills and references
- Recommended skill: [web-design-guidelines](https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/web-design-guidelines/SKILL.md) — review keyboard access, focus, validation, error recovery and the readable work/review interface or HTML report. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.
- Recommended skill: [sharp-edges](https://github.com/trailofbits/skills/blob/main/plugins/sharp-edges/skills/sharp-edges/SKILL.md) — review configuration and API defaults against the app-specific invariants and recovery boundaries above; this is not a security certification. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.

Read the linked SKILL.md and its dependencies before adding a skill. Select only the skills matching this project's runtime and task; their documentation does not supply API access, credentials or approval to perform external actions. Pin the reviewed revision where the tool supports it. Follow the chosen agent's documented project-level installation mechanism.

## Distribution ideas
These are optional planning notes. Obtain the owner's approval before publishing or contacting anyone.
- Demonstrate this working slice using synthetic or explicitly authorized non-sensitive examples: Log time against project tasks, mark entries billable, apply historical rates and show remaining hours or budget for each client project.
- Share a synthetic example export and the acceptance walkthrough; keep real customer, health, financial and source data private: Stop a timer after changing the project rate and cross a midnight boundary; the report follows the chosen rate policy and duration without double-counting either day.
- State the limits before asking someone to replace their existing tool: First deliver manual/timer entry and CSV export. Browser-extension integrations and payroll are separate; imported entries need duplicate review and an audit trail for corrections.

## Engineering roadmap
1. Phase 1 — Pin the working slice and create its example input: Log time against project tasks, mark entries billable, apply historical rates and show remaining hours or budget for each client project. Confirm setup: A representative CSV with known totals, currency and date conventions, and an agreed calculation specification.
2. Phase 2 — Implement persistence and write-time invariants before decorating the UI: Store Project, Task, TimeEntry, RatePeriod and Budget; only one timer runs per user, and billed entries retain their applied rate rather than using today's rate.
3. Phase 3 — Connect the working view to real saved state. Preserve imported source rows and units, use decimal arithmetic with stated rounding, and retain correction history. Missing values are unknown rather than zero; reports describe records and assumptions rather than giving advice.
4. Phase 4 — Expose the app-specific limits and recovery path in context: First deliver manual/timer entry and CSV export. Browser-extension integrations and payroll are separate; imported entries need duplicate review and an audit trail for corrections.
5. Phase 5 — Walk through this concrete acceptance case and preserve its exported evidence: Stop a timer after changing the project rate and cross a midnight boundary; the report follows the chosen rate policy and duration without double-counting either day. Finish the README and backup/restore instructions; report unfinished capabilities explicitly.

## Paid-product capabilities outside this build
- bank, payment, tax, and reconciliation integrations
- live bank feeds and payment rails
- tax and accounting rule updates
- audited security and recovery
- multi-user controls and accountant workflows

## Implementation prompt
Build the following focused alternative to Everhour. Implement the focused workflow below first; the verdict is not evidence of a completed or production-certified build.

WORKING SLICE
Log time against project tasks, mark entries billable, apply historical rates and show remaining hours or budget for each client project.

SETUP AND ARCHITECTURE
Use TypeScript, React, Node, SQLite and decimal.js for explicit decimal calculations. Prerequisites: A representative CSV with known totals, currency and date conventions, and an agreed calculation specification. Before integrating anything, record actual versions and permissions, plus model files or provider limits only where used, in the README; make unavailable dependencies visible rather than simulating success.

DOMAIN MODEL AND INVARIANTS
Store Project, Task, TimeEntry, RatePeriod and Budget; only one timer runs per user, and billed entries retain their applied rate rather than using today's rate.

IMPLEMENTATION CONTRACT
Preserve imported source rows and units, use decimal arithmetic with stated rounding, and retain correction history. Missing values are unknown rather than zero; reports describe records and assumptions rather than giving advice. Provide an input/setup view, the main work view, and a review/export view appropriate to this workflow. Preserve the last saved state if a job or save fails. Include empty, loading, permission-denied, partial and retryable-error states. Log identifiers and error categories without secret values or unnecessary private content.

APP-SPECIFIC BOUNDARY AND RECOVERY
First deliver manual/timer entry and CSV export. Browser-extension integrations and payroll are separate; imported entries need duplicate review and an audit trail for corrections.

ACCEPTANCE SCENARIO
Stop a timer after changing the project rate and cross a midnight boundary; the report follows the chosen rate policy and duration without double-counting either day. Also reopen the app after an interrupted operation, confirm the saved record/export remains inspectable, and document the recovery action. These are implementation acceptance requirements, not a claim that this guide has been tested.

DELIVERY
Deliver a runnable repository with migrations or project-format versioning, a non-sensitive example, environment/permission setup, the exact manual acceptance steps, and a backup/export-and-restore walkthrough. Implement the working slice before optional integrations; list any deferred paid-product capabilities honestly. Do not add capabilities outside the working slice just to resemble the original product.

PROJECT RULES FOR AGENTS.md
Keep the domain invariants above executable at the write boundary. Propose scope changes before adding providers or permissions. Never fabricate source evidence, publish results, identity matches or successful delivery. Preserve user originals and require an explicit confirmation for destructive changes or external publication.

## Completion evidence
Demonstrate the prompt's acceptance scenarios against the scoped workflow. Include setup from a clean checkout and failure recovery. Check persistence across restart and export/restore only for the state the prompt says to store; for memory-only tools, confirm that temporary content is discarded as specified. Record actual results and remaining limitations. A detailed plan alone does not establish a working replacement.